Pretoria - Child genius Omphile Tswai will be able to start school earlier than the normal age if his IQ score is above 140, clinical physiologist Anthony Nhlapo has said.
However, his IQ still needs to be determined through thorough brain tests. The MANJ Neuro and Forensic Psych Evaluations expert has also offered to assess the 2-year-old’s brain for free.
The Mabopane child, who turns 3 on July 27, was born with impeccable intelligence.
He is proficient in writing and reading and can name geometric shapes.
Omphile reads from books, including handwritten notebooks, and can go through the alphabet, writing every letter down and giving a word attached to each.
Nhlapo was astonished when he learnt about the child's capabilities. He said his company would be assessing Omphile's brain, including a thorough comprehensive neuropsychological interview.
He said while he was convinced Omphile was born with extraordinary abilities, only tests would prove that he was indeed a genius.
He could however also be intellectually disabled, he said.
“It is very rare that you have kids younger than at least 5 years old that have such gifts. Especially because generally boys tend to develop later than girls, especially when it comes to language and verbal skills.
“This is actually a textbook case where you do see kids that have inborn skills or abilities that are extraordinary. We thought we should test this child's brain to check if he indeed has these special inborn abilities.”
Nhlapo will be meeting the family and the boy on Friday for the first step.
“The first part is to do a thorough clinical interview. We will do a very comprehensive neuropsychological interview, where we will look at things that the mother was taking during the pregnancy.
“The tests will also cover if there were any complications during pregnancy, the actual birth, if the baby was born premature or late, if he has problems with sleep and more.
“The second part of the interview will focus on the parents. We will be interested in finding out their own level of education or maybe in the family there was someone who was like him so that we can check from the genetic point of view.
“From there we will do screening tests; for example, drawing a person, which can reveal quite a lot when it comes to chronological age and mental age,” he said.
The child’s motor functioning would also be tested. “We will also be looking at issues of motor functioning, like the hands, because some people might only be good at saying things, but can't for example button up their shirt.”
He said they would also administer a comprehensive psychological test to assess Omphile's brain function, checking among other things how he plans and constructs things, but only after turning 3.
“There is a specific test that looks at different brain areas; how well developed they are. We will check how he performs - we will be looking at his memory if he memorises like a normal 3-year-old. His processing speed will also be looked at.”
Subsequent to that, an IQ test will be done. Nhlapo said he might then recommend that Omphile be sent to school earlier than the normal age.
“If he does perform well there, we will do another test that will give us an accurate IQ score. Any IQ score above 130 is considered very superior and above 140 is a genius.
"This is a school readiness test, and if he indeed performs well there at the age of 3, then we can conclude that indeed we are dealing with a genius.”