Toanga Peita, two with Down’s syndrome loves music and the tot has gone viral on the Internet for his passion for singing.

In a heartwarming video, the little boy who is from New Zealand can be seen watching TV talent show America’s Got Talent and singing along to smash hit, Girl on Fire.

His mom Miranda Shackell, 42, is a special educational need coordinator said the toddler was never fond of watching TV but enjoyed listening to music from an early age with his family, including dad Tyson Peita.

The 36 seconds clips of Toanga has been making rounds on the Internet and garnered more than 14 million views on Facebook and 381,000 likes, shares and comments.

Toanga has two older brothers Dallas, five, and Grayson, four, they often sing along to their favourite tracks. His mum Miranda said: ‘Taonga loves music. He’ll ask ‘Bire! Bire!’ That means fire, as in ‘Girl on Fire’. He doesn’t watch movies or TV programmes, he’s not interested, but he loves music. ‘

‘His dad likes to watch people auditioning for Britain or America’s Got Talent and some of the songs will stick. That was one of the auditions that he enjoyed by Angelica Hale, from AGT season 12 in 2017.

‘He’ll do all the actions as it’s just him copying her. We watch other videos and you can see him mouthing the words and anticipating the actions. He lets us know pretty loud and clear if it isn’t the right song.’

‘Taonga has quite a good memory for lyrics, we’ll be in the car and he’ll start singing along and we think “Where did you learn that?” It’s all part of his way of communicating and connecting.

‘He also signs just about the whole of This Is Me in Makaton. Taonga’s communication is amazing, he’ll shout “Mama, dong! dong!” [meaning song] and he’ll sign it as well.

‘I remember before I had children, we talked about The Wiggles and kid’s nursery rhymes and I thought “Not a chance, I’m not going there. My kids do love some songs like Baby Shark, but they mostly like the music we like.’

Miranda said that music helps divert Taonga from what is going on when he has medical check-ups. ‘There’s been a few times when Taonga’s been in hospital and doctors and nurses are poking things in him and music distracts him from what’s going on,’ she said.

‘If you put the wrong song on, he’ll shout ‘No! No!’ He knows what he wants and how to communicate it. He definitely wears the pants in our house.’

 

 

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