Hyperlexia in autistic adults

McFrost said:

if I am looking at something I need for information purposes I can skim through very quickly and get the information I need easily. I think I have a thing where I just recognise the shape of words very fast and don't really need to read them, if that makes sense, but I have no idea if that's the same for everyone else because I have never checked!

Another thing I find weird is that I can read out loud to my kids and be having an entirely different thought process going on in my brain at the same time. I can read pages and pages like that and not make mistakes (although I would imagine I am quite monotone!) and then kind of come to, with no memory of anything I read. Again, I don't know if that is abnormal or not.

I so relate to you on this

I once caught myself reading a student's script whilst writing an unrelated comment - it was very strange!

Scanning academic text is easy, as is assimilating information on unknown and unlearnt topics to be put together for some written piece. I have little understanding of the context/material however the output is, apparently, real and plausible.

LOTR took me three days when I was 16 - and by this time I had read most of the literature books in the village library.  At 55, I ran through the 7 Harry Potter books in 7 days. HOWEVER, once a book is closed I struggle to recall any characters or plot, yet am immediately back in the story once I start reading again.  

Have you tried one of those online reading speed tests? There are different ones and it's interesting as there is both the speed and understanding element. My son is at least double my speed and I'm not a slow reader, but it was interesting as he also had a good understanding too! It's a great skill you have either way!

It depends what I am reading of course but I would say I do probably read fast. I don't tend to so much with books that I am reading for enjoyment but if I am looking at something I need for information purposes I can skim through very quickly and get the information I need easily. I think I have a thing where I just recognise the shape of words very fast and don't really need to read them, if that makes sense, but I have no idea if that's the same for everyone else because I have never checked!

Another thing I find weird is that I can read out loud to my kids and be having an entirely different thought process going on in my brain at the same time. I can read pages and pages like that and not make mistakes (although I would imagine I am quite monotone!) and then kind of come to, with no memory of anything I read. Again, I don't know if that is abnormal or not.

I certainly don't think I am massively hyperlexic, I wasn't a reading prodigy or anything but I feel a very strong affinity for the written word that I have had all my life.

My dad can read books very fast. He'd read something in a couple days that'll take me a month.

Do you remember all the info, or do you just whizz through it ?

I often read sentences or paragraphs more than once. I am not sure why; I think it is because I am trying to create a mental image as I read. 

I am curious because while I can skim read technical documents, I can't with fiction or non-fiction books, so I wonder what it is like?

I am very late to this thread, sorry. I have been thinking a lot about my obsession with words, letters, reading and language though and hyperlexia seems to be an answer. I don't think I was reading at a ludicrously early age but I took to reading very quickly and read a vast amount as a child. As kids we would take six library books each on holiday and I would read all of mine, all of my sisters (hence my knowledge of lacrosse and 1950's girls boarding schools!) and then read all mine again. I would read with a torch under the bed covers for hours after I was supposed to be asleep. I still read a lot now but more of it than I would like is on my phone. I did an IQ test recently and found all the language questions very easy, while others were much more of a challenge.

Regarding the idea that the written word can mask issues with verbal communication, I don't think that I look at it that way. My written communication is way better than spoken so I naturally prefer it as a way to be understood but I don't think I am masking by having a preference. It just allows me to consider what I am saying and decide how to phrase it perfectly. I like to be very clear in my written communications and find it very annoying if someone responds with a question or statement that makes it clear that they haven't read what I wrote properly! All the information is in the task!

My son hyperlexic. Knew the alphabet forwards and backwards by age 2. Could read fluently way before starting school. It definitely helped with his speech. I always had a theory that written was kind of his first language and verbal followed, so is still very much naturally drawn to written word over verbal. Think that makes sense?? Also fascinated by door numbers and car make and model when very young.

Not sure if criteria would be met but my mum who is most likely also autistic taught herself to read by age 3 and could read perfectly by then. I didn’t learn that early but my reading ability was also very good for my age at school and I used to read a lot- at times a book per day even during school weeks - I hate writing though. I’m also autistic. 

I can relate to this quite a lot - very good at remembering numberplates (a fascination with foreign numberplates too....I'm often driving along and spot an interesting/rare plate from abroad coming the other way - and my Mum will say "how on earth did you spot that while driving?") - and definitely prefer written communication. I'm more articulate in writing, and can process written information more effectively. Verbal communication goes in one ear, and out the other.

Nice to be able to put a name to it - Thanks!

I definitely found that when learning French and Spanish, reading it was much easier than trying to decode what someone was saying. 

They say everyone has a book in them and it maybe true, but I don't think they're all fiction, you'd think with the amount of stories I read, I'd be able to write one, but I can't, but I could write a non fiction history book or a cook book. 

