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Two-year-old girl qualifies for MENSA

Samurai8472

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8026439.stm
Two-year-old becomes Mensa member

Carol Vorderman is a Mensa member with an IQ of 154
A two-year-old girl who can name 35 capital cities has become the youngest member to join high IQ society, Mensa.

Elise Tan Roberts, from Edmonton, north London, has an IQ of 156 and can recite the English alphabet, count to 10 in Spanish and name types of triangle.

Elise took the standard Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale test which showed she was in the top 0.2% in her age group in the UK.

Mensa has described the girl as an "exceptional child".

Ben Woods, who became a Mensa member in the 1990s at the age of two years and nine months old, was the youngest member in the society before Elise, who is two years and four months old.

In 2007, Georgia Brown, from Aldershot, Hampshire, became the youngest female member, at six days older than Ben Woods. She scored 152 in an IQ test.

Elise can also spell her name aloud and read the words mummy and daddy.

Child psychologist Professor Joan Freeman tested the toddler.

Mensa chief executive John Stevenage said: "Elise's parents correctly identified that she is an exceptional child. They now realise they have an interesting challenge on their hands as she grows up.

"We wish them well and look forward to seeing Elise develop in the coming years."

Mensa has about 24,000 members in the UK and Ireland and counts presenter Carol Vorderman, whose IQ is 154, DJ and TV presenter Sir Jimmy Savile and inventor Sir Clive Sinclair among its members.
Well lets see, at two I could name all sorts of cars, drank out of a cup(didn't like the bottle), talked and walked already.
 
I don't get why she should be in Mensa. If parents drill the alphabet and 35 words (capital cities) into their child's head every day the kids going to remember it without a doubt regardless of what 2 year old it is. At the age of 2 it's easier and faster for them to learn these things.

This is nothing spectacular and nothing special except a kids parents who spent more time repeating letters and words to their kid than what normal parents would bother doing.

So ok she can recite the alphabet, name cities and name some types of triangle which a lot of other kids can't do, but the question that's more important is what can other kids do, say and remember that she can't. Her parents have focused on teaching her no doubt all day everyday particular things that they knew would make her look smart, their whole plan was probably to teach her what she needed to know in order to catch mensas eye.
 
I don't get why she should be in Mensa. If parents drill the alphabet and 35 words (capital cities) into their child's head every day the kids going to remember it wihtout a doubt regardless of what 2 year old it is. At the age of 2 it's easier and faster for them to learn these things.

This is nothing spectacular and nothing special except a kids parents who spent more time repeating letters and words to their kid than what normal parents would bother doing.

So ok she can recite the alphabet, name cities and name some types of triangle which a lot of other kids can't do, but the question that's more important is what can other kids do, say and remember that she can't.
Maybe MENSA membership is low and they are desperate for members right now.
 
I hope this doesn't ruin this child's life. Hopefully her parents are the responsible type and not the "fame" type.
 
My one year old can say about two dozen words, can recognise a normal card from a birthday card and can put different shaped objects in their correct holes.

Maybe I should teach her capital cities next...
 
IQ isn't about how much/what you know but how well you can learn and process things.

The fact that she knows the alphabet, different languages and capitals at her age shows that her brain is advanced at processing and storing information.

She could've just as easily remembered the names of all her toys and have a high IQ -but be "less impressive."

An IQ test doesn't usually ask you questions on capitals and languages but on "problem solving" to time you on how long it takes you to process information.

IQ is processor speed. Not hard drive content. ;)
 
My friend Steve's kid, when he was two, taught me swear words that I didn't know. Mensa was unimpressed. Elitist bastards.
 
My son learned how to play chess when he was 3. We didnt even have to teach him, he simply watched us play and one day said that he was ready to play. Mind you his end game sucked, but he knew what he was doing and what he had to do in order to win. He's 11 now and i cant win a game against him. Which isnt really saying much for me.
 
Don't you have to pass a test to become a Mensa member? Just having a high IQ doesn't cut it i believe.

As to the kid.. depends. She's either really exceptional or it's a scam by her parents. Kids learn amazingly fast and all kinds of stuff.. with the right program you could drum all kinds of information into a kid but usually at the cost of a normal childhood.
 
Does she look like this ???

hailey.jpg


^^^HaileyHawk1 2.5 years old.:)

Anywho, I don't really buy this. I know about MENSA testing as I've taken practice tests before and been invited to take their official tests based on the practice tests scores before (got better things to do on a Saturday honestly, and unlike my NRA membership they can't provide me with Roadside Assistance or 10% off at hotels) and I don't ever recall them being able to test a 2 year-old.

I'm not really impressed by any of the things she can do because I can program Hailey to recite stuff like that over the course of a weekend. The question is does she understand what she's reciting or is she just reciting?

At 2 I find it highly unlikely that they are doing anything more than just reciting. The fact is that their little brains aren't physically developed enough to understand those kind of complex concepts.
 
As others have said I'm not that impressed. It's easy to get someone of that age to remember all sorts of things. That doesn't make them any smarter than the average kid it just means that they have had facts drilled into their head.

At that age my son could tell you all sorts of things about Star Wars, if I had taught him state capitals instead he could have been the same as this kid.
 
Yeah, not sure how she could have passed the MENSA test if she can only read mummy and daddy - I guess they have a new "pre-schoolers" test (which is a scary concept right there)

Parenting confusion! My two-year-old can count to 10 in Spanish from watching Dora the Explorer and knows his letters from playing computer games. So am I now a good parent or a bad one... :rolleyes:
 
I don't get why she should be in Mensa.

It isn't as cool as it used to be, and the subscription rates have dropped. So I expect this is for advertising.

My feelings exactly. This seems more a publicity stunt. Hell, at two and a half I was reading books. Sure they were children's books, but they were books nonetheless. I could name cities and countries, I had perfect pitch and could sing any note you gave me right back to you at the exact pitch, I wrote lots of short stories between the ages of 3 and 7, and by the time I was 10, I was in the gifted and talented enrichment program for languages and music. Yet I took a MENSA test and couldn't get in, and while I'm no superstar genius (I am certain there are a great number of people far more intelligent than myself), my one and only I.Q. test I have ever taken showed my I.Q. well above average. So I'm not impressed by MENSA. To me they're a group of specifically intelligent people, who have skill sets in one area, and are severely lacking in others. So I hope this little girl doesn't become insufferable as she gets older.

J.
 
Yeah, not sure how she could have passed the MENSA test if she can only read mummy and daddy - I guess they have a new "pre-schoolers" test (which is a scary concept right there)

Parenting confusion! My two-year-old can count to 10 in Spanish from watching Dora the Explorer and knows his letters from playing computer games. So am I now a good parent or a bad one... :rolleyes:

Hailey has been surfing the web for six months. The funny part is when she gets lost and wants to go back to where she was she expects me to do it and I don't even know how she got there in the first place.
 
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