Of course she is.
What parent doesn’t think his or her child is the next Plato, Albert Einstein or Bobby Fischer?
My little genius is just six years old and wins every game she plays. She kills at Connect Four. Of course, her main strategy involves uses her finger to reserve spots on the board, thereby restricting her opponent’s checker from falling into place. She also has a habit of covering the opening at the top of the board with her hand when she is closing in on a win, so her opponent can’t insert his checker to block.
Pure genius, right?
Games aside, the kid is actually quite intelligent. A recent school assessment found that my daughter’s reading, phonics, spelling, comprehension and math skills are on par with the average third grader.
Of course, she is enrolled at a pricey private school, so I wasn’t surprised when the principal didn’t allow her to skip a couple of grades, thereby reducing the amount of tuition I would have to shell out over the course of her formative years, but I digress.
Shortly after sharing the results of my daughter’s academic assessment with close family and friends, the word “Mensa” was mentioned… because, you know, we’re snobs like that… who love to laugh. My brother’s suggestion that I have my daughter tested for admission to the Mensa Club was meant as a joke. Still, the joke would be on him if she got in.
Cue me not holding my breath.
So, what does it take to gain entrance into the elite club for super-geniuses?
According to Mensa’s website, a normal intelligence quotient (IQ) ranges from 85 to 115 on the Stanford-Binet scale. Approximately one percent of the world’s population has an IQ of 135 or over. However, the intelligence quotient supposedly has no upper limit for children. Rather, it is often considered as immeasurable if it exceeds 210.
American Mensa accepts proven geniuses as young as two years old. If you think your kid would enjoy spending time with other child prodigies discussing the tenants of environmental philosophy, then arrange to have him tested with an American Mensa volunteer proctor in your area. Mensa also accepts more than 200 tests for admission, including those given to children in a school setting, such as Otis Lennon, COGAT and Woodcock-Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities.
Who knows, your child could be the next Galileo.