Developing Multiple Intelligence

I had attended a talk by Dr Khoo Kim Choo last Saturday. Dr Khoo is a pioneer in the early childhood field spanning over 25 years – as consultant, advisor, chief executive officer, adjunct Associate Professor at NUS.

She gave me a very good insight about Intelligence of which my impression in the past are only IQ and EQ. However, after attending the talk, I'd learnt the importance of indentifying our core intelligence and to develop them. It is especially important for those with young children. I like to share a bit about this Multiple Intelligence with you today.

There are 8 areas of intelligence that we can try identify among our own children. When we are able to spot our children's core intelligence, we can build it up early in their life for future excellence.

1) Linguistic Intelligence

a) Able to use language to inspire, instruct, persuade and entertain

b) Able to manipulate language structure, sounds and meaning quickly

c) Jobs like Lawyers, novelist, poets, teachers, politicians, comedians, etc are suitable

2) Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

a) Sensitive to logical pattern and relationships

b) Capacity to use numbers effectively, reason well

c) Jobs like mathematicians, statistician, programmers, Engineers, etc are suitable

3) Spatial Intelligence

a) Ability to think in pictures, in 3-dimensions

b) Sensitive to colours, shapes, lines, form, space, etc

c) Jobs like Artitects, fashion designers, interior designers, etc are suitable

4) Musical Intelligence

a) Ability to differentiate tone, pitch, rhythm

b) Capacity to perceive, appreciate, create and communicate from sounds

c) Jobs like Musicians, dancers, audio engineers, etc are suitable

5) Interpersonal Intelligence

a) Abiity to recognize and make distinctions of feelings, intentions and beliefs of others and ability to respond accordingly.

b) Able to empathize and understand others and work with different type of people

c) Jobs like social workers, Salesman, Community leaders, diplomats, etc are suitable

6) Intra-personal Intelligence

a) Understand self and to distinguish own emotions and intentions

b) Ability to develop self knowledge and be self directed

c) Jobs like Psychiatrist, psychologists, etc are suitable

7) Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

a) Able to control fine and gross motor actions and to handle external objects with or without tools

b) Good coordination among neural, muscular and perceptual system

c) Jobs like Craftsman, gymnast, Dancers, surgeons, etc are suitable

8) Naturalistic Intelligence

a) Expertise in recognizing and classifying numerous species of one's environment

b) Able to distinguish items, separate and classify forms naturally using sight, sound and smell.

c) Jobs like biologist, botanist, environmentalist, ornithologist, etc are suitable

By knowing your child's core intelligence can help him/her towards their interest and subsequently bring greater probability of success in their life. Build on their strength, don't keep harnessing on their weaknesses unnecessarily. Do read more about it.