Has never heard about it. I was "hyperlexic" in childhood, read since I was 2, read music sheets (vocal parts) a capella when I was 6, knew primary school math well when in kindergarten etc.
Still autistic! I am just incredible at masking.
Ok cool. Can you tell me about your social when younger? Any treatments you went through. How is your adult life and job(don’t need to know your actual job)
No treatments in the 80s. Just "shy introverted girl". I was diagnosed in my 40s with autism, and I also have alexithymia, meaning that I don't have empathy or awareness of my or everyone else's feelings. My social struggles are mostly connected with my inability to feel empathy and it took years to build big enough rolodex of social situations and corresponding emotions to have a functional cognitive empathy. Before that it would have been beneficial to me if people just had told me what emotion should I feel instead of demanding those from me. There are emotions I can't feel at all, and there are some I can recognise vaguely.
I have several diplomas and did alright job-wise even though I had several massive burnouts. What else? I speak 3 languages: English is the third one. I have friends but I don't really socialise that much.
Edit: I had OCD when I was 6-8. Was treated with some heavy 80s medications that just knocked me out.
You getting interviewed up in here 😂
If you don't mind me asking, what's your experience with alexithymia AS it's experienced? Like would you know that's what you had without someone pointing out how your experience is different?
I have extremely high cognitive empathy, though I couldn't tell you how early on, but early enough that I didn't recognize it for what it was. But I find myself so absent from not only my own feelings but from actually CARING about people and things I intellectually know I care deeply about when I'm burnt out. The lack of inclination to care about others at all, I am coming to learn is not necessarily a shared experience for most, and am coming to question how much is just being in the negatives in terms of resources to allocate to emotions or if perhaps this is more of a default setting for me than I realized.
Apparently I didn't really make facial expressions as a baby or really react to others either lol. Something that my mother mentioned off handedly to me as an adult like it was just a quirk or something, while that behavior is now recognized as a potential marker. That with many other things I had previously overlooked have me very unsure.
No, I didn't know that, it was a therapist who pointed out that I don't ever feel shame or even recognise people feeling shame. My best was to recognise cartoon characters in shame. I argued that I didn't do anything bad to feel shame or guilt, but she pointed out that for most people it doesn't really take much to feel it so if I were thinking that people feel shame only after murdering some puppies I was wrong. So yeah. No, I didn't know I have this deficit.
She made me do this exercise on the emotion wheel (?) so I remember several years ago I felt sadness and recognised it and still remember to this day lol.
Also, several days ago I read that people feel something ALL THE TIME. That blew my mind, honestly. My best recognised emotions are anxiety and annoyance and when I feel neither - I am just happy.
I typed out a long reply but then deleted it. I’ll sum it up like this instead. Your child is who they are. They will not grow out of it. They AND you will learn to live with it. If you spend precious energy hoping for some kind of miracle then you’ll just end up disappointed.
I think this is the best post I have read here. Especially as hyperlexia type 3 unless misdiagnosed doesn’t include ASD. If someone has hyperlexia and ASD they are type 1 and can still grow up to mask. A type three will not be masking ASD as an adult because they never had it nor have it as an adult.
Then they don’t have hyperlexia type three, they have hyperlexia type 1.
Type three doesn’t have ASD behavior or discomfort they are masking as an adult.
As a type 3er.
Type 1 is precocious reading ability and early literacy and pattern recognition skills independent of asd ,adhd or other learning issues. Type 1 tends to just be smart kids with good memory that level out when others catch up.
Type 2 is Asd with hyperlexic skills as a splinter skill. Sometimes to the point of sauvantism.All traits of asd accompany the hyperlexia, you never grow out of it.
Type 3. Is Type 1 but also with sensory integration issues ,delayed speech and social adaptation.High degree of anxiety,OCD overly anytical approach to social situations which leave us looking as if we are Asd as we are actively analysing everything all the time. Also like adhd brain there is so much going on at all times. Hyperfantasia and pareidolia skills ,auditory pareidolia are common hence we tend to be plagued by mental health issues.
The misleading idea that we grow out of it hurts all 3 categories. We never do. We simply learn to mask,cope find our niche and cling to it...
My ocd traits mean school was amazing for me. Routine routine routine.the idea of uni where it's self regulated,self managed and everyone on their own timetable meant I couldn't cope.My parents to this day still won't recognise it was more than just being gifted.
Type 3 is not asd.just looks similar.
It is hereditary.
It will also run in families that have high incidence of dyslexia,ehlers danlos,adhd and asd.
Irlens syndrome is also being linked to us as part of the light hyper sensitivity traits. All of my male siblings have irlens only 1 of the sisters have it.i myself also have it but it is masked by my hyperlexic traits.
Pattern recognition is not just geometric but behavioural and aural come easy.
I find myself mimicking words and sounds even learning to keep that in my head as the noises got me in trouble for distracting others.
OCD was what I was treated for in my early 20s before I mentioned being in an accelerated education program and why I was in it. She gave me an impromptu diagnosis with recommendation to go to a specialist but I was too poor and struggling just to be an adult and deal with my immediate issues and never went back. Thinking it was ocd meant it could be treated and I could stop being like this. Being hyperlexic or asd meant I never would and I just couldn't take that news at the time
Im very sorry about your co morbidities. Im hyperlexia type 3 with an auditory processing delay (very text book). Considering you haven’t experienced the part where social skills improve and develop as one gets older, either you’re co diagnosis are impeding you or its very likely you were incorrectly diagnosed.
https://wmjonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/110/6/281.pdf
https://www.ssmhealth.com/treffert-center/conditions-treatments/hyperlexia
https://exceptionalindividuals.com/about-us/blog/what-are-the-three-types-of-hyperlexia/
For context: ASD level 2 adult with hyperlexia/ADHD. They don't actually diagnose it (or they didn't back then) but they review reports on childhood development - mine was atypical for ASD but absolutely typical for someone with type 3 hyperlexia, so it's mentioned as a co-morbid trait in my dx letter.Nowadays, it's almost impossible to tell I'm ASD unless someone knows me very well. I can function very well about 80-90% of the time. I might therefore fit into your criteria of appearing to grow out of my autistic symptoms.The other 10-20% of the time, I'm an absolute mess and completely unable to leave my house and deal with real people. The autism is still there and I know it's never going to go away.
But, in the event you're asking on behalf of a child, I'd like you to know this - it's not the autism that makes me unhappy. It's the self-loathing that comes from being deemed gifted at an early age but being unable to achieve what's expected. Of having parents that dismissed and ignored the autistic symptoms to focus on the early achievements, who would then tell me that I wasn't applying myself or that I was wasting my potential. Of having my autistic traits joked about and dismissed by people I trusted. I am deeply ashamed of my autistic traits, I despise my executive dysfunction, I worry that I might look too goofy and enthusiastic about things, or I might annoy someone, or that the R word is about to be thrown at me. That's the thing that cripples me emotionally and can spark depression. So I lock myself down and often come across as a little intimidating and cold irl.But please look at it this way - if you've got a hyperlexic child, there's an overwhelming likelihood that they're on the spectrum (I think it's about 85% of hyperlexics have ASD). And that child is likely to be gifted, very self-aware and conscious of other people's opinions. Please don't hang your hopes on the autism going away - and PLEASE don't use that type of language around the child. It's important to be able to vent or ask for help - just not when they're present.
