What Is Hyperlexia?
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- Опубліковано 19 січ 2023
- What is hyperlexia? In this video I'm exploring;
- the three types of hyperlexia
- is hyperlexia connected to autism?
- my own experiences with advanced reading as a child and how that impacted me
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i was a hyperlexic kid :) i was reading by 2 and reading chapter books by 3. unfortunately i was told i was "gifted" and put on a pedestal, which really messed me up, i think
I think it's weird I was opposite. My mom is a narcissist and downplayed most things that I did on my own so she said the school system was just incorrect about how far ahead I was I thought everybody was ahead in reading levels. Even though I was reading at college level by 6th grade.
@@ari3lz3pp This comment just breaks my heart. Sending sympathy for that experience!
I was also hyperlexic. I was reading ahead of my grade's reading level for the entirety of elementary and middle school. High school is when my peers started catching up. I had to get special permission in elementary school and some of middle school to be able to check out the "advanced" books that I wanted to read.
I don't know if you're familiar with "AR" (Accelerated Reading -- maybe a thing in the US?) but I usually held the top score in my elementary school. My school kept a leaderboard in one of the hallways, so everyone could see I was in first place.
These childhood experiences definitely went to my head! I think it's safe to say that I'm over it, now, though. But it was definitely hard to realize that I wasn't actually so special after all.
I was diagnosed autistic late, at age 30.
My daughter is 3rd gen Autistic. At three she MADE me teach her to read. In third grade her teacher gave her young adult books. My son also autistic had a VERY hard time reading. It was not until I was diagnosed at 51 when they were grown I figured out they were too. She with hyperlexia and he with dyslexia. It is funny how all the sudden EVERYTHING makes perfect since.
I'm a hyperlexianista lol. The problem comes once I open my mouth. The way I speak does not reflect what my brain is doing. It's almost like my brain looks at my mouth and says "I don't know her" lol. As a result, ppl talk to me and explain things to me like I'm a idiot. Its extremely annoying.
I believe that's known as dysphasia, when the brain and the tongue refuse to cooperate with one another.
I find that text reads itself to me almost, like out in the world with advertisement billboards and things I don't want to be reading, but do, simply because my eyes passed them
Oh my gosh, same, my whole life.
What an interesting statistic! My mum taught me to read at age 3, and by age 5 I was reading full-length chapter books (Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew). I stayed multiple grades ahead throughout my schooling, but have also been good at spelling and composition. I’m a very fast reader, usually at about 700 wpm. Makes me more determined to get an assessment.
I have that! I've always been a good reader. Reading advanced stuff, reading the dictionary and encyclopedia for fun, etc. But I've always struggled with speech.
And I started reading really early too.
never heard of the term hyperlexia until today. I also learned to read by age 3 or 4ish (my mom's memory is unclear), was reading books by the time i entered kindergarten, etc. Interestingly, most words became "sight words" for me -- i didn't actually bother to sound them out, i just recognized the particular jumble of letters and moved on. My spelling is also atrocious. I usually know what letters belong in a word, but don't know how many (two f's or one?) or what order.
I was also hyperlexic at a young age and then other people caught up by 3rd grade. I could read when I was 4 but not figure out numbers without significant learning assistance. Luckily my parents didn't make the mistake of making a big deal about it at the time, they only told me much later how I developed with reading. But realizing that some of my development wasn't "normal" helps me understand some of my issues with functioning as an adult today. I will get diagnosed for ADHD this summer, possibly I have mild autistic traits (my sister has Autism), but the masking is so successful that it took me a while to even suspect I might have underlying conditions. I "function", but it takes so much work that I get very tired and can't do it full-time (I also have chronic fatige syndrome but I suspect the neurodivergence at least contributes to the fatigue). "Normal" structures drain me, "chaos" helps me thrive, it's interesting. Anyway, thank you for the videos you share, I probably wouldn't have sought out a diagnosis if it weren't for ADHD/Autism channels, such as your channel.
When I heard about hyperlexia for the first time, I knew immediately it describes me. In 3rd grade, I tested at college level reading comprehension. I ran out of books to check out from the school library and started in on the adult section of the public library. I also have sensory needs and other autistic traits. I did not know the criteria you mentioned about difficulties with auditory and verbal processing. That is so true for me. I can read and write very quickly with high comprehension, but my comprehension absolutely plummets when someone is relaying information verbally, especially without visual aids or PowerPoint notes.
I have been diagnosed with ADHD at age 40. I too had hyperlexia - I was reading before the start of school and was reading at a 13 year old level before I was 8. Part of finding peace with myself and my diagnosis has been coming to terms with the expectations my hyperlexia resulted in. This video has been another piece of the puzzle! Great work!
