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Zexion
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25 Jul 2012, 3:34 pm

Are hyperlexics ALWAYS early readers? While hyperlexia seems to describe me pretty well, I learned to read at a normal age...



Esperanza
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25 Jul 2012, 3:52 pm

I'm not sure there's an answer to your question. There might be a lot of opinions, and I'd guess most people would say that all hyperlexics are early readers, but I don't think anyone really has a definitive answer. Typically hyperlexic people start reading very early, but who is anyone to say they're an authority about it? Even the people who write the DSM don't really understand hyperlexia.

Take autism in general as an example of the situation. Autism has myriad causes. Some of the causes are genetic, some are epigenetic, some are not known at all. If it were simpler, and we could say, "autism is caused by gene X; Asperger's is caused by gene Z; hyperlexia is caused by gene Y" then we'd be able to say "Bob has autism but not hyperlexia, and George has Asperger's *and* hyperlexia." But it isn't that simple. Bob might seem autistic but actually just be hyperlexic, or maybe hyperlexia is just one of the ways autism sometimes expresses itself, in which case all people with hyperlexia are technically autistic. Without knowing what causes hyperlexic behavior, it's hard to define which features of it are absolutely central. We can't test for these things; we're groping in the dark and trying to group people into whatever categories seem to suit them best, and we get it wrong a lot. All we know is that some people are unusually focused on, and good at, letters and words. We call those people "hyperlexic". Some of those people also display other autistic traits, and some of them don't.

The word "hyperlexia" doesn't even really have an official definition, because it's not even in the DSM as a disorder. Right now, this stuff is more art than science.



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25 Jul 2012, 8:06 pm

Esperanza wrote:
The word "hyperlexia" doesn't even really have an official definition, because it's not even in the DSM as a disorder. Right now, this stuff is more art than science.

You do realize that the DSM isn't the end-all, be-all of defining neuropsychiatric conditions, right? Just because hyperlexia isn't in the DSM doesn't mean it doesn't exist, nor does it mean that there isn't a common definition that scientists use to describe the condition. It isn't in the DSM because it hasn't been researched enough. Same with Nonverbal Learning Disorder. But hyperlexia has already been the focus of some initial research studies. One fMRI study of a hyperlexic boy showed preliminary findings that hyperlexia seems to be the exact opposite of dyslexia, neuroscientifically speaking. Hyperlexia is almost always defined as self-taught reading before the age of 5, with incredible skill in word/vocabulary decoding but less-than-stellar reading comprehension and spelling.

The reason conditions get added to the DSM is when there is so much evidence out there that a condition exists that they can't ignore it any longer. And the whole DSM system itself is more art than science. If the DSM were scientifically valid and had good test-retest reliability for its diagnoses, there wouldn't be a need to revise it every generation.


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Neuron
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26 Jul 2012, 12:10 am

I was an early reader - reading chemistry books by the age of 4 and I remember that my favorite was a book about metallic elements.

Why is this a "condition"?



outofplace
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26 Jul 2012, 12:41 am

I had never heard of this term before and just looked it up. For those who are in the same boat as me, it basically means you learn to read early without anyone teaching you to do so. If that is the case, then yes, I was a hyperlexic child. I learned to read by myself through memorization of whole words and the sounds associated with them when I was 4 years old. I later taught myself how to sound out words and use phonics because of a PBS show I saw on it after Sesame Street one afternoon. Is it odd that I still remember that little fact?


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Last edited by outofplace on 26 Jul 2012, 12:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

Callista
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26 Jul 2012, 12:44 am

Neuron wrote:
I was an early reader - reading chemistry books by the age of 4 and I remember that my favorite was a book about metallic elements.

Why is this a "condition"?
Because hyperlexics often have problems with comprehension--ability to read is way ahead of ability to understand. So these kids will have special needs at school, where their reading ability will be an asset but their problems with comprehension will need support.


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Neuron
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26 Jul 2012, 1:02 am

Callista wrote:
Neuron wrote:
I was an early reader - reading chemistry books by the age of 4 and I remember that my favorite was a book about metallic elements.

Why is this a "condition"?
Because hyperlexics often have problems with comprehension--ability to read is way ahead of ability to understand. So these kids will have special needs at school, where their reading ability will be an asset but their problems with comprehension will need support.


Are you sure?

This is what I found:
Quote:
Hyperlexia is a syndrome observed in children who demonstrate
the following cluster of characteristics:

A precocious, self-taught ability to read words which
appears before age 5, and/or an intense fascination with letters,
numbers. logos, maps or visual patterns.

