Testing for Intelligence?

On the subject of viewing children holistically I believe that tests should cover much more than acedamic skills such as reading and mathematics.  Children have many learning styles and they should all be included in intelligence tests.  If a child learns through hands on experiences and seeing, then expecting that child to listen to instructions without giving concrete handson relationships is not teaching to the whole child and test results will be inaccurate for these children.   

Studies have shown that traditional "IQ" tests work well at predicting academic success but fall short of testing children's "emotional intelligence".  These predictions of success may not only be wrong, but they may create inaccurate expectations for children and their parents.  Psychologist and author Daniel Goleman offers a new concept not only for predicting school success, but future life success.  He suggests that a number of ingredients add up to good "emotional intelligence," including self-control or impulse control, the ability to motivate one's self, persistence, optimism, self-umderstanding, empathy, the art of listening to others.  He feels that children with superior cognitive skills do not always live up to their promise because they do not always possess solid emotional intelligence (Brodkin, A,M. 2010). 

I looked at Europe, specifically Switzerland, to see how children were assessed and found that special agencies in each of the Swiss Cantons were responsible for the investigatory procedures.  The special education needs are mostly identified by medical doctors and early intervention specialists including school psychologists but the final decision is made by the school administrative board.  There is no standard instrument available at this time but orientation on ICF is under discussion. 

I found my research on intelligence testing very informative.  My youngest son has just been tested for the "gifted" program.  Before this assignment I had very little knowledge on the way he was tested, as to whether or not he was tested with the whole child in mind.  I will be a more active participant in his education plan because of this new knowledge I have aquired.

References:
www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/earlycld/ea500.htm
Brodkin, Adele.  Scholastic Parents. using your head and your heart 
www.who.int/classifications/icf/en