This is my trait too! Thanks for your videos Ella 💕
I was reading and writing when I was 2 years old, and when I was cognitively tested at age 4 and 8 I was three or four years ahead in reading. I wonder if my parents ever knew about that 80% statistic. Along with a bunch of other things, it makes me wonder why I was never screened for autism.
Also thank you for bringing up speed reading tests, I always thought I was a slow reader but I did it just now and got 460 wpm with 82% comprehension -- I reckon I just got through things so slowly because I have ADHD that went untreated until last year.
Hyperlexia -- I cannot remember not-reading. My mom has some specific memories of me recognizing written words (reading) at a very young age.
She was reading aloud to me without pointing to the words, "If they want to cook, I will let them cook," when i voluntarily said, "Look Mommy, two "cooks"," and pointing to each occurrence of the word on the page, "cook and cook, one, two."
I also have memories about specific moments reading at a very young age.
Mom would give me the word seach puzzles in the newspaper, and I'd find all the words in the list - long multisyllabic words, sports athletes' names over a dozen letters long...
Grocery shopping, "Mommy, this bottle of soda says Diet, and that one doesn't."
Student in kindergarten at the desk next to me tried to convince me that the label on the crayon said "purple regular," when I could clearly see it read "violet (purple)."
"Dick, Jane, and Sally" books were boring. I enjoyed picking higher reading level books at the Scholastic Book Fairs... and reading them ... while standing and turning in circles in my bedroom. (Autistic much? Lol.)
Yes, I did spin myself dizzy to the point of falling over. Little did my family know that any of us, probably all of us, have some form of autism. Mom reads the dictionary and encyclopedias for fun, and has hypersensitive hearing to the point of feeling pain at times. Dad displays verbal processing behaviors (his mouth moves when someone else is speaking) and, unbeknownst to him, what I recently learned are stimming behaviors... which I figured out this late in life, and why I also carry similar stimming behaviors, and the hypersensitive hearing to the point of pain, and reading/ learning for fun -- by my own self discovery diagnosis. So here I am thinking, "I got a double-whammy!"
My current comprehension level while speed reading... I may be interested in testing/measuring that.
I did not go to public school until the 5th grade. By the time I got to school I was SHOCKED that the students in my class couldn't read well. I really thought it was completely normal for a 7 year old to read the encyclopedia. My son is 6, and I don't think I even realized that you had to teach kids to read. He just kind of started doing it.
Interesting! Thanks Ella! My parents had me perform things I memorized when I was very young. I hated it. I can still remember a general sensory overload while people thought I was "so shy".
I was always above grade level in reading and vocabulary etc. My mother would just say the school system is ridiculous. So I thought most people were above reading level. 🙈
I was undiagnosed for ASD.
I also get stuck on one word randomly without intention.
I began reading at age 2, and by second grade I was reading Little Women and other similar books. In third grade, because I lived on a farm and we didn't have a library near us I began reading the encyclopedia and dictionary. I was the quiet girl who always had her nose in a book. Today at age 47 I am still a voracious reader.
I never even thought about this after my ASD diagnosis last year at 35. I was waaay ahead in reading as a kid... Neat, thanks!
Yes, I also fit this description. My father was and is a voracious reader. I was reading before I started school and reading novels by the second grade. My wife was a very early reader. Both my children could read before school age(their teachers hated this).
Really interesting! There’s some fuzziness of memory in my family over whether I was reading before starting primary school, but I certainly wasn’t taught to read at primary school: I just… read, and my parents tell me that when I’d been at school for four months, I was given a reading test which showed me to have a reading age of 12.
Your comment about the “special drawer” reminded me of something that I’d completely forgotten until now: I was allowed to go to the school library and choose my own books to read long before my classmates could. I suspect that’s what then triggered my love of astronomy, finding books on the subject in the library
Reminds me a lot of myself growing up. I loved language and would read dictionaries and encyclopedias just to learn new words. Now several decades later, I have more dictionaries in my house than I know what to do with. LOL
I have undiagnosed (or really self-diagnosed) inattentive ADHD. I learned to read when I was three. I remember in kindergarten I very much preferred to be by myself reading rather than out playing with my classmates, as I was strongly introverted and highly imaginative, with a rich paracosm. I also recall being highly critical of the letter lessons we were getting. We had coloring pages of each letter, and the letters were anthropomorphic, with names and everything. According to my memory, the curriculum, for whatever Godforsaken reason, had decided that the letter characters should NOT have names starting with what the letters actually were. So we had Hubert the M or Betty the J and the like. Maybe I'm misremembering it, but I recall being extremely irritated by the fact that the M character's name did not begin with M. And you don't tend to forget the trigger of an emotional memory. I rebelliously named the M character Matthew, after my baby brother. It was baby's first fix fic, really. I also remember having a day each week when the fifth graders would come into our classroom and read to us, and I constantly wanted to be the one to read to my reading partner instead. I was never allowed. The teachers told me that the fifth graders had to "practice their reading," so I was not allowed to practice mine. That was how I learned that public schools are highly intolerant of hyperlexia. My parents pulled me out of public school, and I didn't go back until high school.