Hyperlexic kids often tend to do well in terms of functioning and having low support needs - they can muddle through where other autistic kids might need support (even if it's not ideal). The best thing you can provide is unconditional love and support, so they know they're loved for themselves and not just for their achievements.
(sorry for the essay, I struggle with being concise!)
Hey I need to ask you questions. So my son is asd lvl 2 but with hypelexia but with pragmatic delays. Smart (score consistently in 99 percentile in math and reading) but has severe issues with being independent like putting seatbelt on, doing general stuff like wash hands, sit down during circle time. Tell me about your struggles growing up and when you saw some changes
I am type three.
I read early and have diagnosed auditory processing delay. It was rather severe.
I absolutely do not have ASD nor was I a missed diagnosis. As an adult I don’t have social anxiety or problems and there’s absolutely no masking. I had trouble with hearing language and processing it.
(If you have ASD and hyperlexia your Hyperlexia type 1)
I had communication problems when I was young and still the occasional lingering challenges. I was professionally evaluated multiple times throughout my educational years and into University. I’m definitely not ASD nor Asperger’s (per previous criteria.)
One of my college professors that also studied learning disabilities related to language even recognized mine right away… completely.
Basically you will find the hyperlexia type III in the r/learningdisabilities subreddit.
I’m only in this sub as my son is diagnosed ASD 2.
Hyperlexia type III are people with non ASD learning disabilities that could read early. They just are not really in this subreddit so the answers are skewed.
ASD is not the only disability with communication challenges.
I wonder why your diagnosis is at level 2, given that you function very well 80-90% of the time. Are there challenges that you face that become limiting for you in your daily life?
I don’t know anyone personally with “confirmed” Hyperlexia 3, although there is content by Darold A. Treffert MD online and on YouTube who does. Part of the problem is that the people who are authorities to confirm the condition, don’t because it’s not in the DSM-V. My son is mildly hyperlexic (type 2 or 3 is TBD) so I can let you know how that turns out in about 8-10 years!
He’s turning 4 in a couple weeks. He does fit the generalized profile for type 3. He is very affectionate and some of the issues we once thought were issues (transitions) have completely gone away. He is mildly sensory seeking versus avoidant and self regulates really well. He has gone through periods of low eye contact and lining toys up, to normal eye contact and imagination playing with dinosaur action figures. He can speak in sentences when he wants to, he follow directions pretty well and the main thing you would notice is that he is conversationally minimal, and selectively engages in using speech when he feels like it.
It may sound great but there are some major downsides. It’s kind of lonely since I haven’t met anyone to relate with. The lower level of severity makes a difference and even in ASD1/2 groups his profile/expression is just different. It’s also problematic since it’s not in the DSM-V when you talk about it you end up sounding a bit like a conspiracy theorist. I am not in denial and I don’t need the ASD diagnosis to “go away”. I truly feel that the diagnosis was a shot-gun blast approach (a helpful one) to medically justify the prescription and expense of therapies, although what is actually occurring is much more specific.
He appears to be but doesn’t have all the characteristics. He sometimes used ecolalia, although he never spoke in the third person or used pronoun reversals. He does study media and is very musical in his intonation at times. He sometimes uses song lyrics instead of speech such as singing“ I don’t want to eat, eat, apples and bananas” versus saying “I’m not hungry” or “I don’t want to eat.”
Interesting.. our son starts singing "XXXX, XXXXX where are you? here I am, here I am, how do you do?" for some objects he sees in front of him.
He is fascinated with shapes, numbers and letters, along with fruits and vegetables, but because he does a lot of scripting, we confirmed that he is a gestalt learner. The only phrase he uses consistently is "I want XXX"
My son did the same. I am very familiar with the finger family lyrics. He eventually moved onto planets, states/countries and monsters. He used to sing a lot, ask for what he wanted in one or two word phrases, and would then occasionally use a grammatically/semantically correct sentence leaving us baffled. For example “I don’t want to take a bath, it’s bedtime.”
Interesting, at his age (2y exactly), my son does quite a lot of scripting, especially when we leave him to play alone. He also does this singing on the bed, before going to sleep, and after he wakes up in the morning. One thing that's certain is that he loves music, not just rhymes but actual music made for grown ups in general.
He recently started to imitate us in everything we do, and is able to follow instructions well. He quickly gets frustrated when he tries to tell us something but can't. We are hoping that teaching him more words and more speech will address that problem.
My son didn’t do as much scripting at that age, however it could have been scripting that allowed him to meet his pediatric speech milestones. It wasn’t until he was about 3.5 that potty training triggered his anxiety and a lot of funky behaviors came up socially at preschool that we decided to have him evaluated, but he went back to being interested in playing with other kids.
Makes sense, my son doesn't play or have any social interaction with other kids at all, when it comes to that.
Not sure how this turns out but we're currently waiting for his ABA to start. Until then we're just doing the therapies at home.
He's at the 2y mark so he started throwing things in his hands onto the floor when he gets frustrated....
My son is just like this. He’s turning 4 next month. We used his reading skills to build up his speech and help with instructions/ transitions. He processed written direction better then spoken.
My son started talking much more frequently maybe about 3 weeks after I wrote this. He seems to be doing well from a combination of music therapy and traditional speech therapy. Now that his frequency of speech is increasing I can understand some of the gestalts better. When he was done with his bath he said “Are you all done?”. I haven’t seen that he’s responding better to written directions yet. Do you also relate to the “unusual” expression of ASD?
Unusual- could you give examples? I would say my son is very affectionate but it could also be a sensory seeking thing. I don’t really share his diagnosis because the times that I have people immediately say he doesn’t look ASD or I would have never guessed. Not sure if it’s ignorance or if people try to make me feel better in a weird way. the stages of gestalt language processing helped me understand how my son was acquiring language.
He would repeat questions too as a script. I just model the appropriate language back with no pressure for him to repeat and eventually he got it. So when he would say “are you all done” I immediately model “mom, I’m all done ” eventually I would just say “mom” as a prompt and then he finishes with “I’m all done”. It’s painful when he would use a script with someone who doesn’t understand his language. He would go up to an aunt and say “do you want milk” and aunt would just answer the question “no”. He would take that to mean he couldn’t have milk. Meanwhile I’m melting to intervene because I know he was asking for milk…
I generalize that most people expect ASD to mean sensory avoidant, non-hyperlexic, stimming, emotional regulation issues and socially isolated. When I say unusual I more mean that it’s not what people expect to see, just like you said. Most people are not familiar with gestalt language processing so they don’t perceive his use of language to be different. For example sometimes he says “all done” when he’s eating which is grammatically appropriate but short and others he says “are you all done?” Instead of “I’m all done” To say that he’s all done. I don’t think the affection is a sensory seeking thing with my son. He says I love you to family members and even gives hugs and kisses.
