PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – A three-year-old Malaysian boy is currently the youngest member of Mensa or the international high IQ society.

Haryz Nadzim Mohd Hilmy Naim, who is living in Britain with his parents was accepted into Mensa UK after scoring 142 on the Stanford Binet test, a cognitive ability assessment used to measure IQ (intelligence quotient).

His score puts him in the top 0.3 per cent of the population, according to a report by the Metro UK.

His parents Anira Asyikin and Mohd Hilmy Naim, both of whom have engineering backgrounds, never expected their son to show signs of such incredible intellect.

“We didn’t have much experience, so we just thought that’s how kids were,” Ms Anira was quoted as saying by Metro.co.uk.

“It was only when he started going to nursery, we were told he is more advanced than other children, then we realised he was special. By the time he was in nursery, he could read the whole of some of his favourite storybooks,” she said.

Haryz was tested by Dr Lyn Kendall, a psychologist who specialises in gifted children.

“We hope that we can help him to reach his full potential and support him with whatever he does. We didn’t want him to feel under-stimulated, but at the same time we didn’t want him to feel he was being pushed. We want him to be a normal child who plays and does normal things that children do,” said Ms Anira.

At the age of two, Haryz’s parents set up a YouTube channel called Little Haryz, so other children could watch him and be encouraged.

“He is very much a three-year-old in every other sense. He enjoys jumping in puddles, painting, singing, all the normal stuff for a child of that age,” said Ms Anira.

She added that while his favourite television programmes are Story Bots and Numberblocks, he often preferred to converse with older peers and adults.

“Haryz loves to ask questions and talks about space and numbers, and he loves reading books.

“What’s even more remarkable about Haryz’s intellect and love of reading, is that English isn’t even his first language. We communicate with him in the Malay language at home,” explains Ms Anira.

“Haryz has no idea how clever he is,” said Ms Anira.

Haryz’s parents hoped this was the first step in his journey towards achieving incredible things.

“It’s exciting and we are sure this will help him in giving him a little bit of belief and confidence in himself so he can better benefit society in the future.

“We hope we can provide him with an environment that will motivate him to learn.

“The most important thing is that he is happy with what he is doing, and we will be proud of him no matter what he achieves,” said Ms Anira.

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