Almost 3 Yr Old in Mensa....? Puhhlleeeeezz

I'm late on this post, J., but I'm wondering if she is really good with puzzles and spatial sense. Did you ever see that 1994 movie about Albert Einstein with Walter Matthau, Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan? (It's a fun movie! The name of it is I.Q. ) Tim Robbins was a car mechanic but had an amazing ability to solve puzzles. Perhaps this little girl is SO adept at that at such a young age that it qualifies her for her mensa rating. Later on when they test her again, her score may look different when other factors are more important in the test.

Dawn

MENSA does not accept any IQ or other test before a child is 14.
Then they must go to through MENSA to be tested. THey do use the usua tests that any psychologist would use.

THere are MENSA chapters in every state.

I havent' heard of this story, but my guess is this is a mom trying to get her 15 minutes of glory.

All puppies can be trained, that doens't represent actual knowledge.

M

I can't remember the exact age but it isn't three. Before that and IQ test is only a guideline because it is far from accurate.

So no, not buying it.

We will wait and see. Our daughter attended kindergarten with a child that could read AND comprehend on a 5th grade level.. By the end of kinder, he was doing pre - algebra.

At the same elementary school, there was 9 year old attending math on the high school campus. 2 years later, his mom was taking him to the community college, he could have attended the University of Texas for courses, but the parents wanted to hold off a little while longer.

Both of these children really were remarkable. The pressure on the parents was tremendous. Such responsibility and constant concerns about the decisions that needed to be made.

These were just children, but with incredible intelligence. Hard to make choices.

I asked the moms what were their children like at birth, toddler years etc..

They said they were just born seeming to be way more aware, but trapped in bodies that were not keeping up with their needs. The other one said her child hardly ever needed any sleep. It was as though he did not want to miss out on anything.

Emotionally they were little boys,in lots of ways.. but they really did have incredible way of looking and understanding at our world.

I am still wondering what has happened to them. I need to look them up.

Okay... I have no idea what article you're talking about BUT...

Giftedness is a brain disorder that kids are born with, it doesn't just come on at age 5 or anything.

I have 3 certifiable geniuses in my family (I'm not, and my son's not... Uncle, cousin, grandfather)... So my measurement stick for normal is a little quirky. In my family reading at age 3 (fluently @3, starting at about age 2, by age 3 it's magic treehouse-black stallion for the normal kids), is just plain normal. Things get noticeable when it's not just reading, but reading, say the Illiad in the original greek. And my family, as far as giftedness goes, barring the 3 genius types... is pretty low on the giftedness scale.

My cousin, for example, as a toddler would unscrew a computer, take it apart, and put it back together. After the first couple goes as it, he had it running MORE efficiently. By 5 he was writing code to create new programs. By 5 he also knew something like 6 computer languages. He learned them as a toddler. He'd completed calculus and was in experimental maths by 2nd grade.

My uncle (not his dad, his uncle as well), had graduated from MIT at 17.

These things that sound sorta 'normal' (the elementary school kid who is coding and doing college level maths, the teenage college grad), because we all know of the Doogie Houser type stories. BUT... They were toddlers at one point. Driving their parents to distraction, the way that special needs kids all do.

LOTS of 3 & 4yo gifted kidsqualify for Mensa.

The same way lots of autistic kids qualify for early intervention.

My son is just normal straight gifted (like autism, giftedness is a spectrum
.. Gifted, Highly Gifted, Profoundly Gufted/Genius level). Did the reading as a toddler thing that normal in my family, latched onto numbers and was doing algebra and applied maths at age 7. NeildeGrasseTyson is one of his heros, and he'll sit for hours talking photons with the grad students up at the UW. (AKA, asking questions that lead to more questions to more questions). He's a totally normal kid who loves spongebob, and skateboarding, and videogames, and getting WAY too much mud in the house. He just also has a brain disorder that causes him to process and store information differently than most people. He's been able to understand almost any kind of number related information he's ever heard, almost instantly, and retain it. And he's LOW on the spectrum.

Giftedness is no more 'caused' by bad parenting than Autism is.

It's a brain disorder that affects how information is processed and stored.

Granted, I'm biased, but believe me... the goal has been to keep info OUT of that head, instead of cramming it in / "hothousing".

While there are definitely idiots who get all snobby/snotting and "hothouse" their kids... those are rarely parents of gifted kids. Most parents of gifted kids are just trying to get through the day without their kids electrocuting themselves (again).