Significant difficulty in understanding and developing
oral language (i.e. language is first delayed, then “different’once
it emerges).

“Unusual” or “different” social skills; difficulty interacting
appropriately with peers and adults.

--

The child with Hyperlexia presents with
the following characterstics...

• Strong visual memory, especially for the written word,
• Gestalt processing of language, stories and retries chunks of phrases or language.
• Processing system breaks down when these chunks must be disected and
rearranged to form original thoughts.
• Echoes language without modifying it appropriately.
• Constantly looks for and finds patterns in the environment.
• Children with hyperlexia will not ‘pick up’ language from the culture around
them, so they must be taught very specifically. The child will pay more attention
to your tone then to your voice.

link

Nothing about unusual problems with comprehension. I would say that almost any child under 5 would have trouble fully comprehending written text.

(I'm not an expert on Hyperlexia, though, even though I did know about it's existence before. There may be other, more "accurate" definitions out there... feel free to post links)



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26 Jul 2012, 1:32 am

Comprehension difficulties are frequently described by hyperlexic people on this forum, so I would hesitate to dismiss it.



Neuron
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26 Jul 2012, 1:44 am

Verdandi wrote:
Comprehension difficulties are frequently described by hyperlexic people on this forum, so I would hesitate to dismiss it.


But who are the hyperlexic people? How were they diagnosed? Does an official diagnosis even exist?

To clarify: I have nothing against self-diagnosis and/or personal experiences. The point I am making is that I do not see "problems with comprehension" in the descriptions of hyperlexia that I found on the Net. I see early reading ability, social issues and "unusual" language.
So when someone claims to have hyperlexia with comprehension problems, how does that person know that the comprehension problems are caused by their hyperlexia when it's not part of the definition?
(Or if it is part of the definition, please post a link)

EDIT: Posted below.



Last edited by Neuron on 26 Jul 2012, 1:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

IndieSoul
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26 Jul 2012, 1:47 am

I was also an early reader. In kindergarten I was put into the first grade reading class. I believe my 4th or 5th grade reading test indicated that I was reading at the level of a high school junior. I started reading "advanced" texts very young. Medical dictionaries around age 7. Books on meteorology and climatology at 11. At school I was known as the girl who wanted to be a weatherman because I was always carrying these books around. :P It always just seemed normal to me. I never knew these things were really special interests.


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Neuron
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26 Jul 2012, 1:58 am

OK, found this - making a connection between hyperlexia and comprehension problems: http://www.nldline.com/hyperlexia.htm

So, I stand partially corrected - depending on the definition. As posted above, some definitions look like an early reading ability with ASD without any mention of comprehension problems...



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26 Jul 2012, 2:27 am

Neuron wrote:
Callista wrote:
Neuron wrote:
I was an early reader - reading chemistry books by the age of 4 and I remember that my favorite was a book about metallic elements.

Why is this a "condition"?
Because hyperlexics often have problems with comprehension--ability to read is way ahead of ability to understand. So these kids will have special needs at school, where their reading ability will be an asset but their problems with comprehension will need support.


Are you sure?

This is what I found:
Quote:
Hyperlexia is a syndrome observed in children who demonstrate
the following cluster of characteristics:

A precocious, self-taught ability to read words which
appears before age 5, and/or an intense fascination with letters,
numbers. logos, maps or visual patterns.

Significant difficulty in understanding and developing
oral language (i.e. language is first delayed, then “different’once
it emerges).

“Unusual” or “different” social skills; difficulty interacting
appropriately with peers and adults.

--

The child with Hyperlexia presents with
the following characterstics...

• Strong visual memory, especially for the written word,
• Gestalt processing of language, stories and retries chunks of phrases or language.
• Processing system breaks down when these chunks must be disected and
rearranged to form original thoughts.
• Echoes language without modifying it appropriately.
• Constantly looks for and finds patterns in the environment.
• Children with hyperlexia will not ‘pick up’ language from the culture around
them, so they must be taught very specifically. The child will pay more attention
to your tone then to your voice.

link

Nothing about unusual problems with comprehension. I would say that almost any child under 5 would have trouble fully comprehending written text.

(I'm not an expert on Hyperlexia, though, even though I did know about it's existence before. There may be other, more "accurate" definitions out there... feel free to post links)

My daughter has hyperlexia and comprehension problems...



