How to raise a kid genius

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A leading geneticist and leading psychologists says you could have the next Beethoven or even Einstein. But, how can you make your little one a genius?

Experts say there is a little genius in almost everyone. It is part genetics, but also what parents do early on to bring it out of them.

Marquis Wincher, 17, knows a thing or two about playing the tenor trombone. He has been doing it since the fifth grade, he says.

Now a senior, Wincher is considered by teachers as somewhat of a musical genius.

"I had people start telling me they liked the way I played," he says.

His parents were also gifted musicians.

Meantime, Catherine Phan has been playing piano at a level well beyond her years. Pham's father, too, a self-taught pianist.

"I can play hours, days, I just sit there and can forget to eat," Phan says.

Mr. Phan says he exposed Catherine to the instrument early on, something that University of Houston Professor Elena Grigorenko, PH.D. says is key to unlocking the genius in any kid.

"That comes from multiple exposures to multiple environments," Griegorenko says. "When a parent sees that click, it's very important that they capitalize on that."

Again, genetics first, and then practice, practice, practice.