RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

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I checked that link you posted and didn't see anything like that. I don't think hyperlexia exists as a diagnosis (though there are those that think it should be.)

Well they are recommending we buy bottled water...



Good question. As far as I can tell it doesn't seem to be a huge problem for him. He can count to 100 in both languages. He knows some Japanese words but it's no where close to his English vocabulary. One thing, he doesn't seem very interested in learning any of the Japanese writing. He has learned a little of it but he just doesn't get into it. Anyway if things go as planned we will be back in the US later this year or early next year at the latest.



My son can watch the Hooked on Phonics videos all day. Basically he loves the stuff most kids hate!

He does have one more stim I forgot, when we go to the park all he wants to do is sift sand through his fingers. He's not too interested in playing on the equipment.

Sorry I extrapolated from these sources;
Hyperlexia: Reading Precociousness or Savant Skill? Distinguishing autistic-like behaviors from Autistic Disorder by Darold A Treffert, MD
Type 1: Neurotypical children that are very early readers.
Type 2: Children on the autism spectrum that demonstrate very early reading as a splinter skill.
Type 3: Very early readers who are not on the autism spectrum though there are some “autistic-like” traits and behaviors which gradually fade as the child gets older.
Burd, L., & Kerbeshian, J. (1985). Hyperlexia and a variant of hypergraphia. Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol 60:940-942.
Between 5-10% of children with autism have been estimated to be hyperlexic

This of course may not be 90-95% not diagnosed.

Yes that may be good. No point asking him to learn a new language, better to focus on mastering spoken and written English first.



Don't be too concerned. My daughter was a little reluctant to play on the swings at 3 as well. By 4.5 she was like a little monkey.

More on hyperlexia...

My older son with classic autism seems to have more of a case of hyperlexia. He learned to memorize and decode written words early on but had to be taught their meaning and how to use them corectly. (Flashcards with pictures and text, picture books, speech videos, and videos with close captioning). Unfortunately, at least here in the U.S., kids are pretty much taught reading exclusively using phonics (which presupposes that the child already knows what the word means and just needs to learn to sound it out). Unfortunately, many kids on the spectrum enter school with a poor vocabulary and end up sounding out words without knowing what they mean or how to use them. (I know of one girl, aged 11, with classic autism who apparently could decode 98% of words that she "reads," but she comprehends on the kindergarten level.)

My 3-year-old with OCD actually stims on the alphabet--repeatedly writes the alphabet, has to carry around a refrigerator magnet shaped like a letter, has to line up all his letters in order. Of course, lots of kids on the spectrum have enough symptoms of obsessive compuslive disorder to qualify as having OCD under the DSM. We tried prescription anti-anxiety meds for my younger son's OCD, but he wouldn't take them. Now he takes a Relax-a-saurus (herbal med that I got off of Amazon.com; grape flavored, shaped like a dinosaur, taken every 4 hours, containing chamomile, passion flower, and L-Theonine). The ingredients in it are supposed to help with mild/moderate OCD. Prozac and other prescription anti-depressants can help with severe OCD.

I would also like to say that a non-verbal autistic child faced with learning both English and Japanese--that may be too much for everyone to handle. I agree that you should look into moving.

I live in Austin, Texas, where there are lots of autistic kids and a lot of Vietnamese immigrants. The non-verbal autistic children from families who do not speak English in the home seem to do particularly poorly. (Good luck on finding bilingual therapists, too.)

Ok, thanks. What I was trying to say was that hyperlexia does not exist as a diagnosis in the DSM.

BTW my spellchecker is telling me to change hyperlexia to hyperglycemia. LOL

Lately my kid carries around a magnadoodle everywhere so he can write numbers. Thing is, he won't actually write unless he's also holding someone else's finger. We are trying to fade this (like holding his wrist or elbow as he writes) but he still needs to touch us. Any thoughts on how to stop this? As you can probably imagine it's pretty annoying.

The magnadoodle thing is related to anxiety and OCD, I think. My younger son with OCD has a fixation on writing the letters in order over and over on a magnadoodle--won't stop to potty and becomes agitated if interrupted. The son of the president of the local Autism Society has classic autism and OCD and used to repetively write the alphabet also.

My son with OCD (who is probably an aspie) has been stimming on the letters a whole lot less since I started the Relax-a-saurus (L-Theonine, passion flower, and chamomile blend for kids, grape-flavored, and dinosaur-shaped) every four hours. It is cheap and for sale on Amazon.com. (I'm sure that the Prozac that he was prescribed would have worked at least as well, but he refused to take it.)

