Forget counting, letters and nursery rhymes. One super-smart six-year-old Louisiana boy is one of the newest members of an elite intellectual society and has his sights set on going to space.
As a baby, Jessica Collins says her son Taurian experienced hearing and speech issues, which caused her to worry.
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“He wasn’t really talking. It was momma and dadda, and that was a little iffy. I don’t think he was saying ten words,” Collins told KNOE News 8 in Louisiana.
Collins desperately wanted to get to the bottom of the situation and had her son tested for autism several times. Each time, she was told Taurian was not autistic.
At his doctor’s suggestion, Taurian had his adenoids – tissue that sits at the back of the nasal passage to trap harmful bacteria we breathe and swallow – removed and tubes placed into his ears. As a result, previously muffled sounds became clear. And with the help of speech therapy, Taurian was speaking and reading by age two.
These days, the first grader is thriving. Tests showed Taurian’s reading above the 99.9 percentile, math in the 95th percentile, and overall cognitive skills in the 99.7 percentile. He was even accepted into Mensa, a members-only society for people with the highest IQs in the world.
Looking ahead, Taurian says he’d like to go to Harvard by age 13. He also hopes to one day play in the NFL. That is, while he works his side hustle as either an astronaut or an engineer.
“If you’ve ever met Chunk, you know he’s a character. The one thing that stands out most is how humble and kind he is. Proud is an understatement, but this is only the tip of what’s to come for him,” she said in a March 20 Facebook post.
We couldn’t agree more.
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