What is Hyperlexia in Children and What You Should Know About It

 

 

‘Hyper’ means ‘more than’ or ‘above’ and ‘Lexia’ means reading. Therefore, hyperlexia is the ability to read exceptionally at an early age without age-appropriate speech and language development. Though precocious reading may seem like a very good thing, Hyperlexia is a learning disability accompanied by language deficits.

What is Hyperlexia?

Hyperlexia is unusual and advance reading skills and capabilities in little children at a very young age. Children with Hyperlexia can have significant difficulty in understanding and using normal verbal language like others in Montessori Chino, CA. They may struggle to develop their social skills as well. You may be surprised to know that Hyperlexia could be a sign of an autism-like or an autism syndrome, especially when the child has delayed speaking abilities.

How to identify hyperlexia in your children

If your child is hyperlexic, there will be some symptoms which you can notice in your children. They are as follows:

• He may face difficulty in answering ‘Wh-‘questions, like ‘what’, ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘why’, and ‘when’.
• He will show an extreme fascination with maps, letters, numbers, or other visual patterns.
• He can memorize sentences or small passages without understanding the meaning of the content.
• He may do Echolalia, meaningless repetition of words spoken by a person nearby.
• They may seem unsocial or demonstrate awkward social skills.
• Struggle to start or continue a conversation.
• Face difficulty interacting with people around, including parents or other close adults.
• He may not be able to cope up with the transitions due to the intense need for monotony.
• He will always demonstrate an extreme need for uniformity and to follow routines or ritualistic behaviors.
• According to the teachers of Preschool Chino, CA, most of the time hyperlexic kids get scared of very unusual or specific things.
• The child may develop sensitive sensory capabilities.
• Selective listening skills and may reach a point that they seem deaf to most people.
• He will have developed visual and auditory skills.
• Demonstrate self-stimulatory behavior such as rocking, jumping up and down, hand clapping, or flapping.
• You may notice a normal development or growth until your child is 18 to 24 months old. After that, his growth will get affected.

Causes of Hyperlexia

The specific reasons behind hyperlexia syndrome are still unknown but the experts from Montessori Chino, CA think that the reason for hyperlexia at a very young age is the result of deliberate or obsessive reading practices. Such as:

• Becoming too close to some books and alphabets and reading them every day.
• Becoming very compulsive readers ignoring the importance of all other forms of communication.
• Showing obsessive interest in number and letter blocks.
• Reading numbers and letters from the car number plates in the parking lot.
• Reading every bit of print they see around them such as books, manuals, signs, and notices.

Types of Hyperlexia

• Hyperlexia I–Relatively rare and children having this syndrome can read higher-level books quite easily.
• Hyperlexia II–When kids on the autistic spectrum are hyperlexic, it is categorized into Hyperlexia II.
• Hyperlexia III–Children with Hyperlexia III show autistic symptoms which usually fades away.