A LITTLE Dunfermline boy who has been reading the Press since he was just a year-and-a-half-old has inspired the launch of a support group for children with additional needs.

Three-year-old Freddie Settle is autistic and has hyperlexia – meaning he started to read from an early age – and his mum, Nicole, found that there was a lack of safe spaces to take him where people wouldn't "stare and point".

Nicole says she feels a huge difference in raising Freddie compared to her experience bringing up her two girls, nine-year-old Maisie, and eight-year-old Elsie, and found herself "alone in the whole process" of securing additional support for her youngest child.

To help lessen that strain – and to help other parents who find themselves in similar positions – she has now launched My World Matters, a family support group and space for children with additional needs or delayments.

"I realised I never had a place to take him where I felt comfortable," Nicole told the Press.

"People do stare and point, it's not a nice feeling, I wanted to make sure other parents had somewhere to go as well.

"The feedback has been so amazing, there are children with Down's Syndrome, with epilepsy, children who are just delayed in their development, they all feel comfortable.

"It's so noticeable and so heartbreaking when you're in a public place and people look at you like you are a bad parent. When you have a child with autism, you can't determine what they are going to do if they're scared or nervous about something.

"Even at toddler groups, people say they'll understand, but you can't understand if you've not been in that situation."

She continued: "I know some of them (parents in the group) struggle with anxiety because of the way others have treated them.

"It's about raising awareness and accepting that all children aren't the same.

"Autistic children and children with additional needs often won't interact with other kids anyway, they are very happy in their own way and it's a very calm environment.

"It does help the children for their parents to be calm too, they know how their parents are feeling and can tell that their parents aren't worried."

Little Freddie has been a new challenge for Nicole and husband Gary, with the mum giving up managing work that she loved to stay home and meet the toddler's needs.

And while he is non-verbal and unable to communicate with anyone meaningfully through speech, he is exceedingly smart and often teaches his parents a thing or two, especially when it comes to his favourite topic, trains.

Nicole explained: "He sings in Japanese, he can count in French, he doesn't watch cartoons, he watches educational videos.

"He doesn't watch Thomas the Tank Engine, he watches real-life train-spotters, he loves trains, he can read every type of train.

"When he was one-and-a-half he picked up a newspaper, the Press, and we thought he was just flipping through the pictures.

"Then, one day, when he was two, he started just reading the subtitles on the TV.

"We then went and got bits of paper and wrote down any word we could think of – he could read any of them.

"He has no communication through speech, but he can read everything."

She added: "It can be tiring but it is so rewarding, I'm spending more time with him than I did with the girls, I had to work when they were little, but work's not an option.

"They (Maisie and Elsie) are amazing, they are the future of autism awareness.

"They know more about autism than any adult I know and, luckily, I have an amazing husband so my girls never miss out."

Freddie currently attends nursery at Beanstalk Family Nurture Centre, which Nicole says has been a "huge transition", and it is hoped that he will be able to join his sisters at St Margaret's Primary in the future.

He needs additional help and can only attend for four hours a week, making his time at My World Matters all the more important.

Nicole said: "The most important thing is that not all autistic people are the same, they have their own likes and dislikes, but catering to everyone's needs and disabilities isn't too difficult.

"We always do something sensory-based, we have loud music if they want it, quiet music if they want it. I adapt to the day and to the children there.

"I love it and seeing the look on their faces and their parents when they leave, we're not just a group, we have all become friends.

"It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, if you're born into a society or country, it makes no difference when you need to care for an autistic child."

More information on My World Matters can be found on social media, it is open to children aged between one and five and to older school-aged children during holidays and runs from Viewfield Baptist Church every Tuesday.

Nicole also runs Instagram page adhdmum_autistic son which has amassed nearly 9,000 followers who keep up with her and Freddie's story.