Multiple Intelligence Survey
By Diana Bohmer

LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE

Does your child:

• Enjoy listening to other people talking?
• Get annoyed with people who use improper English? (for example, He don't know the answer.)
• Like to learn new words?
• Give good directions to others so that they understand the first time?
• Like to tell stories?
• Enjoy reading books?
• Have a good memory for names, dates, and trivia?

If this sounds familiar, then your child might someday write a bestseller or become fluent in four languages.

LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCE

Does your child:

• Like to work with computers and calculators?
• Enjoy math class?
• Easily add numbers in her head?
• Enjoy doing science experiments?
• Ask a lot of questions about how things work?
• Enjoy chess, checkers, or other strategy games?
• Enjoy logic puzzles or brainteasers?

If so, then your child could one day design sky-scrapers or program computers.

SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

Does your child:

• Prefer to draw pictures rather than tell stories?
• Find her way around a new place easily?
• Like to take things apart and then try to figure out how to put them back together?
• Read maps, charts, or diagrams more easily than text?
• Daydream more than peers?
• Build interesting three-dimensional constructions (like LEGO buildings)?
• Doodle a lot on notebooks?

If this is your child, then she could grow up to paint a masterpiece or fix car engines.

BODILY-KINESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE

Does your child:

• Find activities like riding a bicycle, skating, or walking on a balance beam easy?
• Use a lot of hand gestures and body movement when talking to friends?
• Run, swim, and exercise without getting tired?
• Learn to play new sports easily and quickly?
• Like to touch something she has just seen?
• Report different physical sensations while thinking or working?
• Cleverly mimic other people's gestures or mannerisms?
• Move, tap, or fidget while seated for a long time in one spot?

If yes, then your child could develop into an expert skier or someone who amuses her friends with hilarious impersonations.

MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE

Does your child:

• Enjoy playing a musical instrument?
• Listen to music a lot?
• Hum or sing a lot?
• Cheer herself up with songs when she is sad?
• Tell you when music sounds off-key?
• Have a good singing voice?
• Remember the melodies of songs?

If this is your child, then she may one day conduct a symphony or play in a steel drum band.

INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE

Does your child:

• Like to work and play with other kids?
• Understand how friends are feeling by looking at their faces?
• Have two or more close friends?
• Give advice to friends who have problems?
• Have a good sense of empathy or concern for others?
• Seem to be street-smart?
• Seem to be a natural leader on teams?

If you answered yes to most of these, your child might become someone's favorite teacher or the CEO of a big company.

INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE

Does your child:

• Often need a quiet place to work or just be alone?
• Like to make collections of things that have special meaning to her?
• Remember her dreams?
• Display a sense of independence or strong will?
• Have a realistic sense of her strengths and weaknesses?
• Have an interest or hobby that she doesn't talk much about?
• Accurately express how she is feeling?

Sound familiar? Then your child could someday write great poetry or resist negative peer pressure and do the right thing for herself.

NATURALIST INTELLIGENCE

Does your child:

• Enjoy collecting bugs, flowers, or rocks?
• Like to closely examine what she finds in nature?
• Keep detailed records of her observations of nature?
• Like to watch natural phenomena like the moon and the tides and hear explanations about them?
• Become fascinated with one particular thing from nature and want to learn about it thoroughly?
• Want to become a geologist, biologist, or some other type of scientist?

If your answer is yes, then your child could become an expert on paleontology or discover new ways to save the whales.

Based on Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory.
Source: Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, by Thomas Armstrong; The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1994.
Family Education Network