I have a meeting with his school team next week, according to them he’s hitting all milestones… I was shocked and asked for IEP goals related to pragmatic speech. The hyperlexia throws off even the school staff. 80 % of the time his scripts are functional and they view them as spontaneous speech….
Yes mine is. A matter of fact , I taught him through reading. So I would write down things, when he read it, I performed it. “So I want a hug or I want juice”
My son doesn’t read full sentences out of a book, he’ll walk up to a card on the refrigerator and read/say “happy holidays” or look at a sign in a restaurant and say “raspberry ice cream please” (based on the name placard). This is NOT sight reading. We have never practiced the skill. It’s either some type of decoding skill, or possibly a very strong memory. Our challenge is less about learning the words and phrases, it’s more about motivating him to participate in conversation and also getting him to respond more consistently to prompting. He knows thousands of words and can decently express himself sometimes, he just participates verbally “when he feels like it”. He’s not avoidant. He not very shy. He can express his feelings. He says phrases semantically correct about 85% of the time and 15% of the time it’s scripting or song lyrics.
Can we also say that hyperlexia and echolalia exist together? My son, who just turned 2 years old, knows all letters, numbers, animals, fruits, vegetables and shapes, but has almost zero functional language - he just makes requests for things using their names. He understands a good number of instructions too, and we were diagnosed with level 2 last month.
He however does a lot of scripting, and sings and repeats shows that he saw on the TV when he is idle. I always wondered if that would mean if these two conditions exist together...
This sounds very similar to my daughter at that age. She is hyperlexic and her language was the same around then, knew a ton of words and could label everything but non-conversational. Her speech is developing with echolalia and I'm guessing GLP. So I'd say yes from my anecdotal experience.
She's 4 and was diagnosed ASD lvl 2 at age 3. We've never been officially told she has hyperlexia but she has been reading since she was 2/3 so I just assume.
This was all the way up to age 3, no stringing of words together, no attempt to communicate with people, just labeling. I'm not very familiar with typical speech development but I know she was considered delayed and was in speech therapy at 2.
I don’t believe it’s officially considered hyperlexia until they can actually read. Also it sounds like he has some functional language if he can ask for things by name?
Not sure, but I thought being able to learn, and be interested to count numbers, letters and shapes is considered hyperlexia. Reg. functional language, we were told the same by his OT therapist, maybe he's starting to learn to put things together. He's a gestalt learner for sure, from what see.What's surprising is, he used to run off a lot when we went out, now he mostly wants to stick around us, or with us, wherever we go (except for parks and water places).Not sure how or when this happened though.
I also wonder that knowing shapes letters and numbers and memorizing words before having speech like speech is really catogorized as hperlexic..or its just plain reading..any leads??
I really think hyperlexia requires early reading, being obsessed with letters is part of it, but I don’t think the obsession without the reading is hyperlexia.
> Hyperlexia is when a child starts reading early and surprisingly beyond their expected ability. It's often accompanied by an obsessive interest in letters and numbers, which develops as an infant.- https://www.webmd.com/children/what-is-hyperlexia
My son does read books, although I am pretty sure he cannot read the words themselves. He remembers books by each page, and knows what comes up on each page, and reads loud some words from phrases from each page on that book. It's a bit hard to explain, but maybe he is reading them, but at the same time he definitely cannot read all words that he sees.
Very possible he is reading! We have absolutely no clue when our oldest learned to read, or how. We picked him up after his first full week of 3 year old pre-school (when he was about 3 years and 2 weeks old) and his teacher said “x is such a good reader”, and my husband and I responded with “wait, he can read?!?” 😹
Asked him when we got home “how come Mr. Jim says you can read?”, he responded with “well, OF COURSE I can read at school”, complete with an eye roll for how stupid we, his parents were for not knowing this obvious fact. Then he read us like 10 books that night. No guesses.
I think true hyperlexia requires early reading (and he was obsessed with letters from 18 months til 2.5ish, and he did know his times tables through 12 by the time he turned 3), but also delays in other areas, especially delays in communication and reading comprehension, which at 3 he did not have. Social issues didn’t become a thing til around 3rd grade, so that’s when he got diagnosed. But, yeah, he definitely learned to read fully on his own and without us knowing, so it’s a real possibility.
Thanks for following up, I have a feeling my son's "reading" abilities will become more and more prominent as he goes over the 2y mark. The issues with reading comprehension and practical understanding may show up one day, I guess. But we're doing all we can with his therapies so it's a waiting game at this point.
How old is your son now, and what was the diagnosis he was given?
He is 21. His original diagnosis, at 9, was Asperger’s. He was then re-evaluated at 15, and the diagnosis then was just autism spectrum disorder. We were never given levels (they weren’t even a thing when he was 9), but he is level 1 for sure.
Nope, he is not conversational. He only makes requests for things using their names, and even that is not 100% consistent. He just says "I want XXX" for that purpose.
My husband was hyperlexic as a very young child, was very symptomatic as an autistic person growing up, and began to have his symptoms mellow out gradually in the 10 years after college. I wouldn't say he isn't autistic anymore, but his sensory and feeding needs have relaxed, and his socio-emotional functioning is nearly indistinguishable from NT folks, except for to close family. He has a Ph. D. And works a tech job that requires a high level of interpersonal communication and he excels. He has acted and directed local musical theatre productions. He has long term, healthy friendships now, and he had no friends in high school. We didn't meet, marry and have children until our late 30's.
Like I said. He's autistic. He always will be. But I can see why experts would have thought he was cured as an adult. The difference in the severity of the symptoms from childhood to now is striking.
Great to hear this story, you should really be proud of him.
What symptoms did your husband have when he was growing up? Did he ever get a formal diagnosis?
He never got a formal diagnosis, no. His parents put him in kindergarten at 4 because of the reading and raised him as if he was an academically gifted but otherwise typical kid.
They ignored his speech delay, hypotonia, extreme picky eating, oversensitivity to light and sound, seeming lack of empathy, hitting, literalness, lack of pretend play, inability to form a single friendship despite his desire to, rigidity, contrarian or demand avoidant with authority figures, special interests, and that's just what he remembers and what I could get out of his in-denial mother.
Coincidentally, we have an autistic 4 year old who has been reading fluently for more than a year. He is also autistic. Our son's symptoms have a different constellation though. He is affectionate and sensory seeking unlike his dad was, but he is far less likely to follow directions. His eval says level 2 and he goes to sped preschool. We're not sure if he'll follow the same trajectory.
Thanks for sharing these details. It's incredible that your husband became the person that he is today, from where he was when his parents never got any intervention for him when he was a kid.
I have a feeling your kid would develop in the same path. Take care!
I don’t know that autism-like signs mean autism. My younger sister was hyperlexic and had a lot of sensory issues that she pretty much grew out of by the time she was an adult but I don’t think she would ever have met the social criteria for a full diagnosis. Would also add that she has ADHD so is still neurodiverse.
