At age 2, I taught myself how to read.
Before Speak & Spell® or any other type of computerized learning devices, I remember being turned loose with alpha-numeric-image association flashcards to play with by myself.
Reading at an earlier age than normal is called Hyperlexia. There are Hyperlexia Types I, II and III, although I fortunately lack the more negative aspects, like incomprehension or the inability to verbalize, even though I had select-mutism. This ability includes being able speed read and total recall what I read. The novelty of the ultra-early ability to read gradually ages out and isn’t so extraordinary after one’s own peer group eventually catches up to the reading level.
When was a little older, I won several reading awards in the State of Texas library system (which I will post here when I locate the newspaper article just to prove it), which involved reading hundreds of books each month and then taking an oral exam administered by the librarians who would randomly name the titles of the books of which I was to recall the characters and plotlines of each story and even answer specific questions about details within the story.
More about Hyperlexia, which can be an ability on the autism spectrum or just a special ability in non-autistics:
