Alannah George made history last month as the second youngest child to be admitted into the UK's highly regarded Mensa society. The 4-year-old's entry into the renowned organization comes after she was named a genius of "superior general intelligence" with a 140 IQ score, The Daily Mail reports.
Alannah's parents, Edmund and Nadine George, knew she was a "special child" when she was an infant. She said her first words at 7 months and was speaking in full sentences by 18 months.
According to the media outlet, Alannah was obsessed with numbers and words and would recite the alphabet and multiplication tables instead of singing nursery rhymes.
She taught herself how to read by age 3.
Astounded by her daughter’s accomplishments, Nadine said, "We used to read a lot of storybooks together and she just picked up reading on her own. She learnt herself before even going to school. She is coming in on leaps and bounds. It was the reading that freaked me out a bit, to be honest."
Alannah's parents had her tested in January by educational psychologist Peter Congdon.
She scored a 140 on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Test. The results confirmed that Alannah could read at a 7-year-old level and had the spelling skills of a 6 1/2-year-old. She was accepted into Mensa one month later.
Founded in 1946 by lawyer Roland Berrill and scientist and lawyer Dr. Lance Ware, Mensa is an elite society for people whose IQ ranks in the top 2 percent of the population. The average adult IQ is 100.
While the gifted child continues to make strides, Congdon expressed some concern in his report of her test score. "Alannah will benefit from being challenged and stretched in the school situation otherwise she may become prone to boredom, frustration and under-achieved," he said.
Nadine elaborated on Congdon’s findings. "Dr. Congdon was very impressed and said he felt her score could be higher. He wants to see her again in three years' time because some aspects of her abilities could be better. She needs to be stretched. Her curriculum needs to be altered so she doesn’t get bored in class."
Alannah’s parents are thrilled to be raising a genius, but they want her to have an "enriched childhood." Her mother said, "I just want to make sure she reaches her full potential and is happy. That's the main goal. I am in no way a pushy parent so we will support her with whatever she does."