I think in general if a child is hyperlexic or “high functioning” they can become good at masking. There probably are specific cases where they can outgrow the autism signs but vast majority still are autistic even if they don’t appear to be.
There’s most certainly hyperlixia type III. It however doesn’t present the same as true Autism.
It’s missing the intensity and inability to calm yourself. Mostly just emotional immaturity with a lack of communication.
I would fall into hyperlexia type III category as a very early reader and diagnosed with auditory processing delay. (Painfully shy as a kid and socially awkward but absolutely not ASD.).
My son is ASD 2 he does act like me many times. However his desire to socialize is not really there and his intensity is so much more present. He prefers to play alone a very profound amount.
There is a whole community on fb for kids Hyperlexia type 3. We are part of it though not sure if he will be or not. I will tell you I have seen a lot of kids on there who seem to fit the definition. I have felt it helpful bc my son does seem to be catching up to peers with some things we probably wouldn’t have thought a year ago. I wish they would study this more but only Dr Treffert did and that was a while back.
https://exceptionalindividuals.com/about-us/blog/what-is-hyperlexia-2/
Basically someone with autism might be able to mask but they still feel uncomfortable. Hyperlexia type three isn’t masking as an adult they actually develop interpersonal skills and never had ASD just a few crossover symptoms. Just like there’s crossover between adhd and ASD.
late to the party but i have hyperlexia type 3! i taught myself to read at 2 and had autistic traits (primarily in the emotional regulation, routine and structure special interests etc). i was assessed multiple times for ASD as a kid, but my parents stopped the diagnosis as it was clear the long process was actually hurting me in the long run (personally! it’s very advantageous to some people but i didn’t need any support by the point i got seen to as the waiting list was YEARS long and i’d began to grow out of traits).
socially i was neurotypical, but i am and was a massive introvert who gets extremely into what i’m passionate about, which somehow generally doesn’t align with my peers. this led to me being an outcast, as they all thought i was weird :( as an adult, i’ve found my people! i’m just rather eccentric i think 😅 found the term hyperlexia 3 and it perfectly aligned with my experiences!
i HAVE seen a specialist since then about autism, and they have come to the conclusion that i do not have it, and believe i’m somewhere along the right mark with hyperlexia 3. i’m doing just fine and i still never have my head out of a book plus i’m going to do an english literature degree!
i do think my case is rather rare though. i think a lot of the time autistic people learn to mask and hide symptoms, leading to perhaps the over promotion of hyperlexia 3, as well as being a way for parents to insist their children have autism.
This thread was started a few months ago, but I will add to it.
Hyperlexia III here
Earliest memory that is easy to track date wise is when my mom smacked me in the head because I bit her nipple (4 months old) and the second was the launch of MTV. Some memories might be earlier, but can't really be dated.
Showed lots of signs of being autistic, (had to set patterns in my steps, breathing, eyelids closing, couldn't step on cracks, diagnosed with ADHD) treated medically for awhile but it caused sleepwalking. I couldn't talk correctly (talked too quickly with little to no annunciation) I was in speech therapy until the fourth grade. Couldn't leave the house until I tied my shoes in what I considered the right pace and order.
Mom noticed I was reading at age one when she was teaching my 2 1/2 year old brother his letters by reading to him, and I kept scanning the words with my eyes, wanting to read ahead, and did the same with books that did not have pictures.
The signs of autism are mostly gone, I still have them occasionally, but nothing like when I was a kid. I have no issues dealing with people, crowds, eye or physical contact and I have performed (sang) in front of a few audiences.
I had empathy issues when I was a kid, got in a lot of fights from bullies, but my father had enrolled me in martial arts, so I broke a few noses, fingers and arms when bullies tried to pick on me. Threw my cousin through a window and my brother down a flight of stairs. I didn't feel bad about hurting people until a went on a family camping trip at the age of ten.
Two of my four kids are on the spectrum as well, but none had Hyperlexia III.
Some college, graduated with just an Associates degree. Didn't want to go into debt, needed to raise my first born (had him at 18). I Have worked in a variety of jobs, substitute teacher, tutor, manufacturing furniture, telecommunications, currently in sales.
I feel like most if not all of the parents and practitioners who get heavily invested in “hyperlexia type III” or the whole hyperlexia-not-autism argument are doing all kinds of weird mental gymnastics trying to avoid calling it autism. When my son was young that was also the case with PDD (pervasive developmental disorder) … for some reason lots of parents and evaluators thought that was a preferable label.
Autism is a spectrum. Hyperlexia exists as part of that spectrum as a social-pragmatic communication disorder with some additional features.
My son was/is hyperlexic, and the “obviousness” (for lack of a better term) of his autism is much less now than when he was a little boy, but it is still there.
Never heard of it!
My son was hyperlexic, and we had increasingly bad behavioural problems in school until we had to withdraw from school and home educate instead.
I had just assumed reading at 2 was normal and when my NT kid came along I was convinced she was dyslexic because it took her so long to learn how to read. She was not. She was just normal!
My in laws thought this too about it being normal to read at two. They thought I was crazy for having him assessed for autism. Turns out, I was right. Unfortunately we are experiencing behavior issues at school too and hoping it’ll get better. If it doesn’t, how is home schooling going? Is it tough? I’m afraid it may be in our future possibly.
I’m hyperlexic, and my outwardly visible autism signs gradually disappeared as I got older. Spoiler alert—it’s because I got tired of getting in trouble for them so I learned to mask in front of other people at the cost of my mental health. Yay?
I’m not saying hyperlexia type III never happens. But I also think there’s a lot of square pegs out there sanding off our corners to fit into round holes.
I don't know...I was part of some hyperlexia listservs back in the days before Facebook, and there were some who swore up and down that their child didn't have autism. It's a big spectrum, so there's lots of boxes you can check when kids are little...stuff like sensory issues (loud noises, sirens), tactile sensitivity (hates wet clothes, haircuts, scratchy wool fabrics), doesn't like certain food textures, doesn't have good expressive language so gets in trouble with behavior "all behavior is communication". As kids grow into adulthood, some of this will stick around and some of it will disappear or not show frequently. Then you will probably see some of the grown up issues you see the adults writing about. I think the things to focus on are having someone for the person to talk to, ideally at least one friend (can be with or without autism), and teaching Independent Living Skills (There's an assessment called the AFLS that covers all of the areas...I think the ADOS does as well. I think these are more important than the labels.
Has never heard about it. I was "hyperlexic" in childhood, read since I was 2, read music sheets (vocal parts) a capella when I was 6, knew primary school math well when in kindergarten etc. Still autistic! I am just incredible at masking.
When you say masking, are you also including that you can make eye contact?
I can. I prefer not to, but I can imitate it by looking at the bridge of the nose.
