Mensa Just Welcomed Their Youngest Member—a 2-Year-Old From Kentucky

A two-year-old just joined Mensa.

Yes, really.

If you're unfamiliar, Mensa is an elite society for people who score in the 98th percentile or higher on at least one of more than 200 standardized, supervised, or other approved IQ tests.

According to Mensa's website, there are members in more than 90 countries around the world. The youngest—and one of the newest—members resides in Crestwood, K.Y. Her name is Isla McNabb, and there's a 104-year age gap between the toddler and the society's oldest member.

According to her parents, little Isla began to boast big language skills early in her life.

"She just had an affinity for the alphabet," Isla's father, Jason McNabb, told Local 12 WKRC-TV. "She really loved the alphabet, and she started sounding out the different letters. Then we started out with some simple words, and she sounded them out."

When Isla blew out her candles on her second birthday, she was reading at a kindergarten level.

Her mother, Amanda McNabb, found a psychologist to conduct an IQ test. Many parents think their kids are little geniuses, but it turns out Amanda and Jason were onto something. Isla scored in the 99th percentile at the age of two and a half.

Amanda and Jason alerted the powers that be at Mensa, and now Isla is a member.

The toddler can read, write, count backward and forward, and do simple subtraction problems. But her parents swear that she's still a typical kid otherwise. She loves Blippi and Bluey, playdates with friends, and her cat named Booger. Jason says they're still potty training her—hey, what's the rush?

If you're feeling insecure because your two-year-old child is still working on counting to three—don't. Children all develop at different paces, and IQ isn't the be-all and end-all. That said, there are some fun ways to foster intellectual growth in your child, including:

• Socialize. Make eye contact and have "conversations" with your child by pausing so they can speak too.
• Play games. Obstacle courses and follow the leader can build problem-solving and motor skills.
• Have a letter of the week. Sesame Street does a "letter of the day." You can do something similar with your child by picking one letter of the alphabet each week and using it to shape activities, such as reading books that begin with the letter "H" and cutting food into that shape.
• Read. Does your child want you to read The Little Engine That Could over and over again? It's a good idea to oblige. Scientists say reading books a couple of times in a row helps children as young as eight months with language skills.

Your child may not wind up earning entry into Mensa, but they can learn that learning is fun by bonding with you.