Texas 7th-grader with autism gets perfect score on standardized math test

FRISCO, Texas — A Texas seventh-grader with autism loves video games, sushi, and math.

And in math, Cade Elias is a star student.

The 13-year-old's ability in math is unparalleled in the Frisco Independent School District, because he got every question correct on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) program, WFAA reported.

His mother, Renee Elias, was stunned.

"I said 'You got a perfect score on the math STAAR (test).' And he said, 'What?!," Elias told WFAA.

“She looked at the actual percentage and she almost fell out of her chair,” Cade said.

“I did. I just about fell out of my chair,” Elias said.

Cade said the test was not that tough.

"Some parts were hard but most of it was easy," he told WFAA.

During summer vacation, Cade said he plays an app called Prodigy Math, the television station reported.

According to the Frisco ISD, 4,677 seventh-graders took the math portion of the STAAR test this spring. Of that number, only 5 percent -- 235 students -- got every question right, WFAA reported.

"For someone like this child who started as non-verbal who went all the way up to acing the STAAR test in seventh grade -- gives hope and lets people know our children can move along that spectrum and can start with low-functioning and go up to higher-functioning. It takes a lot of education, a lot of therapy, a lot of hard work on their part, but it's possible," Nagla Moussa, board member of the National Autism Association of North Texas, told WFAA.

“I’m a very proud mom. I couldn’t be more proud. It’s a big accomplishment,” Elias said about her son. “This is an indication that we’re gonna get there, and he’s gonna be fine.”

Cox Media Group