What are signs of hyperlexia?

How do I know if my child has hyperlexia?

At what age does hyperlexia start?

Hyperlexia is when a child starts reading early and surprisingly beyond their expected ability, sometimes when they are 18 or 24 months, and occasionally it is not a stand-alone diagnosis.

Can you have hyperlexia and not be autistic?

Is hyperlexia considered an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)? While many books, articles or websites indicate that hyperlexia always is a sign or symptom of autism or some other developmental disorder, our studies, and studies of some others, find that not always the case.

What are the criteria for hyperlexia?

Four features consistently describe hyperlexia: (1) the presence of an accompanying neurodevelopmental disorder; (2) advanced reading skills, relative to comprehension skills or general intelligence; (3) an early acquisition of reading skills without explicit teaching; and (4) a strong orientation toward reading ...

Hyperlexia in Children: Early Signs, Diagnosis and Treatments

What level of autism is hyperlexia?

Hyperlexia 2 consists of children who do have autistic disorder and the fascination with letters and numbers very early as an infant is what is called a 'splinter skill' savant ability.

Is hyperlexia a symptom of ADHD?

A hyperlexic-like style of reading (HPL), defined as word decoding substantially better than reading comprehension, was found in an important minority of female school-age children with a diagnosis of ADHD.

Are children with hyperlexia geniuses?

The Negative Impact of Hyperlexia

Although it would seem to be a sign of genius if a very young child can read and spell beyond their years (and sometimes it is an indication of a high IQ), this is not always the case. Neither is hyperlexia a disorder with only positive traits.

How do you test for hyperlexia?

Although there is no specific test for hyperlexia, a neuropsychologist or other healthcare professional may be able to identify characteristics of hyperlexia in your child by talking with them. They may be able to gauge your child's understanding of language. Sometimes hyperlexia can missed initially.

How rare is hyperlexia?

Hyperlexia is extremely rare. About two in every 10,000 children with "autism spectrum disorders" have hyperlexia, and researchers believe that studying Alex's development may help explain why some children naturally pick up reading the same way that others pick up spoken speech.

How is hyperlexia treated?

The main treatment for Hyperlexia will be delivered by a speech and language therapist who will focus on developing and supporting communication and social interaction skills. Therapy will use the individual's advance reading and visual abilities as a tool for therapy and language learning.

Do hyperlexic kids understand what they read?

They can decode words accurately, but without understanding their meaning. It is most common among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – with approximately 6-20% of children with autism demonstrating hyperlexia.

Can hyperlexia go away?

Hyperlexia III: This type of hyperlexia can show some of the autistic behaviors mentioned above and be categorized as “autistic-like”. However, these behaviors will typically go away. Those with hyperlexia III can have amazing memory and comprehension skills but will have difficulty speaking.

Is being hyperlexia bad?

Research studies as a whole support the hyperlexic profile as a child with good decoding ability and poor listening and reading comprehension (Zhang & Joshi, 2019).

Is hyperlexia high IQ?

In children with hyperlexia the average IQ at first evaluation was 43 and the most recent IQs averaged 94.7.

Can a non verbal child be hyperlexic?

Many children will have communication difficulties, be advanced readers or have a strong interest in letters or numbers. It is the combination of these traits that mean a child is likely to have hyperlexia.

Does hyperlexia run in families?

The high incidence of cases of_hyperlexia in males with a familial history of language disorders points to a strong possibility of a sex-linked genetic tendency to develop this disorder, although hyperlexia may also be associated with a variety of early brain insults.

How do you teach a hyperlexic child?

You can use students' strengths in reading and memory to compensate for some of their struggles. Also, visual aids can help students learn abstract concepts. It is almost always important to make time to explicitly teach social skills to students with hyperlexia, and it can help to use social stories and scripts.

Is hyperlexia the same as precocious reading?

Background: Hyperlexia is defined by a precocious and sponta-neously acquired ability to read at preschool age. Hyperlexia appears to be a wide yet not highly studied phenomenon involving different populations and possibly including children with different neuropsy-chological profiles and outcomes.

What are the three types of hyperlexia?

Rather a whole constellation of symptoms and changes over time are observed in order to read a diagnosis. There are three distinct types of hyperlexia, imaginatively named hyperlexia I, hyperlexia II and hyperlexia III.

Is hyperlexia a superpower?

People with hyperlexia have an innate ability to decode or sound out words very quickly and are commonly known as “super readers”. They generally have a very good auditory and visual memory. While they can read well, they may have verbal communication skills that are below their age level.

Are autistic kids affectionate?

Autistic children and adolescents seem able to relate to and express affection and love more easily to animals than to family members. Thus, parents may observe that the child or adolescent can and often does, express affection for a pet to a level far greater than is expressed for a parent.

What are splinter skills in autism?

Splinter skills can range from exceptional talents in specific areas such as music and math to memorizing the town's garbage collecting schedule; however, these knowns, while robust, are typically disjointed from their typical context or purpose, restricting their use in the real world without intervention.