“When he wants to learn a language, he spends a month focused on it, but he does not speak all languages ​​all the time. He only speaks English throughout the day because he feels comfortable with it.”

Autism-this is what the neuropediatrics said to the parents of 2-year-old Rafael. Juli Lanser Mayer and her husband, Valcir Mayer, were worried because by the age of two their child had not spoken a word, so they were looking for professional assistance.

The diagnosis has been shocking.

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Children with autism spectrum disorder usually have problems with speech and interactions. Juli recalls:

“My other children developed quickly, but Rafael took longer even to learn how to sit, when he was younger. Before he was two years old, he did not interact, he did not look people in the eyes, and he seemed to be deaf.”

The child had several therapy sessions but there was no success. Parents finally received a suggestion to give Rafael a tablet to play with. Although at first the mom was skeptical, she decided to try it out. Her findings were amazing.

The kid began watching YouTube videos in English and as if it were his native language, he began talking in perfect english to everyone’s surprise.

Rafael was mastering English at the age of three. His family spoke Portuguese, however, so they found it difficult to understand each other. Tatiana Schmidt, a neuropsychologist who worked with the boy, attempted to teach him Portuguese, but she discovered out that he also knew the language of Esperanto and Brazil.

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By the ripe age of five, he had already effectively mastered Spanish, Russian, Japanese, German and Italian. All that he did was spend time on his tablet. The most difficult language turned out to be Portuguese, but he picked it up as he started school.

The mother said:

“When he wants to learn a language, he spends a month focused on it, but he does not speak all languages ​​all the time. He only speaks English throughout the day because he feels comfortable with it.”

Now, the boy’s parents attend an English course in order to communicate with their son more effectively.

Father Valcir Mayer is happy about the kid’s progress:

“This can help him a lot in the future. Because autism is a disorder that doesn’t have a cure, our priority is his development through his abilities.”

Rafael loves music as well. He amazed his piano teachers by learning without instructions quickly and effortlessly.

Psychiatrist Rosa Magaly de Morais, a physician at the Institute of Psychiatry at the Hospital das Clínicas in São Paulo in the Autistic Spectrum Disorder Program, describes that hyperfocus is one of the prominent characteristics of individuals with autism. They have the capacity to concentrate on one spectrum of concern and with no distractions give it undivided attention.

While the parents of the boy are still worried about his future, he is succeeding in developing and evolving in a manner that no one anticipated.