Youngest member of Mensa
A British boy just over two years old has become the youngest member ever to join Mensa, an association of people with the highest IQs in the world .
Joseph Harris-Birtill has just officially joined this prestigious association at the age of 2 years and 182 days. To be eligible to join Mensa, candidates must have an IQ of at least 132, an IQ level that puts Mensa members in the top 2% of people with the highest IQs in the world.
As for little Joseph, he started saying his first words at just 7 months old. “We quickly realised he was special. He rolled over at 5 weeks, said his first word at 7 months, and read an entire book aloud at nearly 2 years old,” said Joseph’s mother, Dr Rose Harris-Birtill.
By the time he was 2 years and 3 months old, Joseph could read aloud and fluently for 10 minutes straight, count to 10 in 5 languages, and count forward and backward beyond 100 in English.
Joseph's parents are both academics. His father, David Harris-Birtill, is a senior lecturer at the University of St Andrews, and his mother is also a lecturer at the same university. They let Joseph study whatever interests him.
Little Joseph Harris-Birtill is the youngest member of Mensa (Photo: NYP).
“Joseph is learning Morse code, the Greek alphabet, and the periodic table. He has a wide range of interests, is eager to learn, and enjoys challenges. He is kind, confident, curious, and determined. He especially enjoys complex things, from learning to play chess to exploring new concepts he has never heard of,” his mother said.
According to Joseph's parents, he is still not fully aware of his outstanding intelligence. The family proactively contacted Mensa after noticing some of Joseph's outstanding abilities. They hope to find a suitable community to help their son develop more comprehensively.
Dr Rose Harris-Birtill also expressed hope that Joseph's story would help raise awareness of theeducational needs of children with special abilities.
“Many people mistakenly believe that everything comes easy for smart children, but in fact, they need to be stimulated and supported properly to develop well. Otherwise, their early innate development can be stunted by the pressure of integrating into an unsuitable environment.
Luckily, Joseph has joined Mensa, which will provide him with a community of like-minded peers. This is especially important as his intelligence needs to be stimulated to continue to develop in the years to come,” said Dr Rose Harris-Birtill.
Youngest Girl to Join Mensa
In 2022, Isla McNabb - a girl living in Crestwood, Kentucky, USA - became the youngest female member to join Mensa, at that time, she was only 2 years and 195 days old.
Isla's parents discovered her special talent after she was able to read many words on her own at the age of 2. Isla's father, Jason McNabb, said he was surprised when he wrote some simple words on the board and his daughter read them fluently without any confusion.
Isla's parents were amazed to see simple words arranged around the house by their daughter using toy alphabets. For example, Isla placed the word "chair" next to the small chair, the word "sofa" next to the big armchair, and her pet cat Booger next to the word "cat".
Little Isla McNabb still holds the record for "youngest girl ever to join Mensa" (Photo: NYP).
After a series of signs showing that Isla had outstanding IQ development, her mother - Amanda McNabb - took her child for an IQ test. The results showed that Isla had outstanding intelligence. On June 2, 2022, Guinness World Records officially recognized Isla as the youngest female member to join Mensa.
Like Joseph, Isla is unaware of her specialness. Her parents say she has always had an easy time grasping knowledge far beyond her years. Finding resources to support a child with special needs like Isla remains a challenge.
“A child with exceptional intelligence does not necessarily have high academic achievement or good social skills,” said her father. “We enrolled Isla in Mensa so that she could find a community of like-minded individuals, and from there we could learn how to support her better.”
Isla is now 5 years old. She is especially gifted in mathematics and continues to improve her knowledge through reading.
Britain's youngest member joins Mensa at age 4
Before Joseph was known, 4-year-old Teddy Hobbs from Somerset, England, was the youngest British member of Mensa. Teddy taught himself to read and count, not only in English but also in Chinese. He learned a lot of knowledge by playing with a tablet.
Teddy Hobbs was accepted into Mensa in 2022 after his parents had his cognitive abilities assessed by experts. Teddy began teaching himself to read at age 2, while playing on a tablet while watching TV. Initially, his parents had no idea he had taught himself to read.
“At first we thought he was just babbling nonsense sounds while playing on his tablet,” said Teddy’s mother, Beth Hobbs. “But then I realized he was saying numbers in… Chinese.”
Teddy Hobbs was the youngest British member to join Mensa (Photo: NYP).
Teddy's learning interests change every few months, Beth said: "Sometimes he's passionate about numbers and likes to learn multiplication tables, sometimes he switches to learning about countries and how to read maps, and sometimes he learns different languages through counting."
Teddy took an hour-long IQ test, under the supervision of an educational psychologist, when he was just 3 years and 7 months old. The results showed that Teddy had an intelligence that was far beyond his age.
Even though Teddy was so intelligent that he joined Mensa, his parents still tried to keep his childhood as normal as possible.
“He didn’t know he had a high IQ, and we kept it a secret for as long as possible. When he found out that his friends couldn’t read or do math, he was a little surprised, but he found it simple. ‘I can read, and my friends run faster than me. Everyone has their own abilities,’ he told us,” Beth said.
According to The Guardian/Daily Mail
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nhung-em-be-gia-nhap-nhom-thong-minh-nhat-the-gioi-20250528152057128.htm
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