While most six-year-olds are still learning to read - this boy is studying at university.

Child prodigy Justin Chapman has become the youngest ever student at New York state's Rochester University.

He has been rated "way beyond genius" by IQ experts.

Justin began studying an introductory history course called The Ancient World at the university this year. He has already earned a B grade for a paper on Babylonian creations, myths and Homer's epic poem The Iliad.

Justin's mother Elizabeth first recognised her son's profound intelligence when he kept crying at school - because he was so bored with the games the other children were being taught.

Online learning

She started teaching him at home because local schools could not cope with his fast learning. .

Rochester University runs a programme enabling high school juniors and seniors to attend courses to notch up credits.

Justin, who lives in Penfield, New York, obtained status as a junior through Cambridge Academy, a correspondence school in Ocala, Florida.

He also is taking online courses in English and nutrition at Monroe Community College in Rochester, and is learning physics through an internet programme for gifted children at Stanford University.

His mother said: "He's doing good but it's a lot of work. It's a lot of reading.

"I wait outside the classroom. I don't like history."

Justin, who began reading at the age of two, said: "I love learning. It just occurs at a faster pace for me."

Child psychologist Dr Robert Butterworth has warned Justin may become emotionally stunted if he does not take part in normal children's activities like playing.

But his mother has hit back by saying Justin's life is not dominated by studying - he also enjoys swimming, camping, fencing and fishing.

Website launch

He has also recently launched his own website.

The director of Denver's Gifted Development Centre Linda Silverman, said Justin's intelligence was probably unique.

She said: "We don't know how he'll test because he's beyond what we're set up to test."