Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Five-year-old Ramses Sanguino examined by doctors after mother claims he is 'telepathic'

Ramses has been described as a 'child savant'

Alexandra Sims
Friday 06 November 2015 12:10 GMT
Comments
Ramses Sanguino could speak Russian at thirteen months and solve algebra at five
Ramses Sanguino could speak Russian at thirteen months and solve algebra at five (Barcroft Media/ YouTube)

A five-year-old boy will be examined by doctors after his mother posted online videos, which apparently show him displaying "signs of telepathy".

Ramses Sanguino, who lives in Los Angeles, California and has autism, has been described as a "child savant", after being able to speak several different languages and solve complex mathematical equations from a young age.

Videos posted on YouTube by his mother, Nxy Sanguino, show the boy speaking Japanese at the age of two, speaking Russian at 13 months and solving algebra puzzles at five.

One of Ms Sanguino’s latest videos supposedly shows Ramses reading her mind, as he recites several long numbers written out in secret by his mother.

The videos have caught the attention of Dr Diane Powell, a neuroscientist and former faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

Dr Powell, who trained at John Hopkins University, is studying Ramses as part of a radical research project into telepathy.

Speaking to Barcroft US, Dr Powell said telepathy may be an alternative medium of communication for autistic children and their parents.

“If you have your primary language compromised then that would be a perfect set up for telepathy,” she said, “because here you have a child and a parent who desperately want to communicate with one another.”

Dr Powell analysed Ramses alleged telepathy by using a random generator to pick numbers for Ms Sanguino to think about, before asking Ramses to recite the numbers by reading his mother’s mind.

Dr Diane Powell, a neuroscientist and former faculty member at Harvard Medical School YouTube (Barcroft Media/ YouTube)

In an experiment filmed by Barcroft US, Ramses was able to guess three of five numbers correctly.

“To get three of them correct it would be one out of nine, times one out of nine, times one out of nine, which is one out of 729”, Dr Powell said. However, she also stresses the results are not conclusive.

“It’s very risky to one’s credibility to take on a subject like this", she said. "I am as confident that telepathy exists as I am of a lot of things that are actually accepted by science.”

Ms Sanguino, who is not concerned her son may be able to read her mind, is currently trying to get sponsoring for Ramses to attend a school for gifted children.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in