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

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Hmm. My kid only does spelling out and phonics of words he knows (and does it spontaneously, not when the writing is in front of him.) I've never seen him sound out words he does not know. So maybe he's not hyperlexic, then?

He did know all letters and numbers before age 2, though. His main "interest" these days is numbers. Go on Youtube and look for a song called "We Can Count to 100." This is his favorite song.

I'll give you guys three guesses as to who his favorite Sesame Street character is.

I think that it can be hard to tell if a very young child is hyperlexic, as the term is used by the reading expert in the YouTube clip.

Both my kids learned to read early--I mean, the house looks like a combination library/daycare center, with books, flashcards, and educational videos all over the place. However, my younger son is basically gifted/talented with an OCD fixation on letters--no reading comprehension/major speech problems like my older son with classic autism.

I should also mention that my older son's hyperlexia didn't develop out of nowhere. I tried some flashcards, some BabyBumbleBee.com videos (speech for autistic babies with words on screen), and some alphabet videos with him after trying various things to get him to talk. These visually-based methods which included written text seemed to work for him. Therefore, I decided to buy and make loads and loads of the types of materials that he responded to.

I've heard of some hyperlexics learning to read spontaneously with little help from their parents, but they are probably intellectually gifted. (I am gifted myself, and I know that this has helped me navigate various issues and handicaps). My older son has some significant strengths and weaknesses, but he is basically intellectually average overall. (He cannot just figure out stuff on his own).

My son was making two Snoopy figures kiss last night. I was listening to some vintage Sesame music yesterday and heard a song where Bert sings about a girl friend he once had ... I need to see if I can find a copy of it on YouTube ....

Skip to 7:54 to hear how Bert once had a girlfriend and his unsettling desire to hold body parts of hers like eyes and teeth is probably why she left him.
Vintage Sesame Street music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BoHL3q_ ... 8C6EE1F791

I found another version where the whole thing is acted out and there's a guy plucking parts off a girl Muppet's head but the Muppet in that version isn't Bert.

This reminds me, one of the things I've done to exploit my son's special interests and encourage imaginative play is I paint little wooden peg dolls to look like his favorite characters. They're basically like the old Fisher Price Little People except they're all characters he knows and likes. I've made a lot of Sesame Street ones including The Count, it's a lot of fun to do.

That's one of the reasons I did it, my son wasn't playing with toys either ... but he loves Snoopy and Sesame Street and some of those characters grabbed his attention and eventually mutated into some real imaginative play. I got him a Fisher Price castle in a thrift store for him to play with his people in and he never played with it much, then his grandfather got him a Fisher Price School House in a yard sale that he plays with constantly, it has a playground with a big curly slide that he likes to slide the people down, I think he can relate to it because he likes to go down the slide at the playground himself so he enjoys emulating that with the little people. He even says, "wheeee, slide!!" when they go down.

He just turned 3 the end of May. He got the toy school house about 2 weeks ago, I started making him him the toys shortly before his 2nd birthday and shortly before his autism diagnosis.