This is Nate. He is four years old and has Autism Spectrum Disorder. Nate loves bacon and vanilla ice cream, in the cone of course. One of Nate’s big abilities is that he has been reading since the age of two! At a very young age, he would point at words and ask his mother to repeat them. Then he started saying them himself. It evolved into him reading books to her, using the punctuation to add real drama to his stories! His family thought it was simply him memorizing words by sight, until he started reading street signs and billboards too! They learned early on that there is a term to describe his passion- Hyperlexia, which is an intense fascination with letters and advanced reading ability, far above what would be expected for a child their age. Nate continues to be fascinated with reading and would rather play with letters and books than most of his toys! Nate’s mom says that almost everyone who meets him says he is a sweet, quiet boy who loves hugs! What a sweet, and smart, little guy!
Big Abilities 