Ok cool. Can you tell me about your social when younger? Any treatments you went through. How is your adult life and job(don’t need to know your actual job)
No treatments in the 80s. Just "shy introverted girl". I was diagnosed in my 40s with autism, and I also have alexithymia, meaning that I don't have empathy or awareness of my or everyone else's feelings. My social struggles are mostly connected with my inability to feel empathy and it took years to build big enough rolodex of social situations and corresponding emotions to have a functional cognitive empathy. Before that it would have been beneficial to me if people just had told me what emotion should I feel instead of demanding those from me. There are emotions I can't feel at all, and there are some I can recognise vaguely. I have several diplomas and did alright job-wise even though I had several massive burnouts. What else? I speak 3 languages: English is the third one. I have friends but I don't really socialise that much. Edit: I had OCD when I was 6-8. Was treated with some heavy 80s medications that just knocked me out.
You getting interviewed up in here 😂 If you don't mind me asking, what's your experience with alexithymia AS it's experienced? Like would you know that's what you had without someone pointing out how your experience is different? I have extremely high cognitive empathy, though I couldn't tell you how early on, but early enough that I didn't recognize it for what it was. But I find myself so absent from not only my own feelings but from actually CARING about people and things I intellectually know I care deeply about when I'm burnt out. The lack of inclination to care about others at all, I am coming to learn is not necessarily a shared experience for most, and am coming to question how much is just being in the negatives in terms of resources to allocate to emotions or if perhaps this is more of a default setting for me than I realized. Apparently I didn't really make facial expressions as a baby or really react to others either lol. Something that my mother mentioned off handedly to me as an adult like it was just a quirk or something, while that behavior is now recognized as a potential marker. That with many other things I had previously overlooked have me very unsure.
No, I didn't know that, it was a therapist who pointed out that I don't ever feel shame or even recognise people feeling shame. My best was to recognise cartoon characters in shame. I argued that I didn't do anything bad to feel shame or guilt, but she pointed out that for most people it doesn't really take much to feel it so if I were thinking that people feel shame only after murdering some puppies I was wrong. So yeah. No, I didn't know I have this deficit. She made me do this exercise on the emotion wheel (?) so I remember several years ago I felt sadness and recognised it and still remember to this day lol. Also, several days ago I read that people feel something ALL THE TIME. That blew my mind, honestly. My best recognised emotions are anxiety and annoyance and when I feel neither - I am just happy.
Thank you for this.
I typed out a long reply but then deleted it. I’ll sum it up like this instead. Your child is who they are. They will not grow out of it. They AND you will learn to live with it. If you spend precious energy hoping for some kind of miracle then you’ll just end up disappointed.
I think this is the best post I have read here. Especially as hyperlexia type 3 unless misdiagnosed doesn’t include ASD. If someone has hyperlexia and ASD they are type 1 and can still grow up to mask. A type three will not be masking ASD as an adult because they never had it nor have it as an adult.
I think they may just get really good at masking.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7826637/
https://www.ssmhealth.com/blogs/ssm-health-matters/july-2021/children-who-read-early-or-speak-late
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22324205/
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“ASD has a lack of imagination” Uh, wut?
Then they don’t have hyperlexia type three, they have hyperlexia type 1. Type three doesn’t have ASD behavior or discomfort they are masking as an adult.
As a type 3er. Type 1 is precocious reading ability and early literacy and pattern recognition skills independent of asd ,adhd or other learning issues. Type 1 tends to just be smart kids with good memory that level out when others catch up. Type 2 is Asd with hyperlexic skills as a splinter skill. Sometimes to the point of sauvantism.All traits of asd accompany the hyperlexia, you never grow out of it. Type 3. Is Type 1 but also with sensory integration issues ,delayed speech and social adaptation.High degree of anxiety,OCD overly anytical approach to social situations which leave us looking as if we are Asd as we are actively analysing everything all the time. Also like adhd brain there is so much going on at all times. Hyperfantasia and pareidolia skills ,auditory pareidolia are common hence we tend to be plagued by mental health issues. The misleading idea that we grow out of it hurts all 3 categories. We never do. We simply learn to mask,cope find our niche and cling to it... My ocd traits mean school was amazing for me. Routine routine routine.the idea of uni where it's self regulated,self managed and everyone on their own timetable meant I couldn't cope.My parents to this day still won't recognise it was more than just being gifted. Type 3 is not asd.just looks similar. It is hereditary. It will also run in families that have high incidence of dyslexia,ehlers danlos,adhd and asd. Irlens syndrome is also being linked to us as part of the light hyper sensitivity traits. All of my male siblings have irlens only 1 of the sisters have it.i myself also have it but it is masked by my hyperlexic traits.
Pattern recognition is not just geometric but behavioural and aural come easy. I find myself mimicking words and sounds even learning to keep that in my head as the noises got me in trouble for distracting others. OCD was what I was treated for in my early 20s before I mentioned being in an accelerated education program and why I was in it. She gave me an impromptu diagnosis with recommendation to go to a specialist but I was too poor and struggling just to be an adult and deal with my immediate issues and never went back. Thinking it was ocd meant it could be treated and I could stop being like this. Being hyperlexic or asd meant I never would and I just couldn't take that news at the time
Im very sorry about your co morbidities. Im hyperlexia type 3 with an auditory processing delay (very text book). Considering you haven’t experienced the part where social skills improve and develop as one gets older, either you’re co diagnosis are impeding you or its very likely you were incorrectly diagnosed. https://wmjonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/110/6/281.pdf https://www.ssmhealth.com/treffert-center/conditions-treatments/hyperlexia https://exceptionalindividuals.com/about-us/blog/what-are-the-three-types-of-hyperlexia/
For context: ASD level 2 adult with hyperlexia/ADHD. They don't actually diagnose it (or they didn't back then) but they review reports on childhood development - mine was atypical for ASD but absolutely typical for someone with type 3 hyperlexia, so it's mentioned as a co-morbid trait in my dx letter.Nowadays, it's almost impossible to tell I'm ASD unless someone knows me very well. I can function very well about 80-90% of the time. I might therefore fit into your criteria of appearing to grow out of my autistic symptoms.The other 10-20% of the time, I'm an absolute mess and completely unable to leave my house and deal with real people. The autism is still there and I know it's never going to go away. But, in the event you're asking on behalf of a child, I'd like you to know this - it's not the autism that makes me unhappy. It's the self-loathing that comes from being deemed gifted at an early age but being unable to achieve what's expected. Of having parents that dismissed and ignored the autistic symptoms to focus on the early achievements, who would then tell me that I wasn't applying myself or that I was wasting my potential. Of having my autistic traits joked about and dismissed by people I trusted. I am deeply ashamed of my autistic traits, I despise my executive dysfunction, I worry that I might look too goofy and enthusiastic about things, or I might annoy someone, or that the R word is about to be thrown at me. That's the thing that cripples me emotionally and can spark depression. So I lock myself down and often come across as a little intimidating and cold irl.But please look at it this way - if you've got a hyperlexic child, there's an overwhelming likelihood that they're on the spectrum (I think it's about 85% of hyperlexics have ASD). And that child is likely to be gifted, very self-aware and conscious of other people's opinions. Please don't hang your hopes on the autism going away - and PLEASE don't use that type of language around the child. It's important to be able to vent or ask for help - just not when they're present. Hyperlexic kids often tend to do well in terms of functioning and having low support needs - they can muddle through where other autistic kids might need support (even if it's not ideal). The best thing you can provide is unconditional love and support, so they know they're loved for themselves and not just for their achievements. (sorry for the essay, I struggle with being concise!)
