CALGARY – Not quite out of diapers, a Calgary toddler has become the youngest person in Canada to join the ranks of the international high IQ society, Mensa.
Meet Anthony Popa Urria. At two years and nine months old, Anthony has a staggeringly high IQ of 154, just a few points shy of the estimated IQs of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, putting him in the top two per cent of the population.
While most of his peers are singing Itsy Bitsy Spider and drawing crayon scribbles, this bright youngster spends time reciting the alphabet backwards and forwards, counting to 1,000, and listing the planets in the solar system, days in a week, months in a year and the seasons.
He speaks three languages, English, Spanish and some Romanian, can read sentences in books he has not seen before, can write his name and many other words, and can solve complex, 70-piece puzzles, among his vast skills.
On a Friday afternoon in the Popa Urria household, the rambunctious boy seems like any other two-year-old.
Sitting on his tricycle, Anthony helps himself to a heaping spoonful of chocolate ice cream.
“Yummy!” he exclaimed with a sweet smile after the first bite.
But as he peers over an illustrated atlas more than twice his size, points to and identifies the capital city of Madagascar (it’s Antananarivo, in case you didn’t know), it’s clear he is no ordinary child.
His grandmother Felicia, who looks after Anthony during the day while his parents are at work, said she noticed early on that Anthony was an exceptionally quick learner.
“He was very alert since he was about four months old. He was curious, looking around,” said Felicia.
At six months, Anthony’s mother Laura said she realized he could identify letters of the alphabet.
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“He wasn’t even speaking yet, but my mom would have three flash cards up and she would say, ‘Pick the letter C,’ and he would point to it,” said Laura, who holds four degrees, including a masters of economics.
By 10 months he was sounding out the alphabet.
At first, Laura said she was skeptical. She wondered if her son was simply memorizing the letters without comprehending them.
But then she saw him manipulating wooden blocks with painted letters, turning a ‘W’ upside down to resemble an M, or inverting the number 7 to look like an L.
“He actually recognized the relationships, and I thought, ‘Well, that’s impressive,’” she said.
Now, Laura said her son will test her.
She recalled a recent incident while watching her son playing with block letters. She saw him spell the word “seal.” Then he took the A out of the word and placed it nearby.
“He asked me, ‘Mommy, which one’s missing?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know. You tell me.’”
Anthony took the A and placed it in the missing spot, while Laura said she continued to play dumb, asking him what the word meant.
“He said, ‘It’s seal,’ while looking at me like, ‘What’s wrong with you? Don’t you know that?’ she said with a laugh.
Moments like that, and many others similar ones, made her realize she needed to get her son assessed by an expert.
In February Laura took him to London to have his IQ tested.
“We wanted him to be tested to give him better opportunities,” said Laura. “I knew he was smart, but he’s smart compared to the norm. I just wanted to see exactly how smart he is compared to other kids.”
Anthony met with esteemed British psychologist Dr. Joan Freeman, known for her research on gifted people, who confirmed their thoughts.
“Naming alone is a first step in learning, being able to describe the function and selection of items are more advanced skills, which Anthony did well above his age level,” Freeman wrote in his report.
Laura said she was floored when she heard how high he scored on the IQ test.
Although Anthony has a vast knowledge for such a young age, she said, like any two year old, he isn’t always co-operative. She worried that he wouldn’t be able to sit and concentrate for long enough to be tested.
“I was surprised that he even answered as many questions as he did,” she said.
Although she is proud of her son, Laura said she is worried about how he will cope once he starts school. While Anthony is exceptionally intelligent, his emotional development is still on par with other children his age. That will poses difficulties in school, she said.
When Vicki Herd, a national board member for Mensa Canada, first saw Anthony listed as a new member of the society, she said she was convinced there had been a typo.
“We thought, ‘Hey, they must have got the birth date wrong!’” she said.
Across Canada there are only seven other members of Mensa aged 10 and under. The next oldest member after Anthony is five.
Even among the Mensa crowd, Anthony’s IQ score is on the high end, she said. The average IQ for adults is 100, while most Mensa members have IQ’s above 135.
While any parent would be ecstatic to learn that her child has higher-than-normal intelligence, Herd said it’s important for parents of gifted children to ensure they are still able to socialize with other children and learn other important life skills.
“You don’t want them to end up like Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory!” she said jokingly.
Anthony is not the first kid genius to become a card-carrying Mensa member.
Earlier this month a four-year-old British girl with an IQ of 159 became a Mensa member. In 2009, another British child reportedly became the youngest Mensa member ever at two-years and four months old, according to the BBC.
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