Guest guest Posted May 16, 2003 Report Share Posted May 16, 2003 Does anyone in the group have a child that has been tested for Hyperlexia or does anyone know of it? I am interesting in learning more about this in addition to a learning program called fast forward. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 17, 2003 Report Share Posted May 17, 2003 Steve, A while back I posted a question here about hyperlexia and got a huge number of helpful posts in return. You can use the archive search function to find them. Generally, hyperlexia is characterized by 3 traits: (1) an extremely precocious interest in letters, numbers, symbols, etc [often with self-taught reading abilities before 3 years of age]; (2) poor verbal language skills, and (3) significant social deficits. There are many resources out there, including good national organizations in the US and Canada (with web sites) and at least one group: the Hyperlexia Parents Network. There is a big debate about whether hyperlexia should be considered its own syndrome (either on or off the " autistic spectrum " ) or simply a symptom of autism. My own feeling is that hyperlexia is just one of many manifestations of this greater problem called . My own son (28 months) definitely meets the description, as do the highly-visual children of many parents on this list. Garrett knew all his letters and colors before age 2 (we could get him to point at them before he could say many of them), he learned numbers 0-9 shortly thereafter, and also knows many other symbols. One of his first two-word spontaneous utterances was " green arrow. " " Blue O " and " pink O " followed soon. He may be the world's only toddlers who pointed to the " & " symbol in a neon sign and said " ampersand " at 27 months, before he could remove his socks independently or say " Hi Daddy " without prompting. (To those who naturally wonder why on earth any parent invested the time to teach his or her toddler what an ampersand is, let me assure you I never set out to do so. He simply pointed to it in a frame in his bedroom -- like he did all other numbers and letters -- while saying: " wuh? " (i.e., " what " ) -- his way of getting us to label things he's interested in.) I recently read " Hannah's Hope, " a book about hyperlexia available on the Internet. I am currently reading another book, entitled " Reading too Soon. " Both books are interesting, but neither recognizes that this is a symptom of a greater, treatable medical issue. Both books discuss how older children learn much better when teachers, parents, etc., write things down for them to read. When a child shows hyperlexic traits, I strongly believe parents should work with it and not fear they are simply contributing to a bizarre obsession/splinter skill. Draw your child out by joining their love for learning in this area. Reading is truly a lifeline for many of these kids. And as one hyperlexic adult said, she doesn't think there is one skill that can't be learned to a large degree by reading. As my son improves on Dr. Goldberg's protocol, my wife and I feel he is losing his obsession with these things. They are still extremely important to him, but his interests are branching out to other areas. As one mother of a recovered child told me, words and reading are still areas of academic strength with her son, but they are no longer the center of his world. ____________________________________ >>Does anyone in the group have a child that has been tested for Hyperlexia or does anyone know of it? I am interesting in learning more about this in addition to a learning program called fast forward Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 21, 2003 Report Share Posted May 21, 2003 Steve, My son's teacher suggested talking about things he had read a lot and asking questions. I should add that she is not trained to teach " special " kids, so this was her own idea, but it makes sense to me. One thing that I have noticed is that my son is best able to think and respond at night when he is lying in his bed and the lights are off (few distractions). He can just process better. We started playing a little game at bedtime where I would make up really simple little stories (we're talking four sentences) and ask him to interpret them. He loved it because I always gave him some " easy " ones to build his confidence. Then I'd give him one to strain his brain and we'd talk through it. I can't say he has mastered the skill yet but he is better at it. I don't really know of other things available, but there may well be some. Maybe someone else will chime in here. Caroline On 5/20/03 2:28 PM, " Steve Dauby " <sdauby@...> wrote: > Thanks for info: If I look in my crystal ball this is where we will be also. > Do you know of any training cards / or other items available to start > working on these skills. Knowing what you know now what would you have done > different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 Hi- - question for Kim re Hyperplexia -- my son did the chunking thing and asked questions like " what does a pumpkin mean " (sometimes still does but less so) but without the significant interest in numbers/letters etc.. -- from your research, is this something I should still look into? also, for what its worth, my son started making very fast progress after I started giving him carlson's cod liver oil (which I assume has the same purpose as the EFA's etc..) the SLP would comment weekly at how quickly he was now going, and he just got re-evualated for receptive speech and tested above average. 6 months ago he was under the 25 percentile. " There is one thing stronger than all the armies of the world, and that is an idea whose time has come " Victor Hugo Albisa Executive Director National Economic and Social Rights Initiative 666 Broadway, Ste. 625 New York, NY 10012 tel:(212) 253-1761 fax:(212) 253-1711 www.nesri.org ______________________________ Message: 5 Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 23:44:23 -0000 From: " nickshipmama " <hipmama@...