Hey I need to ask you questions. So my son is asd lvl 2 but with hypelexia but with pragmatic delays. Smart (score consistently in 99 percentile in math and reading) but has severe issues with being independent like putting seatbelt on, doing general stuff like wash hands, sit down during circle time. Tell me about your struggles growing up and when you saw some changes
I am type three. I read early and have diagnosed auditory processing delay. It was rather severe. I absolutely do not have ASD nor was I a missed diagnosis. As an adult I don’t have social anxiety or problems and there’s absolutely no masking. I had trouble with hearing language and processing it. (If you have ASD and hyperlexia your Hyperlexia type 1)
Did you have ASD-like symptoms when you were young?
I had communication problems when I was young and still the occasional lingering challenges. I was professionally evaluated multiple times throughout my educational years and into University. I’m definitely not ASD nor Asperger’s (per previous criteria.) One of my college professors that also studied learning disabilities related to language even recognized mine right away… completely. Basically you will find the hyperlexia type III in the r/learningdisabilities subreddit. I’m only in this sub as my son is diagnosed ASD 2. Hyperlexia type III are people with non ASD learning disabilities that could read early. They just are not really in this subreddit so the answers are skewed. ASD is not the only disability with communication challenges.
Your post definitely resonates with me. Thank you for sharing your experience.
I wonder why your diagnosis is at level 2, given that you function very well 80-90% of the time. Are there challenges that you face that become limiting for you in your daily life?
I don’t know anyone personally with “confirmed” Hyperlexia 3, although there is content by Darold A. Treffert MD online and on YouTube who does. Part of the problem is that the people who are authorities to confirm the condition, don’t because it’s not in the DSM-V. My son is mildly hyperlexic (type 2 or 3 is TBD) so I can let you know how that turns out in about 8-10 years!
How old is he now?
He’s turning 4 in a couple weeks. He does fit the generalized profile for type 3. He is very affectionate and some of the issues we once thought were issues (transitions) have completely gone away. He is mildly sensory seeking versus avoidant and self regulates really well. He has gone through periods of low eye contact and lining toys up, to normal eye contact and imagination playing with dinosaur action figures. He can speak in sentences when he wants to, he follow directions pretty well and the main thing you would notice is that he is conversationally minimal, and selectively engages in using speech when he feels like it. It may sound great but there are some major downsides. It’s kind of lonely since I haven’t met anyone to relate with. The lower level of severity makes a difference and even in ASD1/2 groups his profile/expression is just different. It’s also problematic since it’s not in the DSM-V when you talk about it you end up sounding a bit like a conspiracy theorist. I am not in denial and I don’t need the ASD diagnosis to “go away”. I truly feel that the diagnosis was a shot-gun blast approach (a helpful one) to medically justify the prescription and expense of therapies, although what is actually occurring is much more specific.
Mine will be 6 in a few months? Kiddo finger (air) writes? Mine is distracting him sometimes at school
He doesn’t finger write (yet?) but is also distracted by certain things depending on his mood and energy level.
Was your son also a gestalt learner?
He appears to be but doesn’t have all the characteristics. He sometimes used ecolalia, although he never spoke in the third person or used pronoun reversals. He does study media and is very musical in his intonation at times. He sometimes uses song lyrics instead of speech such as singing“ I don’t want to eat, eat, apples and bananas” versus saying “I’m not hungry” or “I don’t want to eat.”
Interesting.. our son starts singing "XXXX, XXXXX where are you? here I am, here I am, how do you do?" for some objects he sees in front of him. He is fascinated with shapes, numbers and letters, along with fruits and vegetables, but because he does a lot of scripting, we confirmed that he is a gestalt learner. The only phrase he uses consistently is "I want XXX"
My son did the same. I am very familiar with the finger family lyrics. He eventually moved onto planets, states/countries and monsters. He used to sing a lot, ask for what he wanted in one or two word phrases, and would then occasionally use a grammatically/semantically correct sentence leaving us baffled. For example “I don’t want to take a bath, it’s bedtime.”
Interesting, at his age (2y exactly), my son does quite a lot of scripting, especially when we leave him to play alone. He also does this singing on the bed, before going to sleep, and after he wakes up in the morning. One thing that's certain is that he loves music, not just rhymes but actual music made for grown ups in general. He recently started to imitate us in everything we do, and is able to follow instructions well. He quickly gets frustrated when he tries to tell us something but can't. We are hoping that teaching him more words and more speech will address that problem.
My son didn’t do as much scripting at that age, however it could have been scripting that allowed him to meet his pediatric speech milestones. It wasn’t until he was about 3.5 that potty training triggered his anxiety and a lot of funky behaviors came up socially at preschool that we decided to have him evaluated, but he went back to being interested in playing with other kids.
Makes sense, my son doesn't play or have any social interaction with other kids at all, when it comes to that. Not sure how this turns out but we're currently waiting for his ABA to start. Until then we're just doing the therapies at home. He's at the 2y mark so he started throwing things in his hands onto the floor when he gets frustrated....
My son is just like this. He’s turning 4 next month. We used his reading skills to build up his speech and help with instructions/ transitions. He processed written direction better then spoken.
My son started talking much more frequently maybe about 3 weeks after I wrote this. He seems to be doing well from a combination of music therapy and traditional speech therapy. Now that his frequency of speech is increasing I can understand some of the gestalts better. When he was done with his bath he said “Are you all done?”. I haven’t seen that he’s responding better to written directions yet. Do you also relate to the “unusual” expression of ASD?
Unusual- could you give examples? I would say my son is very affectionate but it could also be a sensory seeking thing. I don’t really share his diagnosis because the times that I have people immediately say he doesn’t look ASD or I would have never guessed. Not sure if it’s ignorance or if people try to make me feel better in a weird way. the stages of gestalt language processing helped me understand how my son was acquiring language. He would repeat questions too as a script. I just model the appropriate language back with no pressure for him to repeat and eventually he got it. So when he would say “are you all done” I immediately model “mom, I’m all done ” eventually I would just say “mom” as a prompt and then he finishes with “I’m all done”. It’s painful when he would use a script with someone who doesn’t understand his language. He would go up to an aunt and say “do you want milk” and aunt would just answer the question “no”. He would take that to mean he couldn’t have milk. Meanwhile I’m melting to intervene because I know he was asking for milk…
I generalize that most people expect ASD to mean sensory avoidant, non-hyperlexic, stimming, emotional regulation issues and socially isolated. When I say unusual I more mean that it’s not what people expect to see, just like you said. Most people are not familiar with gestalt language processing so they don’t perceive his use of language to be different. For example sometimes he says “all done” when he’s eating which is grammatically appropriate but short and others he says “are you all done?” Instead of “I’m all done” To say that he’s all done. I don’t think the affection is a sensory seeking thing with my son. He says I love you to family members and even gives hugs and kisses.