I devoured fiction as a child, especially sci fi/fantasy. In stories, you got to read what the characters were thinking/feeling, so yeah I think it helps give you language to talk about things that autsics find tricky. I much prefer written communication because I have a much bigger written vocabulary, where as I can flustered speaking. And we tend to have subtitles on, although this was initially to help my husbands hearing issues, but I do read them. And I as I work mostly online, it does mask my social problems. I don't know if it's related, by when learning languages, the  writting/reading part is the easiest bit.

My son could read by 3 1/2. He constantly wanted to know what everything said, and I always decoded phonetically. So he seemed really bright. Till he got to primary school and he blanked when he had to answer/write anything down. The teachers knew he was very capable with reading so treated him at lazy/distracted at first, so yeah it definitely masked it at first for him too.

I don’t think I would qualify as having hyperlexia, yet I was a very early reader, mostly because I wanted to read the stories in my older sister’s books. I also studied the cereal packets on the breakfast table and on the kitchen shelf and would feel at a loss if there wasn’t something available to read.

I still remember our family car registration plates over the years and noticed, but wouldn’t necessarily remember, other road users registrations when travelling. 

These days, I continue to read a wide variety of material, and to note vehicle registrations when out and about. 

If anything I would say that I was closer to being described as having dysgraphia. I can read text and comprehend the meaning just fine, but as a kid struggled with getting words and ideas down on paper. I hated reading fiction as a youth but grew to love reading as an adult, but would still struggle to write a story if asked here and now in my 60s. Fortunately for me I started in the work place, just as word processors were becoming available on the market.

If any thing mathematics was my thing and probably still is. I could do complex calculus in my head when fellow student were struggling to do it on paper and consulting text books.

I remember having a picture dictionary as a small child. It was one of my favourite things in the world. It was organised by category (people, animals, food, transport, etc.) and it's only now that I realise why it pushed all my little buttons!

Thanks for the memory, Orangegnome.

Oh I think I have hyperlexia. You have described me very accurately there. I used to read my children’s dictionary all the time in bed, I would start every evening at A and work my way through reading the descriptions until I went to sleep. Books are the places where I can escape the difficult times I’ve always had. 

I'm dyslexic and I didn't learn to read until I was 6, but now I'm a wordy person, I was told by an educational psychologist that I have an exceptional vocabularly, so I don't think it's always one or the other.

What I didn't know was that about 60% of my dyslexia was caused by an astigmatism that means my eyes don't see the same mid point, so I miss thin letters between fat ones, like the word mid, I sort of know there's something between the M and the D, but I'm not sure what and it's worse in words such as little where there's lots of uprights. I'd suggest anyone who has or thinks they have dyslexia to have an eye test and specifically ask about an astigmatism, I had corrective lens's at the age of 42 and read the word little for the first time properly in normal adult script, they are so worth it, it's like having clean windows instead of filthy smudged ones.

It appears to be more common in ND people, but there are dyslexic ND people too.

I think have some of this.

My reading age was well ahead of my actual age at school. 

I do sometimes turn captions on for English things just to read them. I write better than I talk. I prefer written things as I can reread them. I don't read particularly fast though.

My communication issues are not from language ability, but from communication style and processing differences. It also allows you to intellectualise and avoid feelings, or at least encode them differently.

It does make it easier to look like you are ok. It also makes it harder for you to know what to do with things you don't have the words for. I think you may become more confused.

Thank you to Damojo TheCatWoman and Expecto_Patronum  for your interesting replies.

I think it is true that autistic people often prefer written communication to verbal, due to processing and sensory problems and because writing gives us time to think about responses. So it can be difficult to identify whether certain traits are due to autism, hyperlexia, or both.

However maybe hyperlexia can help an autistic person mask more because reading lots of fiction novels gives the reader an insight into the thoughts and feelings of the characters and how they respond to situations and issues, which might cause them to act the same way to blend in. Also, in the workplace an autistic hyperlexic person can appear confident in a situation such as giving a presentation, because they are working from a written script they are familiar with.

What I have realised is that I actually understand the written word better than the spoken word. Even when I'm relaxed at home and not having to deal with people socially, I have found that using subtitles on TV and movies gives me more clarity. I can understand written instructions better than verbal ones, even if the verbal instructions are on a recording and I don't have the issue of being face to face with someone.

I'm wondering if it was an autistic/hyperlexic person who invented writing?

I never knew there was a specific name to that! I just remember parents evenings when I was in reception class and my teacher saying I had the reading age of someone in year 6. That’s really made me think now though (about preferring written over verbal communication), feels like hyperlexia could be a trait of most neurodivergent people, no?