Photo by David Crump, Daily Mail / ZUMA Press
2-Year-Old Child Genius has IQ of 156
by Sandy Maple May 1st 2009 1:00PM
Elise Tan Roberts may be young, but she’s already accomplished something the majority of us never will: She has become a member of Mensa. At just 2 years, 4 months and 2 weeks old, Elise has an estimated I.Q. of 156 — putting her in the top 0.2 percent of children her age and qualifying her as the youngest member of the well-known society for smart people.
Parents Louise and Edward of North London say that even before their daughter learned to communicate, they suspected there was something special about her. As an infant, she had a tendency to stare at people and objects for long periods of time as if she were absorbing information. She uttered her first real word at five months (Dada) and began walking at eight months. But it wasn’t until Elise corrected another parent who misidentified a triceratops as a rhinoceros that Louise and Edward became convinced that they should have their daughter’s intelligence assessed.
Inspired by the story of Georgia Brown, Mensa’s previous youngest member, Edward and Louise took Elise to see Professor Joan Freeman, a specialist education psychologist. She tested Elise using the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and confirmed what Louise and Edward suspected — Elise is gifted with an amazing memory that allows her to learn and progress at an advanced rate.
Here is the full article.
There are lots of great kids around these days. And the world needs them.
I am surprised. It was my understanding Mensa did not accept members younger than 18, for several reasons. Among these, because the IQs of children are inflated, and because kids, with their personalities in formation, may get more harm than good from the labeling as a member of Mensa.
I checked the Mensa website and it states “Mensans range in age from 4to 94”. I do agree though, that people should go easy on labelling kids, whether positively or negatively.
There’s no such thing as a genius child. Geniuses make a change, revolutionaize the world like Einstein for example did. Child prodigy is the rith term.
Get that child a chess board!
Stat!
At her age I was drooling on myself and crying incoherently, and probably endlessly fascinated with flashing lights and baby talk.
This shows how stupid the Mensa society is. The so-called IQ measures a tiny tiny part of human brain power. And a 2 year old? Do they have thousands of tests of 2 year old kids? And, how huge is the difference between a 2 year 0 days old kid and a 2 year and 300 days old? Mensa is just a pathetic nerd society. In fact, people can do very well on such tests, but I’m hopeless in music, painting and a lot more.
Right, what she needs most is to play, like all small children. Nothing to gain by putting too much pressure on her too early. If she doesn’t want it her self..
The BBC Horizon program showed that there are many forms of genius.
It also showed that you can be very good in one dimension, and fairlly rubbish in all others.
I doubt if the Mensa test is comprehensive enough, and it must be doubted when applied to a young mind.
I agree with the problems of labelling, and with the problems of ‘force-feeding’ children. It is more likely to produce someone unusual but will they be better suited for life as a whole?
I am ready to watch her play chess. Where is her local scholastic team. Does she have a grandmaster for a coach yet.
Magnus is worried now.
“another parent who misidentified a triceratops as a rhinoceros”
That parent has an IQ of 56.