NORTH OGDEN -- If there's one thing Matt Hall loves about life, it's reading.
The 26-year-old enjoys it so much, in fact, that he spends three days a month reading to preschool children at St. James Catholic Church.
Hall is no ordinary young man. Born with a rare genetic disorder, learning how to read was a difficult challenge, but Hall accomplished it in just a short time.
"He had a teacher who taught him to read by using flash cards," Matt's mother, Sandy Hall, said. "He learned it and learned it really fast. His memorization was incredible."
Hall was born with Smith-Magenis syndrome, a developmental disorder in which part of the 17th chromosome is missing. Symptoms include mild to moderate intellectual disability, delayed speech and language skills, sleep disturbances and behavioral problems. Sandy said she knew almost immediately after her son was born that something was not right.
"He made this little squeak when he would breathe and at first I thought it was cute," she said. "When I got him home from the hospital he kept squeaking. I realized it wasn't so cute and might even be dangerous."
Doctors knew Matt had developmental delays, but it took 17 years before they could put a name to what exactly was wrong.
"When they finally told us the name, we had never heard of it, but when I went home and looked it up on the Internet I knew for sure that's what he had," Sandy said. "I ran upstairs and told my husband that we finally had the right diagnosis."
Sandy said there are only four people in Utah with Smith-Magenis syndrome. The disorder affects approximately 1 in 250,000 people.
"It was just a day-to-day, hour-to-hour thing with us. We never knew what to expect, but as Matt got older he really calmed down," she said. "We have so much fun with him. He has no filter. Whatever he sees and feels just comes rolling out of his mouth."
Sandy said Matt wanted to help little children ever since he was in junior high school. After graduating from high school, he asked St. James preschool teacher Terry Ward if he could read to her class. She agreed.
"He started reading to the kids in October," Ward said. "The kids just love him. It's good for him and good for the kids. He sits in a chair and kids all gather around him while he reads to them."
Matt said seeing the children smile makes it all worth his time.
"I love all of their smiley faces, and they say thank you," he said. "They are adorable. I like kids. They are all so cute."
Matt said he likes to read stories about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Superman and Spiderman, as well as stories about Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving.
"I collect Superman stuff, and I like to ride the FrontRunner. I like 'I Love Lucy' and 'I Dream of Jeannie' and 'Bewitched,'" he said. "I love to help people, and I like people to talk about themselves. I like to know more about other people."
Ward said Matt always asks other people to talk about themselves and never focuses on himself.
"He is just the neatest kid," she said. "He talks about everyone else and is so interested in other people. He's really been an asset to our classroom. I've asked him to come back next year."
Sandy said her son has a great sense of humor, loves to hug people and loves animals.
"He has a cat named Bruce, a golden retriever named Carmen and a yellow lab named Lucy," she said. "This has been a hard week for him because his 20-year-old cat, Zelda, just died. He was beside himself. He has a very tender heart."
Matt is a member of Knights of Columbus, a Catholic Fraternal Service Organization that focuses on charity. He recently earned the fourth degree, which is the highest degree of the order. This summer he is spending time doing laundry, cooking meals for the family, grocery shopping and learning how to handle money.
"He's learning how to become more and more independent," Sandy said. "We set simple goals with him during the week. He really enjoys learning activities about daily living. It keeps him busy while he's waiting for school to start so he can get back to the classroom and start reading to the kids again."
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