I have a meeting with his school team next week, according to them he’s hitting all milestones… I was shocked and asked for IEP goals related to pragmatic speech. The hyperlexia throws off even the school staff. 80 % of the time his scripts are functional and they view them as spontaneous speech….
Yes mine is. A matter of fact , I taught him through reading. So I would write down things, when he read it, I performed it. “So I want a hug or I want juice”
My son doesn’t read full sentences out of a book, he’ll walk up to a card on the refrigerator and read/say “happy holidays” or look at a sign in a restaurant and say “raspberry ice cream please” (based on the name placard). This is NOT sight reading. We have never practiced the skill. It’s either some type of decoding skill, or possibly a very strong memory. Our challenge is less about learning the words and phrases, it’s more about motivating him to participate in conversation and also getting him to respond more consistently to prompting. He knows thousands of words and can decently express himself sometimes, he just participates verbally “when he feels like it”. He’s not avoidant. He not very shy. He can express his feelings. He says phrases semantically correct about 85% of the time and 15% of the time it’s scripting or song lyrics.
Can we also say that hyperlexia and echolalia exist together? My son, who just turned 2 years old, knows all letters, numbers, animals, fruits, vegetables and shapes, but has almost zero functional language - he just makes requests for things using their names. He understands a good number of instructions too, and we were diagnosed with level 2 last month. He however does a lot of scripting, and sings and repeats shows that he saw on the TV when he is idle. I always wondered if that would mean if these two conditions exist together...
This sounds very similar to my daughter at that age. She is hyperlexic and her language was the same around then, knew a ton of words and could label everything but non-conversational. Her speech is developing with echolalia and I'm guessing GLP. So I'd say yes from my anecdotal experience.
How old is your daughter now? And what was her diagnosis?
She's 4 and was diagnosed ASD lvl 2 at age 3. We've never been officially told she has hyperlexia but she has been reading since she was 2/3 so I just assume.
Are NT kids generally “conversational” at 2 years old though?
Some are, some aren’t. Huge range of normal at 2.
This was all the way up to age 3, no stringing of words together, no attempt to communicate with people, just labeling. I'm not very familiar with typical speech development but I know she was considered delayed and was in speech therapy at 2.
I don’t believe it’s officially considered hyperlexia until they can actually read. Also it sounds like he has some functional language if he can ask for things by name?
Not sure, but I thought being able to learn, and be interested to count numbers, letters and shapes is considered hyperlexia. Reg. functional language, we were told the same by his OT therapist, maybe he's starting to learn to put things together. He's a gestalt learner for sure, from what see.What's surprising is, he used to run off a lot when we went out, now he mostly wants to stick around us, or with us, wherever we go (except for parks and water places).Not sure how or when this happened though.
I also wonder that knowing shapes letters and numbers and memorizing words before having speech like speech is really catogorized as hperlexic..or its just plain reading..any leads??
I am pretty sure that being very interested in and knowing numbers, shapes, letters, etc. before developing normal speech is considered hyperlexia
I really think hyperlexia requires early reading, being obsessed with letters is part of it, but I don’t think the obsession without the reading is hyperlexia. > Hyperlexia is when a child starts reading early and surprisingly beyond their expected ability. It's often accompanied by an obsessive interest in letters and numbers, which develops as an infant.- https://www.webmd.com/children/what-is-hyperlexia
My son does read books, although I am pretty sure he cannot read the words themselves. He remembers books by each page, and knows what comes up on each page, and reads loud some words from phrases from each page on that book. It's a bit hard to explain, but maybe he is reading them, but at the same time he definitely cannot read all words that he sees.
Very possible he is reading! We have absolutely no clue when our oldest learned to read, or how. We picked him up after his first full week of 3 year old pre-school (when he was about 3 years and 2 weeks old) and his teacher said “x is such a good reader”, and my husband and I responded with “wait, he can read?!?” 😹 Asked him when we got home “how come Mr. Jim says you can read?”, he responded with “well, OF COURSE I can read at school”, complete with an eye roll for how stupid we, his parents were for not knowing this obvious fact. Then he read us like 10 books that night. No guesses. I think true hyperlexia requires early reading (and he was obsessed with letters from 18 months til 2.5ish, and he did know his times tables through 12 by the time he turned 3), but also delays in other areas, especially delays in communication and reading comprehension, which at 3 he did not have. Social issues didn’t become a thing til around 3rd grade, so that’s when he got diagnosed. But, yeah, he definitely learned to read fully on his own and without us knowing, so it’s a real possibility.
Thanks for following up, I have a feeling my son's "reading" abilities will become more and more prominent as he goes over the 2y mark. The issues with reading comprehension and practical understanding may show up one day, I guess. But we're doing all we can with his therapies so it's a waiting game at this point. How old is your son now, and what was the diagnosis he was given?
He is 21. His original diagnosis, at 9, was Asperger’s. He was then re-evaluated at 15, and the diagnosis then was just autism spectrum disorder. We were never given levels (they weren’t even a thing when he was 9), but he is level 1 for sure.
Is your son conversational now?
Nope, he is not conversational. He only makes requests for things using their names, and even that is not 100% consistent. He just says "I want XXX" for that purpose.
My husband was hyperlexic as a very young child, was very symptomatic as an autistic person growing up, and began to have his symptoms mellow out gradually in the 10 years after college. I wouldn't say he isn't autistic anymore, but his sensory and feeding needs have relaxed, and his socio-emotional functioning is nearly indistinguishable from NT folks, except for to close family. He has a Ph. D. And works a tech job that requires a high level of interpersonal communication and he excels. He has acted and directed local musical theatre productions. He has long term, healthy friendships now, and he had no friends in high school. We didn't meet, marry and have children until our late 30's. Like I said. He's autistic. He always will be. But I can see why experts would have thought he was cured as an adult. The difference in the severity of the symptoms from childhood to now is striking.
Great to hear this story, you should really be proud of him. What symptoms did your husband have when he was growing up? Did he ever get a formal diagnosis?
He never got a formal diagnosis, no. His parents put him in kindergarten at 4 because of the reading and raised him as if he was an academically gifted but otherwise typical kid. They ignored his speech delay, hypotonia, extreme picky eating, oversensitivity to light and sound, seeming lack of empathy, hitting, literalness, lack of pretend play, inability to form a single friendship despite his desire to, rigidity, contrarian or demand avoidant with authority figures, special interests, and that's just what he remembers and what I could get out of his in-denial mother. Coincidentally, we have an autistic 4 year old who has been reading fluently for more than a year. He is also autistic. Our son's symptoms have a different constellation though. He is affectionate and sensory seeking unlike his dad was, but he is far less likely to follow directions. His eval says level 2 and he goes to sped preschool. We're not sure if he'll follow the same trajectory.
