Internet applauds St. Augustine boy who crushed Braille reading challenge

The internet is applauding an 11-year-old St. Augustine boy who once struggled with Braille but has now become the first student in his elementary school to reach a rare reading milestone.

When a rare disease caused Niklas Ham to lose his eyesight in 2014, his family found that his school district in Michigan couldn't provide the resources their son needed.

They decided to pack up their six children and move to St. Augustine so Niklas could attend the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.

When he began fifth grade last fall, he was frustrated by how long it took him to read Braille books. He was reading approximately 30 words a minute.

His teacher, April Wallace, told his parents that the best way for Niklas to improve was to keep reading.

Part of Wallace's curriculum for the 2016-17 school year is the "100 Book Challenge," a program that requires students to read 400 "steps" for the school year. Each step requires 15 minutes of reading.

Niklas rose to the challenge and, with weekly tutoring sessions with Wallace, surpassed that goal.

Not only did he pass it, he became FSDB's first elementary school student to make it all the way to the 1,000-step level. He now reads 80 words a minute.

Only one other student in school history has reached the milestone, an accomplishment so rare that the company behind the 100 Book Challenge contacted Niklas' family.

His father said a program spokesperson told him that students almost never achieve 1,000 steps by March, and the 1,000-step level is rare altogether.

"He is very unassuming and doesn't think it is a big deal, but he has worked very hard and is very motivated," his father told Action News Jax. "And he has not stopped. He is closing in on 1,100 steps."

Niklas' family said he cannot get his hands on enough books and loves mystery novels.

Many Reddit users have offered to buy him books. His story has been up-voted more than 70,000 times and has more than 2,650 comments.

Niklas' teacher was named the FSDB Blind Elementary School 2017 2018 Teacher of the Year.

Cox Media Group