Reading words aloud that adults scribble on an erasable tablet may not be the way many children spend their second birthdays. But it’s how Isla McNabb celebrated turning two, and it put the native of Crestwood, Kentucky, on the path to become the youngest ever female member of Mensa, the world’s oldest high IQ society, her parents said in a recent interview.
In a conversation published on Monday, Isla’s parents, Jason and Amanda McNabb, told the Guinness World Records website that they realized their daughter’s intelligence should be assessed after an aunt gave her an erasable writing tablet as a second birthday present .
Jason said he wrote the word “red” on the board, and Isla was able to read it back to him, even though she was about four or five years below the age when most children typically acquire that ability.
A shocked Jason McNabb then went on to write out the words “blue”, “yellow”, “cat” and “dog”. Isla confidently read out each of the words, her father said to Guinness, which is renowned for maintaining a database of more than 40,000 world records.
From there, Isla’s parents said they began noticing words spelled out around the house with multi-colored toy letters.
The letters C-H-A-I-R were left next to a chair. Letters spelling out S-O-F-A were arranged next to the couch. At one point, Isla’s parents found their household kitty Booger lying next to the letters C-A-T.
At that point, Amanda McNabb told Guinness she had seen enough. She suggested that Isla undergo IQ testing, and the McNabbs did just that.
“A psychologist [who] tested Isla specializes in gifted children … [and said] he doesn’t usually test children,” Jason McNabb reportedly said. “But [he] made an exception after hearing about her talents.”
Isla ultimately scored in the 99th percentile of intelligence for age on the Stanford-Binet IQ tests. She was 2½ years old.
On 2 June 2022, Guinness formally recognized her as the world’s youngest female Mensa member. Isla grasped that the achievement produced news media coverage of her – she has seen herself on television and sometimes asks her parents to pull up videos of herself on YouTube.
But for the most part, she remains unaware of her exceptionally high IQ.
The McNabbs said they found fewer resources for intellectually gifted children. Gifted children can typically comprehend material several school grade levels above their peers, but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee high achievement or sociable behavior, experts have said.
So to best support Isla, the McNabbs enrolled Isla in Mensa, hoping to connect with other similarly situated parents who could share some information with them. The non-profit is open to people who score at the 98th percentile on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales or other certain standardized IQ tests.
“The biggest benefit to Mensa is the community,” Jason McNabb said to Guinness.
Isla, now three, is attending preschool. She has proven to be especially strong in mathematics and continues to bolster her reading skills with the help of her favorite books, which include The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Pete the Cat.
Guinness said the girl’s parents were seeking an individual education plan for her to get an early start to kindergarten. One reason is that she has been trying to pronounce words that she apparently learned by herself while reading on her own.
“She said she needed to wash the germs off her hands but pronounced it with a hard G,” Jason McNabb said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/02/iq-youngest-female-mensa-member