I think this may be one of those stereotypes about autistic people such as geeky looking detail orientated computer geeks which was started in the mass media in the 1980's by computer companies. I have seen official statistics that something like only 2% of ASD's are detail oriented. It seems for others it manifests differently such as by the tendency to collect a lot of information. I was good at vocabulary at a young age in primary school in Belgium as far as I can remember and even ahead of other children in secondary school in the UK with syllables etc. Which came quite naturally to me but nothing like Mr Einstein to be honest.
I find it interesting that before lockdown age 6 my daughter was reading way below her peers at around age 4-5 during lockdown with one to one teaching and a different approach to teaching (more visual aids for word building I used alphablocks on you tube) she came back from lockdown reading above the rest of the children in her class and at age 9-10 at the age of 8 her teachers could not believe it
Approach matters so much. I remember struggling with basic math around maybe 7, and then my father explained it to me and I totally got it. I thought at first he was just a much better teacher, and later concluded that it was that we both thought the same way. I don’t remember the specifics of what he showed me, but I know the gist is that he explained WHY you did what you did, the logic behind it. I have always needed to understand the reason for anything to grasp it. That’s why the one type of math I took to naturally was geometry. The whole structure of postulates, theorems etc. actually laid the logic out.
@Jim Williams I think my daughter just thrived and understood better because I tried to use visual aids it went the same with her maths she improved massively with that aswell especially fractions because I used physical objects to explain how it worked
I think being able to read twice as fast as other people has given me lots of knowledge that most people don't have. Unfortunately that makes i harder to fit into groups of people. Individual people will enjoy my company one on one but their friends often can't understand why i was invited along. My mother and one of my children also have this super reading skill.
My reading skills were developed at an early age, then I felt like my reading skills declined when my peers caught up. My neurologist thinks I might also be dyslexic, which would explain why it always took me extra time to read.
I have Ehlers Danlos syndrome and ADHD symptoms. Thankfully the ADHD medications Guanfacine and Clonidine can also treat the POTS/dysautonomia of EDS!
No kidding?? Thanks for that -- I'm on Clonidine and did not know that. I feel sure I don't have EDS, though I have noted people talking about hypermobility, and it made me recall that, at least into my thirties, I could cross my elbows behind my head. Never knew it was unusual until someone at a gathering once said "Jim, WTF are you doing??"
But dysautonomia...that's new to me. I AM on Clonidine mostly because my sympathetic nervous system has always been overactive (I'm probably ADHD too, discovered it was used to treat that later, LOL). So far the effects have only been looked at through a mental health lens, and I keep thinking there are likely physiological elements to it -- but what? My mother had the same problem. I'm not sure dysautonomia is a dead ringer, but it's a first window into CNS physical health for me. Since my GP mostly seems to care about my somewhat-high BP, they really ought to care about my CNS. Thanks SO much!!
@@jimwilliams3816 Overactive sympathetic nervous system sounds like hyperadrenergic POTS. Too much norepinephrine and adrenaline being dumped into circulation to fuel the "fight or flight" response to overreact or trigger with no stimuli. Guanfacine and Clonidine tell the body not to dump so much norepinephrine and adrenaline into circulation, which is how they help treat this at the source.
@@Dulcimerist Oh. My. GOD. You just described me and my mother. Sentence number 2 is EXACTLY what happens to me. I've known that for a while, but I did not have a name for it. I've been going at this mostly from mental health angle for several years now, and I've wanted to see a neurologist but I didn't know where to start. ADHD traits make it hard for me not to ramble, and I didn't want to blow it and just be sent back to my therapist and psychiatrist. (Though my psychiatrist was the one who prescribed Clonidine as a noradrenaline blocker, bless him.) This might give me a starting point. You cannot imagine what this means to me, thank you!