> Subject: Not Apraxia...Hyperlexia My son turned 3 in August. When he was 22 months old, he was evaluated by Early Intervention because he only had a handful of words that he used infrequently. When he turned 2, he had 15-20 words and sounds. ASD was suggested. We began a Verbal Behavior program and some bio-medical interventions and he learned 50 signs and some more words in the next few months. At 27 months he started talking and had a huge language burst in the next few months. He now tests well above age level for expressive and receptive language. When he began to talk, he had some mild articulation issues and apraxia was also suggested. I wanted to believe that he mild apraxia and that was the reason for his speech delay and not autism. Over the next few months, his articulation became perfect and he had no trouble saying even the most complex words yet he has some difficulty putting longer sentences together and sometimes, the sentences make little sense. He also seemed to learn language in the Gestalt method - in chunks - that he would memorize, file away, and masterfully apply to situations that he thought would be appropriate. He also had some " scripting " from TV but we were told not to worry because he used the " tv talk " in a purely communicative way and not as a " verbal stim " . We were told it was just another way of learning language. Recently, I came upon an article on a language disorder called " hyperlexia " and had, what Oprah calls, a " lightbulb moment " . While not everything applied to my son, enough of it did especially when it came to his language acquisition. Some of his first words were the letters of the alphabet, colors, shapes, etc. He is still a very good-natured boy with good pretend play, imitative skills, joint attention, etc and has showed no need for sameness, no lining up, no rituals, no meltdowns, etc. Sometimes, hyperlexia is accompanied by ASD behaviors, and sometimes it is not. We now realize that our son has hyperlexia. It has taken 15 months and a great deal of research to realize what was going on with him. Some experts include hyperlexia on the autism spectrum. Some do not and say that it can be a 'stand alone diagnosis'. Whatever the case, we are relieved to finally understand what we are dealing with. Our son's language is growing quite complex and the scripting has mostly gone away and much spontaneous language has taken its place. Unlike many children with hyperlexia, he did not have difficulty in understanding spoken language but he had some of the other features including an intense interest in numbers, letters, shapes, and colors. He does some " decoding " of words but also has memorized many, many words (hundreds). He knows the difference between a hexagon and a trapezoid. He enjoys counting perhaps a little too much...and he can count quite high. He also " sees " numbers, shapes, and letters in the environment - an " A " in the frame of a swingset, a " 7 " in the way the mulch is arranged underneath the swing, an " X " in the rafters of the garage. When he paints or colors, there always has to be a few numbers and letters in there and he will argue with me about which checkout counter to go to because he wants to go to the highest number. :-D Children with hyperlexia have some of the same problems as children on the spectrum - language and social - but these are improving immensely as he becomes a more confident language user. Sometimes, his language is " strange " . He might learn a phrase, " What does that sign mean, Mama? " and then try to apply it to another situation. He asked the question yesterday, " What do pumpkins mean, Mama? " - a case of learning and applying a phrase but not entirely correctly. On the upside, he is asking many, many questions every day and we are hopeful that, given just 1 year ago he had only 30-40 words and now if fully conversational, he will continue to make excellent progress. If any of this sounds familiar to anyone and you'd like further information about hyperlexia, please contact me and I will be happy to send you some information. In the meantime, I am going to continue to lurk here because there is so much great information exchanged on teaching communication skills and many other topics. We are finally at peace in our household and I feel I can finally stop playing Drew trying to solve this mystery. It was exhausting but I am glad we finally have an answer! Best to everyone! Kim Nick (3.1) ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 Hi , It is worth looking into because of his 'Gestalt' approach to learning language. I will send you the article fully explains the disorder offlist. Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 Hi....I think my son might have this...soon after he finally started talking at 4yrs old, we realized he could read. He was reading way above his grade level but comprehension was not there. Actually, he could answer questions about what he read, but due to his delays in expressive lang, he would answer in brief, one word answers... so it was hard to tell. Today, in third grade, he is reading at 5th grade level and the comprehension is very much improved. --also is a whiz at math....and the thing that Ican't get over; he is a great speller...can spell any word backwards too...even the alphabet backwards, really fast! interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 Rita, probably not hyperlexic, IMO, but his one word answers were due to his language delay. I have heard the spelling abilities also, ours does not have that. She does the typical " What does xfmy spell? " The first thing ours read was a sign that advertised tatoos, lol! That is how I knew she could read and was just not memorizing words she had seen or TV ads, as luckily they have not taken to advertising tatoos in our area. But she did know what a tatoo was when I asked her and there were no pictures. Another way I knew the comprehension was there is that she would ask questions about what she read that she didn't understand when she would guess a word due its context. I agree, truly remarkable, in an eery kind of way. Re: hyperlexia > > Hi....I think my son might have this...soon after he finally started > talking at 4yrs old, we realized he could read. He was reading way > above his grade level but comprehension was not there. Actually, > he could answer questions about what he read, but due to his delays > in expressive lang, he would answer in brief, one word answers... > so it was hard to tell. Today, in third grade, he is reading at 5th > grade level and the comprehension is very much improved. > --also is a whiz at math....and the thing that Ican't get over; he is > a great speller...can spell any word backwards too...even the alphabet > backwards, really fast! interesting! > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 I remember being rather startled when my 3 year old middle son said, " Look, Mom, it says 'Professional Building.' " He learned via Sesame Street/The Electric Company. He was the one with the severe milk allergy, who is now a computer engineer, newly married in his 30s. Healthiest one of my kids, too. Peace, Kathy E. On Mar 23, 2006, at 7:22 AM, Cochran wrote: > Rita, probably not hyperlexic, IMO, but his one word answers were > due to his > language delay. I have heard the spelling abilities also, ours does > not have > that. She does the typical " What does xfmy spell? " > > The first thing ours read was a sign that advertised tatoos, lol! > That is > how I knew she could read and was just not memorizing words she had > seen or Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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