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Britain's cleverest two-year-old with an IQ to challenge Einstein
Kiran Randhawa30 Apr 2009
A two-year-old girl has been hailed the cleverest child in Britain with an IQ almost as high as Einstein's.
Elise Tan Roberts, who was walking at eight months, can recite the phonetic alphabet and knows the capital of nearly every country. At two years, four months and two weeks old, she is the youngest member of Mensa.
Her IQ of 156 is two points higher than Carol Vorderman's, and only a few points behind Einstein's, believed to be 160. The average IQ is 100, putting her comfortably in the top 0.2 per cent of children her age.
Elise's parents, Louise and Edward from Edmonton, say their daughter's extraordinary talent often takes them by surprise.
Mrs Roberts, 28, who works part-time for a removal company and supermarket, said: "It's nothing to do with me. She just says things and you have no idea where she got it from. I don't set out to teach her loads of stuff, she just enjoys learning and picks things up. She's always on the go, she never stops."
Elise was born eight days late at University College Hospital. Soon after, her parents realised she was different. She was little more than five months old when she looked her father in the eyes and called him "Dada". Three months later she was walking and two months after that she was running.
Before her first birthday she could recognise her written name and by 16 months she could count to 10. She can now do it in Spanish.
It was when Mrs Roberts saw a TV programme about gifted children that she called Professor Joan Freeman, a specialist educational psychologist, to assess her. After a 45-minute test, Professor Freeman concluded Elise was "more than very bright and capable - she is gifted".
Mr Roberts, 34, who is self-employed buying cars for garages, said: "Our aim is to make sure she keeps learning at an advanced pace. We don't want to make her have to dumb down to fit in. But she's still my baby. I want her to be happy and enjoy herself."
Carol Vorderman said: "I think it's fantastic. I hope she's the youngest to do GCSE Maths, she'll probably do it by five." Mensa chief executive, John Stevenage, said: "She is an exceptional child."
Reader views (22)
I taught myself to read as an infant. By my first day in school, I was already reading novels at a grade six level. I could defeat entire schools of kids several grades my senior in math competitions. At eight years old, I knew enough about science to authoritatively correct adults who thought they could see Apollo eight on it's way to the moon and inform them that what they were seeing was actually Venus. I say this not to toot my own horn, but rather to illustrate a point from my own experience.
I grew up a total mess. It wasn't because I was smart that I was a mess, nor was it because I got lots of fawning over. It was rather because I grew up in a system that valued equality over all. All children must go through the same system, the slower ones getting special attention and the gifted ones fending for themselves. The 'education' I was exposed to was so trivially easy for me that I would literally sleep through those few classes I deigned to show up for. I was so deathly bored, I became a 'problem child'.
Throughout my childhood I was never challenged. While I was praised for my intellect, very little was ever said about my lack of effort. I never needed effort. I grew up never leaning to make any effort, never learning that kind of self discipline.
Gifted children need to be challenged, they need to be educated in an environment that takes their intellect for granted, in which it is NOT special, in which they must make effort to excel among their peer.
- Peter Cohen, Montreal, Canada, 04/05/2009 17:08
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It's really too bad that their parents would pushed her onto a media attention, this could be the Beginning of her End.
Adults are completely brainless at all time, i hope she does well to fend herself against people around her especially in this system of things.
- Joey, USA, Connecticut, 02/05/2009 06:24
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As someone who has an IQ in the top 2% of people my age, I know what it's like to be looked at strangely. Let this little girl grow up away from cameras, please. Feeling like the odd one out as a child is a very painful experience. When people discover that I'm quite intelligent (usually after listening to my vocabulary), they automatically treat me differently. They assume I will think they're stupid, and they become very distant. Don't make her go through any more social isolation than she has to.
- S, USA, 02/05/2009 04:49
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Good - I hope you get the support you need. As the mother of a very exceptional child (who was putting together 50 piece puzzles and reading at age 2 1/2), I have found that it is harder than hard to get schools to offer something more than the standard. Here, all the extra education money goes towards the lowest 10% with practically nothing left over for the above and way above average. Even the homeschool programs will only let you advance a year beyond your age grouping. What to do with a seriously bright and curious child? We just try to keep up with everything he's interested in learning - chess at age 4 and 5, begging a piano teacher to take him earlier than normal because, yes, he can sit still and yes, he does want to learn, buying the Alex Rider novels for a 7 year old...etc. etc....Its a challenge - a wonderful, difficult, educational, humorous, frustrating challenge and I wish you all the luck and support you can get- especially if, like us, you have other children. Good luck and enjoy!
- Dee, Pa, USA, 02/05/2009 01:46
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"IQ is a measurement of the ability to do IQ tests. It's about as indicative of "intelligence" as an ability to crack nuts open with one's teeth is indicative of physical strength."
