First grader, 6, born with hearing loss who started reading at age of two is accepted into Mensa – and his dream is to become NFL player

A six-year-old boy from Louisiana has earned the honor of being included in a society reserved for those with the highest IQ in the world.

Taurian Collins, a first-grade student at JS Clark Magnet Elementary School, has been accepted into Mensa, an organization for people who score in the 98th percentile on standardized tests.

Taurian, affectionately known as “Chunk” by his loving mother, began reading at the age of two, but first had hearing problems that affected his speech.

Jessica Collins recounted her son’s trip in a Facebook post. “When Chunk was two, he could barely say ten words,” she said.

“I had him tested three times thinking he was autistic because he couldn’t communicate and would bang his head against the wall. I was told three times that he wasn’t autistic and that I should just try to get him to talk.

After a visit to the pediatrician, Taurian had his adenoids removed and tubes placed in his ears.

While adenoids, lumps of lymphatic tissue at the back of the nose and throat, help a child’s body fight disease as they continue to develop, they can also make it difficult to breathe and speak.

Before surgery, everything sounded muffled to Taurian, including his own voice.

When COVID hit, the boy started receiving speech therapy via Zoom. But it was during this time that Collins discovered his son could recognize words and read short sentences.

Since then he hasn’t stopped talking and reading, his parents say, and he even qualified to participate in gifted programs at his school.

An assessment revealed that his reading skills were above the 99.9th percentile, his math skills at the 95th percentile, and his general cognitive functioning skills at the 99.7th percentile.

This meant that their intellectual abilities were equal to or better than those of 99 out of 100 students in the same chronological age group.

With off-the-charts test scores, Taurian applied for Mensa, an honor for which only two percent of people qualify.

Despite having been accepted into the ranks of world-renowned engineers and writers, the six-year-old has a different goal in mind.

Taurian wants to become an NFL player when he grows up, with a side job as an astronaut, that is, after he graduates from college.

“He said he’s going to Harvard when he’s 13,” Collins said. KNOE-TV. “So, we’re going to do whatever we have to do to get him there.”

She praised her six-year-old “genius boy” in a social media post, writing, “If you’ve ever met Chunk, you know he’s a character.”

‘What stands out the most is how humble and kind he is. Proud is an understatement, but this is just the tip of what awaits you.’