Two‑year-old British 'little genius' self-learns reading and joins Mensa

Teddy Hobbs resides with his parents in Portishead, a part of the county of Somerset in southwestern England. "The Guardian" reports that Tedd learned to read at age two. His self-education was facilitated by watching TV and playing with a tablet, all without his parents realizing.

Initially, Teddy's parents mistook the tunes he made for adult speech mimicry. Over time, it dawned on them that he wasn't just blabbering; he was counting - but in Mandarin.

"While he played on his tablet, he made sounds that I didn't recognize. So when I asked him about it, he replied, 'Oh Mommy, I'm counting in Mandarin,'" shares the boy's mother on BBC Radio 4's "Today" program.

Teddy's reading skills were revealed to his parents by his preschool caregiver. Now a 4-year-old, Teddy can count to 100 in English and five other languages: French, German, Spanish, Welsh, and Mandarin.

Eventually, Teddy's parents sought assistance from community nurses. They requested to have Teddy's IQ evaluated, which turned out to be an impressive 139.5. The 4-year-old's mom was taken aback by her son's high IQ and remarkable focus.

"I was concerned whether he would be able to sit in front of a laptop for an hour, but he in fact relished it," Teddy's mother told The Guardian.