Author: Rebecca Manari | March 15th, 2022
My son had just turned two, and I was standing in front of him and brushing his teeth, an essential activity he just happens to love doing!
He often had the habit of babbling away, sometimes things that made sense, some words we could barely understand, and sometimes he would just ramble on with funny sounds.
I wasn’t paying too much attention to his chatter that morning, but just as I rinsed off his toothbrush, I heard him say something…
“L-O-N-D-O-N” he said, and I was caught completely off guard. His little chubby arm was raised and he repeated himself pointing at my t-shirt. I looked down and saw to my utter surprise that he had read all the letters on my shirt.
I had never taught R the alphabet, nor looked through an alphabet book with him, (although we read stories to him regularly) he didn’t attend school. How he self-learned all the letters of the alphabet is still beyond me, but as weeks passed, we were delighted by the discoveries about his learning and interests. He knew letters, numbers, colours, shapes, and could even name a few dinosaurs! He loved counting, naming things, categorising was his favourite type of game. Sorting things into groups based on colour, shape or number. Playing with scrabble tiles and dice, counting tiles on the floor and the number of steps to our house was all pure joy for R.
It thrilled and excited all of us at home to see this new and beautiful aspect of R’s remarkable mind.
It felt like a secret world of learning completely unknown to us, was happening alongside everything else we were doing. There was no effort on our part to ‘teach’ any of this, it all just ‘happened’. Since his speech was so limited, all our efforts were directed more towards functional and effective communication.
He didn’t answer if someone asked what his name was, he didn’t know how old he was, and could barely pronounce his sibling’s names. R had a very limited vocabulary, so how exactly did he learn all these other things on his own?
I was curious to find out and did a little investigation.
That’s when I learned about Hyperlexia.
Hyperlexia often occurs with Autism or ‘Autism-like’ traits, though not always.
It does not always mean the child is genius or gifted. There are several kinds and it is not always easy to diagnose. An obsession, like R’s fascination with numbers and visual symbols, does not automatically point to Hyperlexia.
Some children as young as 18 months learn to read fluently, and recite times tables! Others discover or develop a deep interest in the alphabet a little later and run with it.
A clear ‘diagnosis’ of Hyperlexia is not usually given. There is still a lot of debate and discussion over Hyperlexia and how it is identified, and whether or not it requires a diagnosis.
To me, as a parent, getting a diagnosis of Hyperlexia is not as important as identifying my child’s challenges. It hardly matters whether or not the condition has a name when your child needs help in specific areas. This is where getting the right support for him comes in.
What you need to look out for if your child has an obsession with letters and numbers, or is an early, self-taught reader:
Reading comprehension: Your child may be able to read, and fast! They may have better reading skills than their peers, but children with Hyperlexia often struggle with understanding what it is they are reading. If they are not comprehending language, then their reading is not fully functional. You can get help from a language therapist to help your child understand what they read.
Numeracy: Does your child understand counting? Is he/ she able to assign one number to one object when counting? If your child can identify symbols but does not know their meaning, that is not a functional numeracy skill, and they may need additional help understanding numbers in a concrete, meaningful way.
Obsessions and fixation: While it is great to use these interests as strengths to fuel a passion for learning, allow the child’s mind to be open to learning more than just what they are obsessively fixated on. You can make more varied resources available to the child for them to explore. The rotation of toys and books periodically will help the child maintain a healthy interest in all kinds of play, rather than getting fixated on just one thing.
Depending on your child’s needs and challenges, you should prioritise and if the need arises, seek help based on what’s most relevant to your current situation.
No matter how your child learns and what their interests are, it helps to remind yourself that the mind is a remarkable and beautiful thing. We mums tend to look for problems and challenges to ‘fix’. But most often, our children can do much more than we give them credit for! As R’s mother, that is what I got out of this learning experience.
REBECCA MANARI
Parent Advisor
Have you ever been surprised by your child’s potential? We would love to hear about it in the comments!
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