2-year-old is Mensa Singapore's youngest member
TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015 10:33 AM

At 2.5 years old, Elijah Catalig appears to be a pretty typical young boy. He loves sharks and dinosaurs, eats ice cream and watches TV, and he enjoys Dr. Seuss stories. However, Elijah is also a little bit different from most of the other boys his age: His IQ score puts him in the top 2 percent of the population.

Elijah's parents recently had his IQ tested after noticing some traits that made him seem highly intelligent. After taking the Standford-Binet test, they found he's more than highly intelligent. In fact, his IQ score of 142 puts him in the genius range. Now, Elijah has joined Mensa Singapore as their youngest member. 

So what exactly was it that made Elijah's parents want to test his IQ? Well, according to his mother, Laura Teo, he started showing signs of high intelligence at a very young age. Before turning age 1, Elijah knew every letter of the alphabet. Now he reads by himself, solves puzzles and plays IQ games meant for 7 year olds. He even began adding and subtracting using single digits around age 2.

"He's a fast learner," Teo told AsiaOne Singapore about Elijah's math skills. "I taught him once and he remembered everything."

How smart is Elijah?
The Stanford-Binet intelligence test found that Elijah's intellect is at about the level of a 4 or 5 year old, rather than a 2 year old. According to the results, his quantitative reasoning skills are very advanced. 

Teo and her husband, Anatoly Catalig, understand the challenges of raising a highly intelligent child. According to Teo, Elijah has been in a challenging preschool program for several months, and they've now decided to enroll him in a math class at the Gifted and Talented Education Centre. Teo says she wants to challenge him, while still giving him the opportunity to learn and grow how he wants. 

"We never tell him that he's smart," Teo told AsiaOne Singapore. "If you give a child too much praise, they may not learn as much and they might stay in their comfort zone." 

Elijah is one of only seven Mensa Singapore members who joined the society around his age. At the moment, he is the youngest Young Mensan in the country. According to the Mensa Singapore website, the country has welcomed about 4,000 members since opening in 1989. Elijah and other younger members will be able to meet other bright minds, take part in activities and improve their social skills by being a part of the society.