I'm on the cusp of an ADHD assessment, and I suspect I will pass for hyperactive. Main reason to assess is that I might benefit from a stimulant, because both I and my parents clearly chase(d) dopamine. Trouble is, the stimulants block reuptake of dopamine AND noradrenaline. I'm currently trying extremely low dose Bupropion (MDD dx) as a Ritalin proxy, and it does show signs of helping my prefrontal cortex modulate my limbic system. More than a little makes me very stiff, and any creates the risk of a sudden flash of anger, both of which I think is the darned noradrenaline. I can "come down" much easier, before my glucocorticoids rise and create a sustained reaction, but it still makes me think that a higher dose of any noradrenaline blocker is a big risk. Don't think I could take any Bupropion without Clonidine. (Then there's the blood pressure issue.)
BTW, I like your user name. Folk music background here.
ETA: I just went and looked at the description of hyperadrenergic POTS, and it's hitting me that that sounds like my mother. Apart from the fight or flight, she injured her foot late in life, and her lower leg swelled up from a circulation problem. She was massively doctor-phobic by then, refused to see one, and spent the last five years of her life constantly debriding and redressing the open wounds.
@@jimwilliams3816 My daughter had these issues, and Wellbutrin worked well for her by taking it in the morning and Guanfacine at night. Clonidine and Guanfacine are sister drugs (Guanfacine might be a bit more longer lasting), and one of them to attenuate the Wellbutrin's norepinephrine effect is helpful.
Modafinil is a stimulant that doesn't aggravate the sympathetic nervous system.
Amantadine is a stimulant that does more to help dopamine than it does norepinephrine. It was originally developed as an anti-viral medication, but its stimulant properties and effect on dopamine has made it popular for treating fatigue - especially in people with Parkinson's or MS. It also is not a controlled substance, so doctors should be more comfortable prescribing it, and you can fill it in 90-day supplies. Amantadine did make me a bit jittery at first, but I wasn't taking Clonidine or Guanfacine back then. I take Amatadine in the morning and Clonidine at night.
@@Dulcimerist I really, really appreciate this. It's so hard to find information on the mechanistic aspects of drugs. Before I went on Clonidine, I tried an adjunct that I later found out was a dopamine blocker. One minimum dose tab all I had, but it was a hellish experience, and I never would have taken it if I'd know it blocked dopamine.
The jittery raises an interesting question that I've wondered about, and I'm going to ask just in case it rings a bell. When I still drank alcohol, I developed this issue where, about four hours after I fell asleep, I would wake up with sort of micro-jitters for about 5 minutes. Very unpleasant, and I worried that it was DTs or something, though while I was probably getting to the high side of moderate drinking, I don't think I was alcoholic, maybe leaning into dependency. As for DTs, I realized it was timed to when I fell asleep, not when I'd had something to drink. I stopped drinking some years ago when fight or flight was getting totally out of hand, and it did go away after a while. Good enough reason not to drink by itself. I've noticed occasional hints of it since going on Bupropion, and it was quite noticeable Christmas night when I had a small glass of wine.
I noticed that hyperadrenergic POTS is supposed to be made worse by alcohol, and it has occurred to me that it felt a bit like I imagine Parkinson's tremors might feel like before they involve perceptible body movement. I also noted Parkinsons, which my maternal grandmother developed, as being associated with dysautonomia.
Easy enough to keep not drinking, but the hint with Bupropion worries me a bit, and it has been on my list of "what the heck is this?" symptoms.
Thanks so much again, and if I'm wearing you out feel free to bail on this thread.
Suddenly, for me too, it's all coming together for me and my life lol. Thank you.
Interesting! Thanks for the informative video. I was hyperlexic growing up. Currently only diagnosed with ADHD, but I have a lot of challenges with social cues and sensory processing.
I feel like I've gotten so good at mimicking people and masking my behaviors in public that I don't know how I even would behave naturally :/
Bleh. Anyway. Sorry to ramble!
My mom told me I was reading the newspaper at age four. I don't remember that, but I was certainly above grade level for as long as my school system measured reading levels. My parents were great readers, and I've always been and still am voracious. I managed to earn a Doctorate in English Literature and taught at the college level for many years, also doing academic and public presentations with little problem. But as for small talk--a disaster! Started experiencing burnout a decade ago, had to retire early in 2015, and was only diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder/Condition last year at age 69.
What's interesting: I've always had trouble understanding written and verbal instructions and directions. Have to drive somewhere new? I stress out and get lost. Have to assemble a bookshelf or mount window blinds? Anxiety marathon. Post diagnosis, I'm learning to be less hard on myself for what I can't do and take pleasure in what I can.
I was told that I learned to read when I was three, so I was one of the few kids who could actually read when they started kindergarten. My mom told me that when I was tested for first grade, I was doing spelling at a second-grade level and reading at a fourth-grade level.
I didn't know that also reading three grade levels above my grade in elementary school was a part of autism. More and more I see how autism affected me all the way back to elementary school. Also having a hard time understanding neurotypical people.
