An autistic nine-year-old boy who is obsessed with motoring has gone viral after a TikTok video showed him designing his own 30mph sign. Theo Goodwin was thrilled when he was approached to take a tour of a sign factory after the company heard about his passion for road markings.
The youngster was diagnosed with autism when he was three but has since developed an incredible photographic memory. He can remember every road sign on the 20-mile journey from his home in Rhondda Cynon Taf to Cardiff in Wales.
Theo celebrates his hobby for recalling road signs on his TikTok page which is run by his dad Carl Goodwin, 35, and has over 60,000 regular followers. After spotting his interest in motoring, Nuneaton Signs invited Theo to have a behind-the-scenes look at how they were made.
Adorable video shows the lad - who is still eight years away from being legally allowed to drive - making a custom-made 30mph sign at the factory in Warwickshire. The clip of Theo's big day has now been viewed more than 11,000 times following his visit last week.
Dad Carl, a marketing manager, said: "He absolutely loved his trip and has not stop talking about - he is already planning his next trip. Theo is autistic and goes through a lot of different obsessions from toothpaste to spices. More recently, he gained an interest in road signs and speed signs.
"We often do road sign hunting and look for different speed signs. Every Sunday, we go to Cardiff and he can name every road sign on the journey. A couple of weeks ago we posted a video of this on TikTok and then Nuneaton Signs got in touch after viewing the video.
"They sent Theo a present which included some road sign tablemats, a road sign poster and then they invited us up for the day. Theo made his own custom sign and settled on 30mph sign. They also gave him a massive road sign that lights up.
"He had his ear defenders on and he was in his absolute element. He had so much fun. He has talked about it none stop for the last few days.”
As well as a passion for road signs, Carl admits watching and editing his TikTok videos has helped Theo bring out his creative side. They have even both created a book titled 'New Food Saturdays'.
Their TikTok page called 'Daddy and Theo ' has had over two million likes.