My younger son with OCD (who will turn four in October) first started with the stimming and repetitive behavior when he was just under 2.5 years old. Keeping him entertained helps. Removing whatever he is stimming on (as long as it is not necessary) helps. Reducing anxiety helps. (For example, we tried placing him in daycare a few hours a day to make him more sociable. It didn't work, increased his anxiety levels, and made his stims worse. Removing him from the daycare helped.) At one point, when he was stimming on the alphabet, giving him reading lessons sort of helped--he would write words in alphabetical order instead of just letters.

The family history for anxiety-related issues is very strong, and my three-year-old's issues interfere with our family life. Therefore, I decided to try drug therapy since nothing else seems to provide permanent, regular relief. (Also, to be practical, his older brother with classic autism takes up a lot of time, and I have about zero energy for additional therapy appointments).

I may pursue prescription (rather than herbal remedies) again when he is older, as well as work with a child psychologist (which has been recommended, but I do not think that he is mature enough yet).

Although our daughter has stopped doing this (when she was 5) tactile stimulation from a parent or guardian is a form of comfort for the child and I would gradually get him used to this to avoid him feeling jittery about going outside.

Hi Blondeambition,
I have to say my wife and I have avoided using drug therapy on my daughter. I checked out relaxosauraus on Amazon and am concerned there is no endorsement of this remedy by any medical body.

In addition Prozac has a warning - Do not give Prozac to anyone younger than 18 years old without a doctor's advice.

Anti-depressants, sedatives anti-anxiety drugs are really a last resort for us. I know of a mother in Sydney who was giving cough syrup to her NT daughter to sedate her (the product caused drowsiness).

However I understand that parents have little choice if the child's behavior is uncontrollable or harmful. For us the drug pathway may be easier but we will ride out my daughter's tantrums. I have to admit it is very stressful and energy sapping.

Yes not sure why? I think the problem is hyperlexia crosses a number of diagnosed conditions and manifests in NT children as well. I came across blog sites from parents who don't recognise their child has autism despite the children having speech delays. I think it sounds better to tell people my child is gifted rather than say my child is autistic. Of course it's possible to be both.

I realize that some parents are definitely against drug therapy and that it is more commonly used in some countries than others. I was against it before I actually had kids with issues.

However, drug therapy works very quickly, cheaply, and effectively if the child has a comorbid psychiatric condition and the right medication for that child will not cause undue side effects. It can relieve a child's suffering and allow him her to perform better at school, learn to speak faster, be less violent, etc. Also, if too many side effects are caused, the med can be changed, adjusted, removed, etc.

I would definitely try a prescription before I would go the herbal route--only go this way if your child refuses his prescription medication (like mine) or if you do not feel comfortable with prescription meds.

Here, I believe that Prozac is medically approved for children as young as six--you are just given a lot of warnings. You can get a prescription for it earlier, but it may be prescribed "off label"--prescribed for a purpose for which it has not been officially medically approved. Kids on the spectrum are very commonly prescribed meds here in the U.S. "off label." There are various rigorous, double-blind medical studies which can be found on the net on kids taking this or that for autism or a comorbid psychiatric condition.

Here, Risperdol (a very powerful drug with unpleasant side effects) was used for years "off label" before getting FDA approval for treatment of autism.

Not saying that you should drug your own kid, but I do want to say to anyone out there reading this--meds can work.

Sounds like a plan. We are not really sure what to tell people at this stage, so far the one friend we mentioned this to started talking about Rain Man...

I had something else I wanted to ask you guys about.

My son has a lot of trouble putting Legos together. He tries to connect them by putting the bottom parts of the pieces against each other (because they look the same?) instead of stacking them.

To be honest we are more worried about this than anything else...might this be a sign of "The Big R"?

He may just not be a visual thinker and spacial thinking is not his strong point. I am terrible with math but I can manipulate shapes and angles of shapes, turn things inside out and backward ect in my mind. This is the only reason I scored high on my IQ test was because I aced the spacial part of the test. So I can view things like mechanical things in my mind and see how they work together. I wish I had know this when I was younger because it is my strength and I could have tailored my career around it. I was a phlebotomist and even though people have veins in different places sometimes I had a sort of visual idea of where the veins are in a persons arm and I also have a magic touch finger which has nothing to do with my visual thinking...just another gift. I can feel veins, Im special Kidding!
If you think about it it makes more sense actually to try to put the legos together this way....I think it is more mathematical thinking. I would just show him the bumps and explain that the bumps have to go in the hole. I wouldnt read too much into it. Hes obviously very intelligent in other areas, focus on those areas. For the troubling parts, just help him out a bit.