I was reading at the college level in the 5th grade. Remember reading Peter Benchley's "Jaws" at the time. Different than the movie. Great topic.
I learned to read by 3 or so, I always thought it was because my grandpa had a wreck and was home for months learning to walk again as he taught me math, way beyond kids my age, but my granny said I started reading before this as she was needing bifocals and would have me spell the words I didn't know in recipes to her when I asked her because my son did the same thing. I remember taking a test in 3rd grade and getting put in a special advanced reading class in school as well as math classes. I spent the rest of school and past college reading everything I could get my hands on. It was one of the things that kept me from being diagnosed earlier as it didn't match up to the boys diagnosis', and books are far better companions than most people.
I was hyperlexic as a child, and I still read really fast. I had no idea all this could be a sign of neurodiversity, although I recognise I’m ND in lots of other ways. Thanks for posting this!
At age four my autistic daughter could read everything. A doubting grandfather got her to read the Telegraph newspaper. Nope no problem. Whilst fun for her the disadvantages were that she could read notices not intended for her such as those at the maternity clinic and obscene graffiti. In her case other children didn’t catch her up as her reading continued to be way above her age range. Whilst you can buy books with stories suitable for older children,but with restricted vocabulary for struggling readers, you couldn’t get books with child friendly content but with a high level of reading ability.
That's a really interesting observation. Maybe writers in the ND community could create child-friendly, big-vocabulary books for ND kids?!
Really good point. I used to read my dad's daily newspaper front to back (excluding sports pages) every evening. From around age 9 onwards. No 9year old should be a Daily Mail reader 😧 I remember reading about murders and war and so on in DM inflammatory language.
@Mad I CarMoody LOL, back in my day that was comic books. Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge and then Marvel Comics. Heck, I learned some basic economics from a couple Scrooge comics.
Hyperlexic myself always have been
Super interesting:) I didnt have much access to books at a very young age but I watched much movies and started talking earlier than other children and used complex phrases. This may not be hyperlexia, but I dont know the correct word for ir. I did read animal fact books for older kids early, when other kids read easy-to-read-fiction though! I really think the verbal ability was one reason why I didnt get diagnosed since my ability to speak and appear social masked my autistic traits. Now at an adult age after diagnosis I learned that I have a high verbal IQ, and it's only now that Im learning about my autistic sides. I wonder if I would be hyperlexic as a child if I had access to books early on.
Love your hair style by the way!
I've never heard of this before. I was reading at the age of three and was always way ahead of my age group. The same with my son and we are both Aspies. I read at least an average of two books a week - 106 last year - and have a very high vocabulary. Alas, I find it really difficult to express myself verbally, although much better in writing. To balance that out, I also have acute discalculia and can't remember symbols as well as numerical problems. My son and d-i-l keep trying to get me to use a mobile phone; I gave in but after a whole morning trying to use it I managed to put in one phone number and ended up with a massive migraine and crying my eyes out. It reminded me of when my dad tried to coach me in maths when I was young and he'd lose his temper and start shouting which made me cry. Anyway, I had great satisfaction in getting rid of the phone in the rubbish bin, lol.
I feel like my autistic self had a similar experience with math but my peers didn’t catch up till high school and now I have self esteem issues
Could apply, but I'm too old and I'll never really know. I learned to read at either 3 or 4 and certainly before kindergarten. I was a great speller, had a big vocabulary and was doing advanced reading in first grade...my academic prowess plunged by third grade, but I think that was mostly a really terrible second grade teacher. I did not have verbal difficulties (I was loud, thanks ADHD), and I don't think I read that fast. It's not really an important issue for me.
What I have wondered about at times is word comprehension. I always picked up the meaning of words quickly, through use, and did well in the old "It Pays to Enrich Your Word Power" quizzes in Readers Digest. Conventional wisdom was (is?) that you get that from having parents with a big vocabulary.
But then there's my lack of social skills. I gather that NT kids and adults are supposed have some innate instinct for interacting socially, which I keep feeling skeptical about. Is it that I have a good instinct for the meaning of a word through observed use, and a terrible instinct for social rules through observed use? Or is that just what I learned from my parents and their friends (plausible)? I'm sure now that I and my parents are/were ND in some ways. None of us got our full allotment of dopamine, that's for sure. But nature and nurture are often a tangled mess for me.
