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Does my daughter have a low IQ?

Dr S Anandalakshmy
Advisor on Child Development & Education,
Chennai

Q: My 14 years old daughter is thin but healthy. She is unable to wake up herself whenever she sleeps, irrespective of the time. She won’t get up in the morning by 10 or 11 if we don’t wake her up. No alarm works for her, even during her exams. She is really slow in completing the tasks assigned to her. Is this a disease? Her IQ level is also not very encouraging. What should we do?

A:You should first get a doctor to check her general health and physicalfunctioning..If nothing is wrong, she should meet a Psychologist who will be able toassess her mental functioning. Perhaps her IQ is low. In that case she needsto have a school and class suitable to her level. Being slow is not adisease. There are systems adapted to the children who may be different fromthe average.You should do all this as soon as possible, so that she canbenefit from professional help.