Toddler Development & Mensa Testing

Cognitive Development

• One way to know whether your toddler should be tested for Mensa is to see how she meets her cognitive milestones. Between 1 and 2 years old, the American Academy of Pediatrics states the typical developing toddler chooses activities that will challenge without being frustrating, is interested in mechanical objects such as wind-up toys and likes to imitate adult and sibling behavior. From 2 to 3 years old, she will be able to match simple shapes, complete simple puzzles and understand that numbers are for counting objects.

Language Development

• Assessing your toddler's language development is one of determining whether your child is intellectually superior. Milestones typically reached by the second birthday include understanding nearly everything adults say, speaking about 50 intelligible words and using a few two word phrases, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. By the third birthday, toddlers can speak in sentences of up to six words and are starting to use pronouns. If your toddler met any of those milestones very early, consider the Mensa checklist.

Gifted Children Checklist

• The Mensa Society of the United Kingdom has a checklist for parents. Mensa suggests that gifted children have an unusual memory, pass many of their intellectual milestones early, read early, love to speak, ask lots of questions, are intolerant of other children, prefer to be alone or with adults, have unusual hobbies or interests, prefer to be in control, are musical and make up additional rules for games. Not all gifted children exemplify all of these traits, but they are likely to at exhibit some of those traits.

Gifted Youth Admission to Mensa

• If this sounds like your toddler, your next move could be to get her formally tested. American Mensa only offers its battery of tests to those 14 years old and older; for those younger than 14, they accept more than 200 different intelligence tests. These tests must be administered by a neutral and qualified person, such as a school psychologist. Some of the more common tests for young children include the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, the Otis Lennon and the Stanford Binet. Your toddler will need to score in the 98th percentile or above to qualify for Mensa.