hyperlexia - more info (new member)

Hi

thank you for your post. I have assumed that the Uk is lagging behind USA on HL, however, reading your post makes me think  that maybe there are other countries that are far better informed than both the USA and UK......is that the implication?....and if so, where are these countries!!?....I want to move there

kind regards

Hi NAS16367

We are pretty sure my grandson has got hyperlexia of some sort in the mix of his ASDsymptoms. Can I ask how you got your hyperlexia diagnosis ( I'm assuming that you are in the UK). We have only found no one clinic in the North West of England and it is private....the fees are beyond our family even if we all contribute! Frankly we are at a bit of a loss.

kind regards

You're welcome Mireille!! I'm so happy the links were helpful!!

The reason I can say with certainty that hyperlexia 3 does exist is because of the path I have seen my four year old son take.  When my son taught himself to read at 2, and seemed to only be able to understand things by reading them, I didn't think of it as a good thing.  He had all these words and yet was a delayed speaker.  His speech therapist is the person who brought up hyperlexia and even then I just took it to mean visual learner.  Before I knew what HL really was, I tried to take the books and letters away from him. I was afraid it would stop him from speaking.  I was very wrong.  When I researched it, I came across Phyllis Kupperman who taught us that HL's learn to talk through reading.  I did find this to be true because when my son couldn't say something verbally, he would read it, understand it and then be able to connect it to oral language.  If I had known when he was two that an early self taught reader was HL, I would have been able to help him much sooner.  I am not the mom who thinks my son is a savant, however, I do understand that teaching yourself to read at two is an extroidinary skill.  It is also the way he learns.  He is also outgrowing the other characteristics that seem to make people think it's ASD.  However, some kids will not outgrow those characteristics, but they still learn by reading.  HL isnt' just a skill, it is a way of learning.  If I can help families out there better understand their children and how to help them, then I can rest easy knowing they can help their children quicker than I was able to help mine.

I throw this in for discussion.

So, I looked up hyperlexia. Having easily worked out what it means, I thought I'd look up what the 'tinkerers' have to say about it.

When I were a lad, we used to have the Beano delivered with the newspapers. I could 'scan and get' the words from an early age (although my pronunciation was occasionaly slightly adrift) and my Mum used to put my 'reading' skills down to a kid's comic, as in the oft repeated phrase 'who'd a thought it?'.

Little did we know! And still don't, I'm sorry to say.

As in all things ASD, it may or may not be a facet of ASD, according to the little known and even less understood ability that is represented by 'hyperlexia'. Certainly we already have a suggestion of a 'dyslexia' link to ASD.

I didn't come away from my research any more informed than before I did it. I am reminded of what I have often thought of as other crude attempts to describe 'aspects of Homo Aspie' (I think of the term 'idiot savant', for instance) which have been used to decsribe a person with an exceptional single skill that defied a person's general demeanour. It is my belief that this is a very crude way to describe certain 'lucky' AS people, i.e those whose parents/carers identified a particular skill and encouraged the child to indulge that particular 'obsession'.

I think that we've all got skills, and possibly a single, exceptional one each, but that many of us have never had our individual skills either identified or supported. Who knows?

Thoughts anyone?

Hi everyone! I'm from the US and I came across this site. My son is hyperlexic and I'm working to get more information out there to parents. My son is almost five and if I had known more about HL two years ago, I would have been able to help my son much sooner.  If anyone is looking for information on the subject, please visit our website www.hyperlexia3.com.   We are trying to get resources and information out there for everyone who may benefit from knowing more about this.  We are also on Facebook at hyperlexia3.com and we are in all of the hyperlexic groups there as well.  I know the UK and the US are behind in terms of fully understanding what HL is and I'm hoping to help as many people as possible. THe medical community is many times placing kids on the spectrum without addressing the HL aspect of it when needed.  Thanks for listening (reading)!!      

Here's a list of some hyperlexia resources: intellectualizing.net/.../

 Hi cemela,

Welcome to the forum! Not sure if you've come across this page yet on the website?

http://www.autism.org.uk/about-autism/related-conditions/hyperlexia.aspx

Take care,

Adél, NAS moderator