An autistic Dundee boy has become a viral sensation after he overcame his fear of music to win a singing competition.
Seven-year-old Paul Reid, who also has ADHD and compulsive eating disorder pica, usually has to wear ear defenders to block out music.
But he has been overcoming his sensory issues of late, through a new-found love of Scottish folk songs.
Staff at Kingspark School in Dundee filmed him singing Loch Lomond in class, and sent it to mum Kathleen.
She has now posted it on Twitter and it has been viewed nearly 400,000 times.
Kathleen said: “With Paul, he wouldn’t be just mentally affected by music but physically affected.
“He would just collapse to the ground and he would sometimes claw his face until it bled, or he would bash his head off things until it stopped, it was pretty extreme.
“When I heard they were doing the singing competition I thought, ‘oh God, here we go,’ and Paul started saying he didn’t want to go to school because he knew there would be a lot of singing.
“But since he’s been in that class he has completely changed.
Paul’s new-found love for Scottish folk music
“Within one day his teacher had him writing and then gently started to expose Paul to music, and when she saw he had an interest in Scots music, she and the music teacher started to explore that.
“He just fell in love, and one day he came home and he was singing away to Loch Lomond and I was in shock.
“And from there, every single night he would practise it again and again, and you could just tell he was really enjoying it – but he wouldn’t let me actually watch him, I had to peek through a crack in the door.”
When Paul came home from school after the competition last week, Kathleen said she was in disbelief to hear that he had not only taken part, but won it.
She said: “I just couldn’t believe it, I thought it was a mistake.
“I would have been over the moon if he had even just been able to be a part of the competition.
“I didn’t get to see the video until Thursday and I was shocked, I cried that whole night and I still tear up watching it now.
‘It has opened up a whole new world for him’
“I know the bravery that it’s taken for him to stand up there – and I know he must have been in agony inside.
“But you just see his wee head going up all the way through it, and he just loves it and now he really hasn’t stopped singing much.
“It has opened up a whole new world for him.”
The video has now gained global attention, with celebrities like Robert Rinder – better known as Judge Rinder – praising it online.
Kathleen said: “I never expected the tweet to blow up as much as it did.
“We’ve had messages from all over the world, I can’t keep up with it. I’ve had to use Google translate with some of them.
“A lot of it has been from people who have got autistic children themselves and they’ve said it has given them a bit of hope.
Perfection https://t.co/lJkWiOeMIu
— Robert Rinder (@RobbieRinder) April 2, 2022
“We saw Robert Rinder had retweeted it with the caption ‘perfect’ and we thought that was amazing.
“Then this morning there was actually a message from Robert of a video of him playing Loch Lomond on his piano, and telling Paul that every time he hears him sing it makes him happy inside.”
Paul’s brother Jamie, 17, who also has autism, is said to be “over the moon” for the youngster.
Kathleen added: “If anyone can understand what Paul goes through, it’s his big brother, because Jamie was non-verbal until he was nine.
“I think we were all just glad to have something really happy happen to us for a change.
“Both boys seem to just be taking off now and it’s brilliant, I’m really happy for them.”
Kathleen says Paul is now learning to sing Flower of Scotland, along with plans to learn how to play the guitar and piano.
