A British toddler who taught himself to read at the age of two while playing on his tablet has now become the youngest member of Mensa.
Teddy Hobbs, a four-year-old from Somerset, gained entry into the exclusive high IQ club after scoring 139 out of 160 in Mensa’s IQ test, Yahoo News reported.
Teddy taught himself to read and count by watching the television and playing games. His parents initially did not realise he had taught himself to read, thinking he was just making sounds when playing on the tablet. They soon realised he was sounding out numerals in the Chinese language, according to a report in The Guardian.
“He was playing on his tablet – we’ve put appropriate games like Thomas the Tank Engine on – and he was sat there … making the sounds I just didn’t recognise and I asked him what it was and it was, ‘Oh mummy, I’m counting in Mandarin’,” said his mother, Beth.
Teddy’s parents say they got him assessed on a fluke before he started school in September. The toddler’s score on the Mensa test put him in the 99.5 percentile for his age.
“After he completed it we were told he was eligible by Mensa's child advisor - so we thought he may as well join,” his parents said.
“We were a bit like 'pardon?'. We knew he could do things that his peers couldn't, but I don't think we realised quite how good he was.”
Teddy joined Mensa at the age of three years and nine months, making him the youngest member of the organisation from the UK.
The toddler is exceptionally intelligent, can count in several languages and, at the age of four, is capable of reading the Harry Potter books. “His idea of fun is sitting down and reciting his times tables,” Teddy’s parents say.
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