VietNamNet Bridge – A four-year-old autistic boy in Chu Prong district of the Central Highland province of Gia Lai has become famous for being able to read though he has never been taught reading.

Born in March 2009, Pham Hong Phuoc began showing symptoms of autism at the age of 1. Phuoc’s parents took him to big hospitals in Hanoi and HCM City for examinations. Doctors confirmed that Phuoc suffered from autism.

Over one year ago, the boy unexpectedly talked a lot and became extremely active.

Over five months ago, Phuoc’s parents were surprised at seeing their autistic boy quickly and clearly read questions of the Who is millionaire game show on television.

Phuoc’s father, Mr. Tho, gave him several sheets of a calendar and numbers to test his son. Amazingly, the boy could read them easily.

Phuoc can not only read easily but also has a very good memory. Watching “Do Re Mi,” a singing contest for kids on television, the boy immediately remembered the show phone number. He called the show operator the next day with his father’s cell phone.

Tho said Phuoc’s teacher at his kindergarten was very surprised about the boy’s ability. The father said his family was “revived” because their autistic son became active.

The boy has become very famous in his hometown. He is called “child prodigy.” Local people flocked to his house to see the special boy.

VietNamNet’s correspondents saw the boy at his home and gave him a newspaper for testing. Phuoc could read the newspaper very easily. He could even differentiate numbers of different types, for example date, vehicle license numbers, cardinal numbers to have different reading types. He could also read the percentage character (%). For cardinal number, Phuoc could count in tens of thousands.

Phuoc is the second child. His sister is a fifth grader but her reading and memory are inferior to her brother.

Tien Thanh