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Passion for books: Ms Sanguino, 32, later posted the videos of Ramses (pictured in a book shop) on the Internet, where they caught the eye of Dr Diane Powell, a former faculty member at Harvard Medical School

    

A five-year-old savant who is apparently displaying signs of telepathy is being studied by scientists after his mother posted videos online showing him reciting random numbers ‘written in secret’.

Ramses Sanguino – who is already learning seven languages and solving complex mathematical equations – was filmed seemingly demonstrating telepathy at his home in Los Angeles, California.

In the footage, the youngster, who has a ‘high functioning’ form of autism, correctly recounts the value and suits of playing cards, as well as numbers that were reportedly penned out of sight.

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His mother, Nyx Sanguino, 32, later posted the videos on the Internet, where they caught the eye of respected neuroscientist Dr Diane Powell, a former faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

Dr Powell, who trained at John Hopkins University and currently runs a private practice in Medford, Oregon, is now studying Ramses as part a cutting-edge research project into telepathy.

She believes that telepathy may represent an alternative method of communication between autistic children and their parents, who ‘desperately want to communicate with one another, but can’t’.

She is now dedicating her research time to the subject.

She said: ‘I am as confident that telepathy exists as I am a lot of things that have actually been accepted by science. I would never say 100 per cent about anything – but I have seen evidence.

‘In terms of other scientists, they don’t usually believe in telepathy.

‘But I have met privately with many people who have said they would never publicly state that they believe in telepathy but tell me that they have actually experienced it or witnessed it themselves.

‘Many of them say the reason they don’t come forward and say anything is that they are actually afraid that they would be ridiculed or possibly even lose their job.

‘It’s very risky to one’s credibility to take on a subject like this – but I knew that when I got into it.’

In Ramses’s case, he has apparently been able to demonstrate a degree of telepathy with Dr Powell during three meetings.

She used a random-number generator to pick numbers for Ms Sanguino to write down and think about, before asking Ramses to try and read his mother’s mind to guess them.

The little boy did this successfully in the meetings, she said.

Ms Sanguino, who works as an artist, says her son has sometimes been able to recite 38 numbers written out of sight. She vows there is no trickery involved in his ‘talent’, or her home videos.

In another test with Dr Powell, Ramses was able to correctly guess 16 out of 17 numbers hidden out of sight – including one double digit number, according to his mother.

She said: ‘I was amazed when we began testing Ramses. We do have a very close bond which may have something to do with his abilities – but this is beyond anything I would have imagined.

‘I don’t know how to explain it.

‘I hope Dr Powell will eventually be able to give me some answers.’

However, Ms Sanguino’s main concern is helping to find a specialist school for Ramses, whom Dr Powell has described as ‘one of the smartest five year olds on the planet’.

Ms Sanguino says her son can understand and recite parts of several languages including Greek, Hebrew, Arabic and Japanese.

He can also solve rudimentary algebra problems, she says.

He apparently has a knowledge of square roots – and can even draw the entire periodic table.

Ms Sanguino, who is homeschooling Ramses after he kept correcting his teacher, said ‘I knew even before he was born he was going to be someone special who would change the world.

‘Even when he was a baby he didn’t like toys, he just liked reading. He started reading when he was 12 months old and could even say words in English, Spanish, Greek and some Japanese.

‘When he was 18 months old he knew all the multiplication tables in English and Spanish and had learned the periodic table and all the atomic numbers.

‘I taught him some of the languages but I have no idea how he learned parts of Hindi, Arabic or Hebrew by the time he was three. It may have been through the house computer that is often left on.

‘I put him into a school but it was a nightmare. He was the only child who could read in the class.

‘The teacher liked him at first and called him the little professor. But soon Ramses started correcting her on some of her spelling and maths and the teacher began isolating him from other students.

‘I had to take him out of the school and back home with me.

‘He was too far ahead to learn anything there.

‘He is different and people cannot understand the way he thinks. He is obsessed with numbers and will count everything, houses, books, letters, and he won’t move on until he has counted them all.

‘He asks maths questions to the little kids he plays with and sometimes it is hard for him to make friends. I worry that he might end up lonely.’

Dr Powell, who is studying other children around the world as part of her research, hopes to get Ramses sponsored into a special school for gifted autistic children.

She said: ‘Ramses is one of the top five savants in the world. He needs to be in a school for special students so they can utilise his intellect and help him achieve his potential.’

His mother is also keen to expand his horizons – and hopes he may one day change the world.

‘I really hope one day that Ramses will invent a cure for cancer or something great like that,’ said Ms Sanguino. ‘He is so smart that sometimes he scares me.’

‘I really want him to have the best education in the world and be happy.’