I'm 52 and autistic and I remember I'd always get 10 out of 10 in the spelling tests at first school when I'd only have been 5 to 6 years old. Not sure about my reading, I'll have to check with my mum. I always came top for handwriting because I loved neatness. Both my children I'm sure are autistic although I haven't had them tested. I was only tested myself recently. Both of my children were hand picked when they were in first school and middle school to sit with those that were lagging behind, my two were so advanced that they had to teach reading and writing to those in their year group that needed help. My daughter is 23 now and has said to me many times that she thinks she's autistic. My son is 20, rarely makes eye contact and thinking back he's had many obvious autistic traits all his life. As a family we're only just starting to piece it altogether.
I was reading at 2yrs old and was in advanced reading, spelling,and some science classes till middle school. Math was always my sticking point 😔
I'm AuDHD and definitely hyperlexic and hyperverbal. I started reading at 3 and was always several reading levels ahead of my peers. I used to read for like 4 hours every night lol! Now that I'm an adult and chronically ill I don't read NEARLY as much because I have brain fog, so I don't have the mental energy :/
I don't know if I'm autistic but this is another one of those things that makes me wonder. I saw a twitter thread where people talked about learning how to read in school, and I realized I never learned to read IN school. I already knew my first day of preschool. Then I asked my mom and she told me I basically taught myself with my grandpa's medical encyclopedias 🤨She may be exaggerating a bit but I did keep those things for YEARS
And the time my teachers had us read aloud as a class one day in first grade, and they started freaking out when it was my turn. I still don't know what it was because they seemed shocked by SOMETHING about it, but I felt a little embarrassed. Then they just let me finish reading the whole story 😅
I don't know if I was hyperlexic or not. That said, I died when I was about 7 years old and was gone for a while and then came back and had amnesia. I still have no idea what happened during the days/weeks? that I had amnesia. It has also come to my attention that all of my pre-accident memories are of me holding up a picture and an adult telling me the story. It kind of makes me wonder what kind of catch up I had to do after the accident. I can't ask as my mom is gone and my dad has dementia. I do know the TBI coupled with autism caused me balance issues, and I fall down a lot. On my college exams the counselors were amazed because I had perfect comprehension of everything, I read but sucked at grammar. I also suck at basic arithmetic and yet naturally understand higher math with never taking any classes. Geometry is just something I naturally know how to do without using any numbers, because I have dyscalculia. I am guessing that since my comprehension when reading is so high, I probably did have hyperlexic. I also read all the time. My parents had a tough time getting me to come eat because I was reading.
It'll probably give me further thinking that you don't recommend to praise a child for being hyperlexic. So far, I give my 4 years old positive feedback if he impressed me with something, and I do a lot of word games with him, and I expect him to "use" a skill he already has, for example recognizing specific letters. Not as to show him off or something, on the contrary. But to teach him the power of autonomy this skill brings with it. For example, the O letter on the orange juice as an orientation help. As the W for wool program on the washing machine.
I was able to read in kindergarten and wondered why nobody else in my class could. I remember one time in 1st grade I felt really bad about it and went to the teacher to ask what a word was (I knew full well what it was) so that maybe others would see and not feel so bad that I could read without difficulty and they still had problems.
My experience with hyperlexia has been that I read well before the age of four, and by the first grade I could easily read 6th grade texts and a bit above that as well. My elementary school library quickly ran out of books at my level. By middle school I could read well into the college level, and in high school I maxed out the reading proficiency testing system in all areas from day 1. So I never really had the experience of my peers "catching up" to me. I have also always read extremely fast and with advanced comprehension.
Thank you for this video! I didn't know that there are different types of hyperlexia.
This is interesting. In kindergarten I was reading at a 5th grade level. So now I'm wanting to look into the hyperlexia thing more!
I didn't speak until I was 3. I could read adult books (I remember it was my mother's book, by Erma Bombeck) when I was 6, although I didn't understand it.
Thank you 💕
This is interesting. I learned to read at the age of 7 and had trouble with double consonants for a long time (in Finnish language there are words like "mato" and "matto" (worm and rug) that are differentiated only by a double consonant. I am also a slow reader and my handwriting is awful. I was tested for dyslexia twice in high school but didn't get diagnosed. And despite all of this, I read both Dracula and Frankenstein at the age 11 like it was no big deal. I do enjoy reading even though it's a trouble for me.
When I was seven I recall being told I had a reading age of eleven and when I was eleven I was told I had a reading age of sixteen. I don't know how they worked those things out. I never had much interest in fiction but read factual books like children's encyclopaedias and dictionaries. I was always fascinated by words. Those interests haven't changed much and even now I find any kind of literature hard-going and I still much prefer to read non-fiction.