Scores in culture fair IQ tests, like the one Mensa uses, show a strong correlation to academic success, which is a very good indication that something objective is being measured. Culture fair tests measure persons ability to see abstract relations between symbols and shapes. This ability is very much at the core of the capacity to find meaning in chaotic data and to use this data to solve problems as a consequence.
This comment seems to be an example of the widely popular antipathy against IQ tests and there is very little scientific data to back it up. It is certainly true that every possible capacity of a human being cannot be described by IQ tests, but the sort of mental ability needed to excel in academic problems certainly connects strongly with IQ. This is also the type of mental function we usually equate with intelligence.
- Daeniken, Helsinki, 01/05/2009 02:31
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IQ is a measurement of the ability to do IQ tests. It's about as indicative of "intelligence" as an ability to crack nuts open with one's teeth is indicative of physical strength. It's a shame that this child's parents have pushed her into the limelight, and it will turn out very badly if they keep her there.
- Nigel, London, 30/04/2009 18:02
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Poor girl. The pressure is on and she is under the spotlight already. Let kids be children until they mature and then make decisions about thier own lives. Social skills are much more important in life than qualifications. Every been trapped at a party with a
"geek"? So you'll know what I mean.
- Maya, London, 30/04/2009 16:55
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Here is an article about a two year old child and the comments from what I assume are educated adults are just dreadful. When did we start belittling children and calling them freaks because they may be gifted? All this angst against a two year old child. Come on you lot - grow up - you are behaving like school ground bullies.
- Kim, Lancing, West Sussex, 30/04/2009 16:42
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So, she's a tape recorder, that's not intelligence. Intelligence can be many things but most people think itis about making links between disparate things but is the most intelligent person the one who can do a few party tricks like Mensa members over the space of minutes with very controlled settings or people who can spot patterns over many years or so while living normal lives? I would say the latter. Most Mensa people I know are mentally subnormal in many ways, this little girl has more chance of ending up in an asylum not because she is put down by her peer group, though that may well happen, but because she can't rise above her tape recorder Aspergers type syndrome and do what normal kids do over years, spot patterns in the only things that really matter, other people's behaviours.
- John, Aberdeen, UK, 30/04/2009 16:30
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Considering Carol Vorderman only ended up with a 2.2 in maths I wouldn't get too excited yet.
- Investment Banker (With A Phd), London, United Kingdom, 30/04/2009 14:33
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I count 1 to 10 in 4 different language, can draw the world map from memory and correctly identify every countries including capital cities at age 8, can also recite the 12 times table backward at age 11 yet I am no Mensa. Some people might have a good memory but how much does a 2 year old would have learned in just 24 months? Intelligent comes with lifetime of experience and knowledge something a child of 2 has a long way to go no matter how smart he/she is.
- Simon, Liverpool, 30/04/2009 14:25
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Freak.
- Joe, london, 30/04/2009 13:30
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> How is it that not one women has ever becomr a grand master at chess?
Only because of your ignorance. Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r. The phenomena is called 'deliberate practice' and outcome highly depends on her parent's effort
- Yuriy, UK Kingston-upon-Thames, 30/04/2009 13:29
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I hear she's working on an avian culture rational to tackle this new Swine 'flu. Once she' s taken her Masters in Toxicology tomorrow, that is.
- Paul, London, 30/04/2009 13:22
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GParker and Decency, you utter morons. There have been a number of female chess grandmasters, including Judit Polgar, one of the youngest grandmasters ever. Why don't you make sure that you at least have your facts straight before mouthing off with your sexist nonsense?
- H, London, UK, 30/04/2009 13:04
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Let's just hope the parents let her have a balanced childhood and don't pack her off to University at 12...she needs to develop social skills at a normal pace, regardless of how gifted she is academically.
- Anna, S.E. UK, 30/04/2009 12:57
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I hope she finds a way to put her intellect to good use. Why politics? What about Science and/ or the Arts?
- Sarah, london, 30/04/2009 12:46
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She clearly isn't Britain's brightest two-year-old, since if she's in the top 0.2 per cent there must be at least 1,100 two-year-olds in the country as bright or brighter. And you don't have to be a genius to work that out ...
- Terry Collmann, London GB, 30/04/2009 12:32
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Gparker, maybe because they choose to have a life instead?
Well done Elise! and agree with "Elise for PM"!
- Marianne, SW France/London, 30/04/2009 11:07
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How is it that not one women has ever become a grand master at chess?
- Gparker, auckland new zealand
Because you need to control your emotions to be a grand master......
- Decency, London, UK, 30/04/2009 10:40
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Elise for PM! We could do with some intellectuals in government, especially ones that can name every capital city!
- Neil, London, London UK, 30/04/2009 10:27
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How is it that not one women has ever becomr a grand master at chess?
- Gparker, auckland new zealand, 30/04/2009 10:05
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