A five-year-old boy in Arizona has, despite his very young age, earned a membership in Mensa thanks to his high IQ.
According to the organization, little Bryce Bartlett — a real-life version of TV super genius kid Young Sheldon — is "profoundly gifted," with an IQ of 145, just 15 points shy of historical heavyweights like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Bryce's mother, Jill Barnett, told ABC15 that people the family would meet out and about would notice that something was special about her little boy.
"We used to get a lot of people who would stop us based on how he was talking and ask us 'how old is he?'" Barnett said.
After her son had his IQ tested, Barnett said she was shocked by the result.
"I was speechless," she said.
Bryce began reading on his own at age four — last July he reportedly read 100 books in a single month — and has been able to solve math problems that would confound most five-year-olds. In a video shared by Barnett, Bryce can be seen playing on the ground and building a complex train track on the floor of his room.
She said in the video she left the room for a few minutes to get her laundry and returned to find he'd built the entire track.
Thankfully for Bryce, his family lives in an area where the school district can offer them resources and support to help guide him in his education.
According to Bryce's parents, his pre-school and kindergarten teachers in the Deer Valley School District noticed his gifts and helped them recognize "who he was."
In addition to noticing his gifts early, the district reportedly has also made psychologists available free of charge to help educate parents who have children with exceptional potential for learning.
Despite his seemingly impressive capacity for learning, he's still a little boy and enjoys things that little boys enjoy, like LEGOs and BMX bikes. But he also has a few advanced hobbies as well, like playing chess and learning the piano.
Barnett said that while she and her husband are focused on helping their son reach the heights of his potential, they also have to constantly remind themselves that he's just a child.
"You have to remind yourself all the time that he's five.," she said.
