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Remarkable Five-Year-Old Overcomes Condition To Wow Millions Of Social Media Fans

A remarkable five-year-old who learned to read before he could walk has wowed millions of people online with his photographic memory and ability to write in 10 different languages.

When tiny Sebastian Esposito was 18 months old, he became obsessed with a wooden letter puzzle and began spelling out words like cat and dog.

He went on to write more than 200 words by the time he was two, as well as learning the entire Russian alphabet and subsequently sharing his gift on TikTok with 400,000 followers.

Now five and in kindergarten, where his classmates are still learning their ABCs, Sebastian has a reading age of 18, has memorised the Greek, German, Armenian, and Turkish alphabets and can recite the entire periodic table of elements by heart – although he cannot yet tie his shoelaces.

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Proud dad Ryan Esposito, 30, a mine worker, said:

“Every parent thinks their child is special. But I knew Sebastian was really special.

“When he started to spell words backwards, I thought maybe he was an alien. And he picked up all these words so quickly. It was incredible.

“We think he has a photographic memory. Anything he sees he just stores in his head and never forgets it.”

Sebastian has a condition called hyperlexia, which is when a child has a reading ability well in advance of their age and has a fascination with numbers or letters.

He was diagnosed aged three as well as being found to have autism, a developmental disability which affects how people communicate and interact with the world.

@litttle.einstein

unboxing from @mrs.bench fidget toys! thank you so much he loves it! #fidgettoys #autismawawarness #hyperlexia #ByeByeSundayBlues

♬ original sound - Litttle.einstein

When Sebastian’s family first started posting videos of him online, it was to raise awareness of his condition and they never expected the short clips to go viral – with some attracting nearly 20 million views.

The most popular TikToks, which he posts under the name @litttle.einstein, often show him writing out an entire alphabet or every font on Microsoft Word, as well as listing every country and capital in the world from memory.

Ryan initially tried to engage in more “traditional” father-son activities with Sebastian, like playing with toys or throwing a ball about, but he realised that his little boy’s true passions were reading, writing and learning new languages.

You can follow Sebastian’s videos on Instagram or TikTok.

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