I was reading adult books very quickly by the age of ten. I loved 'whodunits' and was avidly reading Agatha Christie novels at this young age. My parents were perplexed as the school said I could not read, so they asked me lots of questions about the story lines to establish that I was in fact actually reading, and not just turning the pages. With the benefit of hindsight, I think the reason I could not read at school was that, as an undiagnosed autistic child, I was traumatised by the school environment.
Oh wow 😁 I loved Agatha Christie books age 11.
Oh my gosh yes Agatha Christie! At about the same age I absolutely devoured her work.
The first word I tried to teac h myself to read was "homogenized". I concluded "homesqueezed" but I was only 2! But by 3 I had the text on my nightlight completely figured out (poem the cat and the fiddle). By the end of Kindergarten my teach just quit grading me and simply sent me to the library during reading lessons. 50 years on I don't give a fig about reading and may in fact be barely litterate! Ha ha!
Out of curiousity - is the reading speed the same for you regardless of language used in the book? I've noticed that my reading speed is quite different based on which language I use (how familiar I am with it). I assume that the other reasons for varying reading speed such as how interested I am in the topic/thread described on the read pages, and how tired or not feeling well emotionally - are also affecting this speed for me.
Thank you for this video!
I wondered the same thing. Academic texts with lots of technical language would certainly have a lower speed than, say, novels for most people.
I also think my reading speed is lower when I read things that are thought-provoking because I sometimes need to reread sentences and make sure I’m understanding what the writer is saying and also take a moment to formulate my own thoughts about the subject. I think being able to read critically is more important than speed, personally.
My 17 year-old is hyperlexic. It's so hilarious that at 4.5 the esteemed neuropsych did 2 days of testing and proclaimed her very much not autistic because she's so social and popular and has imaginative play. She doesn't look autistic I guess. It's ridiculous. She wants to get retested and we are hoping to do that soon.
I don't remember learning to read a a child. I can remember being in grade two and being the first in the class to read 100 books (as the teacher had challenged us all to do). And I considered this task laughably easy. By the time I'd read my 100 books, some of the other kids had only read two. So I think I may have been hyperlexic (???). Also, at age 20, I went to St Petersburg, Russia for five days and I was the only one in the entire tour group who had taught themselves the entire Cyrillic alphabet by the end of the five days. It was mystifying to me that the others hadn't. "You mean you haven't been reading every little scrap of writing you get your eyes on in order to learn the Cyrillic alphabet???' 🤣🤣🤣 It's interesting.
I started reading spontaneously at about three and a half, when my mother found sitting on the floor with a friend and reading a book aloud to her. However, at the same that my older brother was struggling to read and was diagnosed with dyslexia. "Yay, you can read, that's amazing" very quickly became, "Shh, don't show off, your brother will feel bad." In kindergarten and first grade I felt like the teachers didn't quite know what to do with me. At the time (mid-60s), the advice was NOT to teach your kids any academic skills, just let them play, and they'd learn "correctly" in school. So there I was, reading away, not quite getting that the kids around me weren't reading yet. I read so early that I couldn't remember not reading and couldn't imagine what it was like not to be able to read. More, "Stop showing off" messages, and some outright hostility from my kindergarten teacher. In second grade in a different school (we moved every year, long story there), finally someone sat me down for a reading test and they discovered I was reading at LEAST on the Jr. High level -- that's as far up as the test went. In my next schools there were reading programs, and the Scholastic Book Club where I could buy books very cheap. I practically gobbled up books as fast as I could get my hands on them. I read "The Hobbit" in third grade. And well into Jr. High and High School I was choosing bigger, more challenging, more interesting books than many of my peers. It's just that you hit a certain age and you realize you've left the land of school and library programs to encourage and reward reading, to the adult world were having "your nose in a book all the time" is now weird and anti-social. What the heck. There went my one thing that I was good at and got some rewards for.
I started reading actual words at 2 years and 10 months... yet i am still struggling to get a proper diagnosis for ASD, despite having basically most if not all the traits associated with ASD level 1 (formely known as Aspergers) -and struggling with sensory overload and meltdowns- , even though I am 20 years old at this point.
Hyperlexic autistic adhd-having woman here. I’d be interested in knowing if another trait that I experience is normal for hyperlexics or … if it’s just me. If there is legible text within my field of vision, I can’t not read it. Signs, T-shirts, a menu … my brain will read it over and over again, focusing on the written words rather than anything else. I CAN fight it, but it has to be a conscious - an constant - choice. This is also why I hate having subtitles on movies because I end up missing half of the visuals. I bring post-its when flying to cover up the sign on the seatback in front of me. Otherwise, I absolutely will read “Fasten seatbelt while seated. Life vest under your seat.” 800 times.
Izzit … just me?
