He is only eight years old and can calculates complex mathematical calculations in a matter of seconds. Tasos Gerantidis, a third-grader from Pella, Macedonia possesses a general IQ of 140 and has managed to impress even the experts with his skills in the three areas of flowing syllogism, visual/spatial perception and of processing speed.
His father, Andreas, explained to the Athens and Macedonian News Agency that Tasos was always interested with mathematics since his kindergarten years and continues on in elementary school, (this year he is in third grade). “We were told by his teachers that they are very good at math and if we had anything to do with it”.
“His disposition to math is innate it comes from within him. He does everything by himself, he hadn’t even been taught the multiplication table and was already solving complex calculations in his head”, his dad says.
Andreas continues saying his son shows some special characteristics and that he sleeps very little. “He stays up late because his brain can’t rest as we were told”.
Although he is too young to take an IQ test, the parents agreed to test him after being urged by Tasos’s teachers.
Clinical and forensic psychologist – neuropsychologist, Dr. Anastasia Christodoulou was in charge of the IQ testing procedure and said Tasos was a “charismatic child”.
In mathematics the 8-year-old prodigy scored an astonishing 148.5 points IQ with the highest being 150.
“According to the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V) test, Tasos is a very charismatic kid, and usually charismatic kids like him are about 1% of the world population,” explains Dr. Anastasia Christodoulou and points out that “he can get into the positive sciences, as mathematics fascinate him. He can become a scientist who can handle higher complex meanings and more difficult concepts than the average person who is just very good at math. Mostly these people are absorbed by very high quality academic institutions.”
“The maximum IQ limit is 160 and Tasos has reached 140,” Dr. Anastasia Christodoulou added, stressing that given his young age, it is clear he is in a special group of top kids in the world.
His father says that “in his class Tasos is a little bored, because they are doing things he already knows. There is no infrastructures and special classes for children who are advanced. ”
So after much thought and consideration the parents decided to move abroad. “We were already enrolled him in a school in Germany, where Tassos will be in a special class, along with three other children who will be attending an advanced student program. There are special educators and we are told that this year he can start in the third grade of elementary school and finish the fifth or sixth grades by the end of the school year. We have already found jobs, my wife is already there and I will be leaving with the kids early in the year, after the Christmas holidays. We want to do what is best for our children as well as our daughter, who is 11 years old, but she is very good at the theory lessons.”