Didn't they show her reading a book? I know she was pointing at words and it looked like she was reading, but they were talking over her at that point, so I might be wrong.
I was asking my husband, "How do they even tailor down a test for a 3 year old?" Obviously they can't give them the same test they'd give an adult? Very odd.
It was difficult to tell how intelligent she really was though, since she had to poop so bad, lol! I also tend to agree with you that some (or all), of it was memorization.

There are children of all ages with remarkable intelligence. I've personally known elementary aged children who scored 145 on IQ tests. Anyone with an adequate IQ measured by an accepted test can apply for membership in Mensa. And there are assessments available for people with little or no language ability - such as English Language Learners or people with Dyslexia.

IQ itself is a debated topic in the psychology field, as the original IQ tests were never meant to measure intelligence.

But my main question is - How does this child's alleged IQ affect you? Should they not be proud of having what seems to be, at this stage anyway, a gifted daughter? If their 3 year-old was winning gymnastics competitions, or beauty pageants, would there be the same "outrage"?

Besides, they'll soon find out, as I did, that Mensa meetings are a bit boring...

Yeah, I read that article too. There's a children's IQ test that is mostly matching pictures and grouping shapes and that's the one she took. I'm sure the little girl is smart... but applying for Mensa membership seems a bit extreme. I think her parents have something to prove.

Why would anyone even do this to their kid?

I didn't see the article, but I know a few people like this. I don't particularly like being around them because they're always on a big brag about their kid. (They can read already--heck, they were reading the mattress labels in the crib!) The bigger problem is that it makes other parents feel insecure about their own kid's perfectly-reasonable developmental progress when the super-parent can't be quiet about their wunderkind. ick.

And I really liked Riley's answer. My biggest problem with it is simply: why would anyone contact the media about this? Don't we want our children to have private lives?

She was cute though, wasn't she? I wasn't bowled over, both my kids could identify planets (and lots of other things) at that age. And I swear she said "moon" instead of "mars". Did she come back after her potty break? I missed it if she did. I'm sure she's very bright and mom and dad had a friend to get them on TV.

I buy the fact that it is highly possible that this child is gifted and extremely intelligent in spite of not being able to read. There are many ways one can be gifted. <~~~obviously I am not gifted nor bright enough to properly write the English language :-P I truly hope this is not a case where the parents are out for their 15 minutes of fame. People for whatever reason are born exceptionally bright and highly intelligent; there is no rhyme or reason to it. I hope this child is given all the opportunities in the world to expand her abilities and still at the same time be allowed to grow up to be whomever it is she actually is and not what her parents want her to be.

I think it is BS. The parents obviously have a super ego and the child is their trophy.

Poor child... just imagine the pressure that will be put on her when she gets to school so parents can "prove" something.

I have twins that were born preemies. Therefore we were asked to put them in a preemie research study done by a major hospital. I said yes of course because the testing was to monitor the development of premature babies. The info. they collect could go to further help other premature babies.

It just happens that part of this testing ( which they do every 2 years ) includes an IQ test.

They have been tested 3 times now. All 3 times found to be gifted, and actually one of them genius. I believe this to be true of my kids.

My feelings about it. It is true. They can accurately tell if a child is gifted.

Personally, of course I am proud..i guess. More so glad for them that they have that going for them.

I do not strive to push them to a higher place. I have not even told their school that they have had IQ tests and of their scores.

I don't push the school to challenge" them. I just let them be. The school keeps telling me how bright they are, I just smile and say " thank you". which I am not sure is an appropriate response, lol. What else do you say?

Anyhow, i believe they are gifted, we will see how it plays out in their lives, they don't know it, i haven't told them.

It's just something they have.... glad for them..

i think what he can do may be from memory but i believe the iq tests arent on what you know but how you are able to figure things out. Seems like a genius kid to M. being able to count to 1000 at 2, read and no the planets. although a lot changes from 2-4. my daughter could at 2 write, do math in her head, and reason out problems, and speak very well but now shes right on track with her class

IQ is measuring ones capiblity to figure out things. So yes I could understand a three year old being able to have a grip on common sense more so than some others. Like some kids are in la la land and arent paying any attention. While others you have to be very careful what your saying because they understand at a very young age. I believe scores change through out your life so in a few years it could be ten or fifteen points less then in jr high it could be back up agian.