By: Ava Austria, Inland Valley News
Rancho Cucamonga, CA — Rancho Cucamonga’s 4-year-old Noah Alford recently admitted into Mensa International, the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world. Membership is open to individuals who score in the 98th percentile or higher on a recognized IQ test. Noah scored in the 99.8th percentile in high spatial and visual intelligence, putting him in the top 2 percent of intelligence worldwide.
For children under the age of 14, Mensa International cannot administer tests themselves, instead accepting tests administered by schools, testing facilities, or private psychologists, typically for gifted education placement. Noah was evaluated by a private psychologist following the observations made by his parents of his intelligence, which proved to be out of the ordinary.
Noah first started exhibiting signs of brilliance at age 1, when his parents, Me’Copious and Anabel Alford, first took notice of his exceptional intelligence during bath time.
“It started with a moment when he was in the bathtub. He has all these alphabet letters, and they’re various colors, and they were all submerged in the water. Let’s say I asked him for the letter G, and he said, ‘The blue one?’ And he memorized every single letter,” said Me’Copious Alford, describing the moment when Noah displayed strong memorization and visual intelligence.
Alford also highlighted Noah’s unique way of being self-taught, stating, “One thing I could say that’s interesting about Noah is that he’s basically self-taught, so a lot of this stuff, it feels like we just woke up one day and he kind of knew it. For example, his reading and his outstanding number ability.”
Today, Noah is reading at an 8- to 10-year-old level and excels in mathematics, displaying an astute ability to perform multiplication. As a Mensa member, he’ll begin to participate in a multitude of different activities, challenges, games, and contests with other gifted children to challenge his intelligence.
Noah’s acceptance into Mensa International is a remarkable achievement, and the Inland Empire will be watching with pride to see what he accomplishes next.