I was an average reader in the beginning but towards the end of second grade it suddenly clicked and I got way ahead in reading. By 6th grade I read at a 12+ (college) level.
I was reading Stephen King and the entire Sci fi/horror shelf in my local library by age 12-13...
I don't remember what it's like to not be able to read, which I think is fairly common, but my mother tells me I was reading street signs at age 2.
I think my sister is hyperlexic And I'm dyslexic and I have autism as well she could have autism but I never really thought I had issues with reading but because I was developmental delay at a hard time and then also all other things including that so yeah and I was learing pretty fast but I still had issues with reading and still have problems with social interaction with peers
My lo is reading , advanced in numbers and verbal emotional communication. So confused if he's gifted or just a very smart child so much information 🤔
Anyone else hyperlexic but also have problems with reading comprehension?
I didn't realise I had hyperlexia until I found my school reports for age 6 when I had a reading age of 10 😮 it's strange because I actually struggle to read now! (Probably because I don't try anymore)
💜🎣
I wonder if people who had hyperlexia are more likely to read "whole" words. Like looking at a symbol, rather than scanning through each letter in order 🤔 or is that just how people normally read?
I could read at age of 3, now I got Phd.
My daughter started reading at age of three but she is normal. Is hyperlexia bad?
Is there an opposite to hyperlexia? Because if so, that's me. I hated books as a kid (apparently I was scared of them?) My reading level was behind everyone else's. When everyone was beginning to read thicker books, I was still reading thin books, when I had to read.
would difficulty understanding what is read be hypolexia? im autistic and i hate to read, i tend to not understand what im reading(makes understanding the bible hard, fortunately a pastor i watch explains everything)
Wait writing words out in the air is not normal?
Lol: my coworker often asks me how to spell a word. I "see" it in my mind, then recite the letters.
What...? Is it not normal to see and use a mini combination projection screen drawing board five inches in front of your forehead?
If you were a multitalented old soul who was smart for your age but grew up to be sub-average adult clap your hands
Way to confusing
My son at 18 months old taught himself all his ABCs, one through 100, 23 two and three dimensional shapes, all his colors, all the months, every day of the week and all the seasons without anyone teaching him. He has high functioning, autism diagnosis at three years old.
There are six people in my family who are members of M.E.N.S.A my father is 134 IQ, Aunt is 136, cousin is 138, grandfather, 139, myself, 141 and my brother is 160 IQ. But none of us had this ability at 18 months, so we are hopeful for his future.
Also, he knows all eight planets, and all five door planets at two years old, over 100 animals and dozens of types of vehicles, including police cars, excavators, bulldozers, and firetrucks
So reading about hyperlexia (is that irony? don't think so) is part of what set me on the path of thinking about myself as AS/ADHD. Way ahead of my peers in reading right up to the age of 15 or so. But I have a question for other hyperlexics...
I am visually impaired - yes, that is incredibly frustrating as a hyperlexic! What's especially frustrating is that if there's a sign on a street or text appears on-screen during a movie, I turn to an NT with me and ask "What did that say?" More often than not, they respond "What did what say?".
The question is - does hyperlexia include a kind of compulsion to read text? Because I think it really does for me, but my visual acuity prevents me from just idly reading text as it floats by. I am genuinely flabbergasted when a sighted person hasn't even noticed that there's text in their visual field.
YES! this might not be true for everyone, but i read everything - i don't know how to avoid it. the moment i see a word, it is read. I read menus, labels, street signs, billboards.... it doesn't matter what it is. if I see it, i read it. and if i see text but i can't read it for some reason (angle, distance, etc), i get annoyed and feel the urge to position myself so i can read it
Another Hyperlexic checking in--
If there are words in text/printed form, I must read them. I prefer to scroll the preview mode of UA-cam in silence when I can read the subtitles instead of hearing the audio. This could be why I'm not interested in trying Tiktok (sp?), because it seems you ^need^ to turn on the audio to understand what most of the videos are about.
I learned how to read at an early age, well before my very first day of school. I cannot remember not-reading. I thought books that were mostly pictures with occasional short sentences of monosyllabic words were boring. Yay, Scholastic Book Fair! Finally-- books that were interesting enough to hold my attention with lots and lots of words and hardly any pictures!
I don't know whether my peers caught up with my reading level by the time I graduated high school. Most fellow students didn't like reading.
My son and I, for us it is really like we HAVE to read each billboard or wathever text comes to our eyes. Sometimes i think, it is a bit of obsessiv, yes.
He is on the spectrum (Asperger) and I'm undiagnosed, but now I really understand my lifelong problems to fit in. I masked a lot, but now with my son I start to be ME, because I want him to be HIM! ❤