Verdandi
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26 Jul 2012, 2:38 am

Neuron wrote:
Verdandi wrote:
Comprehension difficulties are frequently described by hyperlexic people on this forum, so I would hesitate to dismiss it.


But who are the hyperlexic people? How were they diagnosed? Does an official diagnosis even exist?


Hyperlexia was only named a few years before I was born, and since my mother saw my self-taught reading as a sign of intelligence as opposed to a possible consequence of an autistic brain, I don't recall that it was ever brought up. I have had comprehension problems with reading all my life, but they are barely an issue now, whereas they were more of one in my 20s, and significantly worse in childhood.

Quote:
To clarify: I have nothing against self-diagnosis and/or personal experiences. The point I am making is that I do not see "problems with comprehension" in the descriptions of hyperlexia that I found on the Net. I see early reading ability, social issues and "unusual" language.

So when someone claims to have hyperlexia with comprehension problems, how does that person know that the comprehension problems are caused by their hyperlexia when it's not part of the definition?
(Or if it is part of the definition, please post a link)


I find this frustrating because often "experts" often get this sort of thing wrong because they misinterpret and misunderstand what they're seeing due to their own shallow observations and perceptions, and yet an expert's word is supposed to supercede what we've actually experienced. Imagine learning 30,000 words by age 6. Do you think such a child would know what all of those words mean? I don't think that's likely. Most children at age 6 know a few thousand words at most. What if you had those 30,000 words in your head, phrases they appear in, and contexts in which they're used, but no idea of what the definitions actually are?

I had issues with knowing what a lot of words meant, and even issues with pronouncing several simply because I had only ever seen them written. A lot of words and phrases I used simply by pattern matching in response to what someone else said. I learned over time by looking up definitions when I could, in some cases I interpreted a definition on the basis of context and usage - sometimes these were wrong, sometime they were right.



Neuron
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26 Jul 2012, 2:51 am

Verdandi wrote:
I find this frustrating because often "experts" often get this sort of thing wrong because they misinterpret and misunderstand what they're seeing due to their own shallow observations and perceptions, and yet an expert's word is supposed to supercede what we've actually experienced. Imagine learning 30,000 words by age 6. Do you think such a child would know what all of those words mean? I don't think that's likely. Most children at age 6 know a few thousand words at most. What if you had those 30,000 words in your head, phrases they appear in, and contexts in which they're used, but no idea of what the definitions actually are?

I had issues with knowing what a lot of words meant, and even issues with pronouncing several simply because I had only ever seen them written. A lot of words and phrases I used simply by pattern matching in response to what someone else said. I learned over time by looking up definitions when I could, in some cases I interpreted a definition on the basis of context and usage - sometimes these were wrong, sometime they were right.


If what you are describing is Hyperlexia, then I still don't see an unusual comprehension problem, since most (almost all) children (and many adults) would not understand the meanings of all the words.

So it comes down to the definitions again and, like you mentioned, there is a problem with observations and perceptions that may be shallow and tend to be based on one's own interpretation of the world.



Zexion
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26 Jul 2012, 3:29 am

Quote:
The word "hyperlexia" doesn't even really have an official definition, because it's not even in the DSM as a disorder. Right now, this stuff is more art than science.
Are there any offical tests for hyperlexia? How would anyone know they are hyperlexic?



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26 Jul 2012, 3:37 am

Neuron wrote:
If what you are describing is Hyperlexia, then I still don't see an unusual comprehension problem, since most (almost all) children (and many adults) would not understand the meanings of all the words.


Then I either explained it poorly or you didn't understand what I wrote.

There are two elements to reading - decoding and comprehension. This was actually discussed on the wiki page:

Quote:
Hyperlexic children are often fascinated by letters or numbers. They are extremely good at decoding language and thus often become very early readers. Some hyperlexic children learn to spell long words (such as elephant) before they are two years old and learn to read whole sentences before they turn three. An fMRI study of a single child showed that hyperlexia may be the neurological opposite of dyslexia.[7] Whereas dyslexic children usually have poor word decoding abilities but average or above average reading comprehension skills, hyperlexic children excel at word decoding but often have poor reading comprehension abilities.[7]


Footnote [7] links to:

http://www.cell.com/neuron/retrieve/pii ... 7303008031

A lot of traits in various conditions, disorders, and syndromes are comparable to traits most people experience. However, they are typically more intense and impairing, or they wouldn't be diagnosable conditions. Comprehension issues that hyperlexic children experience are greater than those experienced by neurotypical children.