3 year old member of Mensa.

[Toddlerteaplease]

Article in todays Times, (don't know how to link)
AIBU to think this is ridiculous, let him be a toddler, nurture his interests of course. But this is OTT, and asking for trouble. Apparently he wants to go to university and be a doctor.

My son is a member of Mensa (and not autistic) and I think it’s a very valuable thing to have as 1) a support base 2) a tool to be taken seriously at school - everyone goes in and says their children are so smart etc and it’s a way of explaining you’re not exaggerating and your child will need special need level extra support because it’s off the scale and these children always end up with problems as adults as a result of depression /many other reasons. It’s not fair for my child to sit when people are learning how to count to 20 and he wants to do cube numbers and to the power of. Just like it wouldn’t be appropriate to give a child struggling the same work and expect them to complete it.

What I really, really don’t understand is why she contacted the papers. It’s utterly bizarre and doesn’t benefit her son at all! To make money? To show off? Why?

This. My child was saying the alphabet forwards and backwards before their 2nd birthday.

How do children teach themselves to read?
From watching Sesame Street in my case.

Because Mensa are fantastic and work with schools etc to ensure these children are supported. And you can do play dates with other children etc of the same level. And it means you’re taken seriously

This

I'm always interested in what "of his own accord" means. Because my dc would have found it very hard to learn to read and count in different languages because they would have had limited access to them. I mean, I think somewhere I have Usborne's "First 1000 words in French" and I have a German dictionary, but other than that I don't think they would have had access to any other languages.

I remember discovering with dd1 that it was quite easy to teach her things. We taught her that in order to have a proper temper tantrum, she had to say "woe, woe and thrice woe" or we didn't know she was upset. Then if really cross she had to say "humph" three times.
It worked a treat as by the time she'd done that she'd forgotten what was annoying her. I think we only told her once and then the next time when she started getting upset said "are you going to say 'woe...' first".

But she also learnt things which I could say was her own accord. She learnt her letters at 22 months because she decided she wanted to play on the computer. we had no children's games so she typed. So I spent a day with her giving words she wanted to write and me spelling them out and pointing to the letters. By the end of the day she knew them all. Numbers was because we caught the bus and we have numbers 1-9 go through town, and she'd ask if it was our bus and I'd say "no that's a number 4" or whatever.
Was that her own accord? Well, I never set out to teach her the letters or numbers. However it was my actions that taught her, and I'll maintain that any other child who'd found it interesting would have learnt as easily. As far as she was concerned it was a fun game. She wouldn't have learnt them without my input at that age.

So I suspect there's some parent teaching.

And I'd also suspect that the sort of parent who goes to the press about it is going to play down the teaching they've done. I may be doing them an injustice there though.

I know a guy who tells everyone he was diagnosed a ‘genius’ age 3 and was sent to a special school for geniuses 🤔

He’s a wanker with zero social skills. Shame his parents didn’t send him to a normal preschool so he could learn the virtues of not being annoying and obnoxious. 🤷‍♀️

My eldest brother is also a genius - it tends to run in families (sadly skipped me 😆🤦🏻‍♀️) and it doesn’t stop him from being a fucking arsehole. Like good for you. you can unbelievable maths and science but you have 1 friend because you’re a wanker. Shame because he’s the only one who would really be able to understand my son!

So they do actually do support these days then? What does that support look like?

And is it really so hard (and important) for play dates with children “on the same level”. Mensa membership is open to anyone with an IQ above 98th percentile. So one in 50. Surely taking into account the school year plus any clubs, that means your kid already hangs about with at least 3-4 other kids “on the same level”.

Is that the antiques boy girl?

That's right @TaRaDeBumDeAy

Some would be the 1 in 50 kids, these are usually the kids who do well, top of the class but not disengaged, fit in easily with peers. It's the 1 in 500 kids who are more in need of kids on their level.

But for example my son is in the top 0.5%. There’s no test for higher than that. That’s not 1 in 50 it’s 1 in 200 but there’s literally no test to filter any higher than that. Which is incredibly obvious when you spend time with him (I have 2 other children who are normally bright btw it’s a huge difference I can’t even begin to explain but the attitudes on here and the lack of understanding are WHY Mensa helps).

they speak directly to the school and provide all sorts of advice for how to handle students and how to keep them interested. It’s not a matter of extension work it’s very hard to explain

Name change fail sorry

Judging by the mean spirited attitudes on here, l feel sorry for him.
My youngest is very intelligent, but what I've noticed over the years is that no one else had ever really clapped for him, preferring to mock him instead in an underhanded way.
Shame this little boy cannot be celebrated for his achievements.

People are worried about the effect being famous at such a young age will have.

*affect

They do test higher. DS got 99.8th% on the SB-5.

I taught myself to read at about 2 and a half and I could read basic books at 3. I wasn't autistic or super smart, I was mainly just bored 😀

My DC is fairly bright. The one thing I think this boy will struggle with is school. They won’t be able to keep his brain learning at the same rate, he will get bored.

If I were that parent I’d be looking to make sure he had friendships primarily.

He is local to us and has been on the local news as well.

I agree. When I was about 12yo I was curious about mensa and sent off my details to an address in the newspaper. I did some initial assessment which I passed. Then was invited to pay to do another more in-depth one for membership. Even at 12yo I suspected it was a money making wheeze. I didn’t follow it up.

I’d be too embarrassed to put it on my cv

the actual tests are like 11plus IQ tests, next shape in a sequence,etc. which I thought now had been disproved as a measure of intelligence 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yes, I know a child just like him, I watched the tv news about this child and Hyperlexia came to mind.

Seems like a bit of a stunt. My five year old son could read at three but I don’t see him as any smarter than his peers.

I taught myself to read at two. I am now a professor and highly thought of in my field so not all of us crash and burn. Loads of my colleagues were the same.

People aren’t being mean spirited towards the child. Some are judging the parents for using him to enjoy the spotlight without his consent.