California toddler becomes youngest American Mensa member with IQ of 146

A 2-year-old girl in California has become the youngest American member of Mensa with a genius-level IQ of 146. 

Fox Los Angeles affiliate station KTTV reported Tuesday that Kashe Quest was admitted to the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world with an IQ 46 points above the national average in the U.S.

Mensa, which was founded in 1946 and has roughly 145,000 members in 100 countries around the world, admits individuals who score in the top 2 percent of the population. 

According to Mensa International’s website, the two most well-known IQ tests are Stanford-Binet and Cattell, with scores of at least 132 and 148, respectively, considered in the top 2 percent range. 

According to the Stanford-Binet test website, a score above 145 is considered “genius or near genius.” 

Sukhjit Athwal, Kashe’s mother, told KTTV that she had begun to notice her daughter’s memory “was really great.”

“She just picked up things really fast and she was really interested in learning,” Athwal said. “At about 17, 18 months, she had recognized all the alphabet, numbers, colors, and shapes.” 

She added that Kashe can identify all 50 states by both shape and location on a map, count to 100 and identify elements on the periodic table by their symbols. 

Kashe is also learning Spanish as she is learning to read in English and knows 50 signs in sign language, KTTV reported. 

Athwal said that the family struggled to find a day care or preschool “that catered to what she was able to do.” 

The mother, who has a background working in education, decided to open up a preschool where she teaches 12 kids, including Kashe. 

However, Athwal said she wants to make sure her daughter “has a childhood” and that “we don’t force anything on her.” 

“We’re kind of going at her pace and we want to just make sure that she is youthful for as long as she can be,” she added, noting that her daughter is still very much in “that toddler stage.”

The youngest person to ever join Mensa is Muhammad Haryz Nadzim from the United Kingdom. He joined the society when he was 2 years and 4 months old after scoring 142 on the Stanford-Binet test.