Mensa International

Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It's a non-profit organization open to people who score 98% or higher on a supervised intelligence test.

Roland Berrill, an Australian Barrister and Dr Lancelot Ware, British scientist and lawyer, founded Mensa in the UK in 1946. They had the idea of forming a society for bright people, the only qualification for membership being a high IQ. The name comes from two Latin words: mens which means mind and mensa which means table - a round table of minds.

So what is the purpose of Mensa? Firstly to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research into the uses of intelligence; and to provide a stimulating, intellectual and social environment for its members. But that might be a bit hard for its newest member, William Potter who is 3 years old and has an IQ of 140.

He loves solving word puzzles on his computer, playing with calculators and has already learned some Chinese and Spanish. At the moment he's into map reading and sits with a map on his knee when he goes out in the car with his parents, and tells them when to turn.

His mother, Lyn Goldstraw, runs a toy business from home and send packages all over the world. When he asked his mother where the places were, she bought him a globe and he quickly learnt all about countries and their capital cities. When he gets bored he tells his mother he's had enough play now and wants to learn.

I wonder if having a gifted child is a blessing or a curse. His father David, an electrician said when he started nursery school he went straight to a clothes peg and hung up his coat, he'd spotted his name written above it. William's parents call him a miracle child because he was born in April 2006 with a club foot and was thought to have Downs Syndrome. Although he has a Downs relative, tests prove that he doesn't have it and treatment has cured his club foot.

His parents haven't mentioned anything about his intelligence, worried he may be bullied or made to feel different. There is little help available for parents with gifted children and they are pleased that he's now a member of Mensa, hopefully he'll be able to solve the problems of the world one day with other highly intelligent folk. And just maybe they'll come up with something wonderful.