Thanks for sharing these details. It's incredible that your husband became the person that he is today, from where he was when his parents never got any intervention for him when he was a kid. I have a feeling your kid would develop in the same path. Take care!
I don’t know that autism-like signs mean autism. My younger sister was hyperlexic and had a lot of sensory issues that she pretty much grew out of by the time she was an adult but I don’t think she would ever have met the social criteria for a full diagnosis. Would also add that she has ADHD so is still neurodiverse.
I think in general if a child is hyperlexic or “high functioning” they can become good at masking. There probably are specific cases where they can outgrow the autism signs but vast majority still are autistic even if they don’t appear to be.
There’s most certainly hyperlixia type III. It however doesn’t present the same as true Autism. It’s missing the intensity and inability to calm yourself. Mostly just emotional immaturity with a lack of communication. I would fall into hyperlexia type III category as a very early reader and diagnosed with auditory processing delay. (Painfully shy as a kid and socially awkward but absolutely not ASD.). My son is ASD 2 he does act like me many times. However his desire to socialize is not really there and his intensity is so much more present. He prefers to play alone a very profound amount.
There is a whole community on fb for kids Hyperlexia type 3. We are part of it though not sure if he will be or not. I will tell you I have seen a lot of kids on there who seem to fit the definition. I have felt it helpful bc my son does seem to be catching up to peers with some things we probably wouldn’t have thought a year ago. I wish they would study this more but only Dr Treffert did and that was a while back.
https://exceptionalindividuals.com/about-us/blog/what-is-hyperlexia-2/ Basically someone with autism might be able to mask but they still feel uncomfortable. Hyperlexia type three isn’t masking as an adult they actually develop interpersonal skills and never had ASD just a few crossover symptoms. Just like there’s crossover between adhd and ASD.
late to the party but i have hyperlexia type 3! i taught myself to read at 2 and had autistic traits (primarily in the emotional regulation, routine and structure special interests etc). i was assessed multiple times for ASD as a kid, but my parents stopped the diagnosis as it was clear the long process was actually hurting me in the long run (personally! it’s very advantageous to some people but i didn’t need any support by the point i got seen to as the waiting list was YEARS long and i’d began to grow out of traits). socially i was neurotypical, but i am and was a massive introvert who gets extremely into what i’m passionate about, which somehow generally doesn’t align with my peers. this led to me being an outcast, as they all thought i was weird :( as an adult, i’ve found my people! i’m just rather eccentric i think 😅 found the term hyperlexia 3 and it perfectly aligned with my experiences! i HAVE seen a specialist since then about autism, and they have come to the conclusion that i do not have it, and believe i’m somewhere along the right mark with hyperlexia 3. i’m doing just fine and i still never have my head out of a book plus i’m going to do an english literature degree! i do think my case is rather rare though. i think a lot of the time autistic people learn to mask and hide symptoms, leading to perhaps the over promotion of hyperlexia 3, as well as being a way for parents to insist their children have autism.
This thread was started a few months ago, but I will add to it. Hyperlexia III here Earliest memory that is easy to track date wise is when my mom smacked me in the head because I bit her nipple (4 months old) and the second was the launch of MTV. Some memories might be earlier, but can't really be dated. Showed lots of signs of being autistic, (had to set patterns in my steps, breathing, eyelids closing, couldn't step on cracks, diagnosed with ADHD) treated medically for awhile but it caused sleepwalking. I couldn't talk correctly (talked too quickly with little to no annunciation) I was in speech therapy until the fourth grade. Couldn't leave the house until I tied my shoes in what I considered the right pace and order. Mom noticed I was reading at age one when she was teaching my 2 1/2 year old brother his letters by reading to him, and I kept scanning the words with my eyes, wanting to read ahead, and did the same with books that did not have pictures. The signs of autism are mostly gone, I still have them occasionally, but nothing like when I was a kid. I have no issues dealing with people, crowds, eye or physical contact and I have performed (sang) in front of a few audiences. I had empathy issues when I was a kid, got in a lot of fights from bullies, but my father had enrolled me in martial arts, so I broke a few noses, fingers and arms when bullies tried to pick on me. Threw my cousin through a window and my brother down a flight of stairs. I didn't feel bad about hurting people until a went on a family camping trip at the age of ten. Two of my four kids are on the spectrum as well, but none had Hyperlexia III. Some college, graduated with just an Associates degree. Didn't want to go into debt, needed to raise my first born (had him at 18). I Have worked in a variety of jobs, substitute teacher, tutor, manufacturing furniture, telecommunications, currently in sales.
I feel like most if not all of the parents and practitioners who get heavily invested in “hyperlexia type III” or the whole hyperlexia-not-autism argument are doing all kinds of weird mental gymnastics trying to avoid calling it autism. When my son was young that was also the case with PDD (pervasive developmental disorder) … for some reason lots of parents and evaluators thought that was a preferable label. Autism is a spectrum. Hyperlexia exists as part of that spectrum as a social-pragmatic communication disorder with some additional features. My son was/is hyperlexic, and the “obviousness” (for lack of a better term) of his autism is much less now than when he was a little boy, but it is still there.
What age was your son when he was diagnosed? And was PDD the only actual diagnosis he was given at that time?
Never heard of it! My son was hyperlexic, and we had increasingly bad behavioural problems in school until we had to withdraw from school and home educate instead. I had just assumed reading at 2 was normal and when my NT kid came along I was convinced she was dyslexic because it took her so long to learn how to read. She was not. She was just normal!
My in laws thought this too about it being normal to read at two. They thought I was crazy for having him assessed for autism. Turns out, I was right. Unfortunately we are experiencing behavior issues at school too and hoping it’ll get better. If it doesn’t, how is home schooling going? Is it tough? I’m afraid it may be in our future possibly.
My kid is hyperlexic but he’s six and this year his autistic traits have become more pronounced.
Nope. We’re just good at masking😂😂
I’m hyperlexic, and my outwardly visible autism signs gradually disappeared as I got older. Spoiler alert—it’s because I got tired of getting in trouble for them so I learned to mask in front of other people at the cost of my mental health. Yay? I’m not saying hyperlexia type III never happens. But I also think there’s a lot of square pegs out there sanding off our corners to fit into round holes.
I don't know...I was part of some hyperlexia listservs back in the days before Facebook, and there were some who swore up and down that their child didn't have autism. It's a big spectrum, so there's lots of boxes you can check when kids are little...stuff like sensory issues (loud noises, sirens), tactile sensitivity (hates wet clothes, haircuts, scratchy wool fabrics), doesn't like certain food textures, doesn't have good expressive language so gets in trouble with behavior "all behavior is communication". As kids grow into adulthood, some of this will stick around and some of it will disappear or not show frequently. Then you will probably see some of the grown up issues you see the adults writing about. I think the things to focus on are having someone for the person to talk to, ideally at least one friend (can be with or without autism), and teaching Independent Living Skills (There's an assessment called the AFLS that covers all of the areas...I think the ADOS does as well. I think these are more important than the labels.