English 311,"Introduction
to Linguistics"
Hyperlexia
by
Kelly
Speech and language pathologists are starting to widely diagnose children
with a superior ability to read far above that of their chronological age as
having a condition called hyperlexia. Hyperlexia is not a medical diagnosis,
which means it is in a separate medical condition all of its own. It is a name
that encompasses children within the Pervasive Developmental Disorder group who
have common symptoms and language and learning styles (Bligh). Hyperlexia has
characteristics similar to autism, behavior disorder, language disorder,
emotional disorder, hearing impairment, giftedness, and mental retardation. It
is best to think of hyperlexia as an overlap between autism and language
learning disorders and non-verbal disorders as well. Attention Deficit Disorder
may also be a co-existing trait. If hyperlexia was in fact a separate medical
diagnosis, it is quite possible it would be over diagnosed, just as there are
over diagnosed diseases right now, because there is not sufficient evidence
available yet to clearly define the symptoms. This is still a fairly new and
unexplored disability. There is no evidence of mental retardation in the child’s
brain and most of the developmental milestones are achieved at the normal
developmental age. The diagnosis of hyperlexia does not expand to children who
are precocious in reading but do not exhibit a significant language disorder (Kupperman).
There are two different types of hyperlexia; language disorder and visual
spatial motor disorder. Children in the language learning disorder group had
more phonic errors and difficulty in the use of language pragmatically. They
also had a lower verbal IQ and a higher performance IQ. In the visual spatial
motor type, children had very few phonic errors, a higher verbal IQ and a lower
performance or non-verbal IQ (Richman). The more common of the two types of
hyperlexia is the language disorder type. More research has been done on this
particular area and this is the information that is more readily available. The
language disorder type of hyperlexia is the type that will be discussed
throughout this paper.
An evaluation with a speech and language pathologist familiar with hyperlexia
is a crucial first step to getting a valid diagnosis. Psychological tests
emphasizing visual processes rather than verbal skills aid in identifying
hyperlexia. Often in the early years, problems in the area of reading
comprehension are not apparent because of the level of intelligence and superior
memory skills that these children possess. Symptoms of hyperlexia include
problems with reading comprehension, immaturity, no consideration of the
consequences of their behavior, and distractibility. Hyperlexic children also
have an amazing ability to read words far above that which would be expected at
their particular age, however there is usually a significant difficulty in the
understanding of verbal language. These children can spell at a high level, but
are unable to print at the same level. The skill was not taught to the child,
but rather they are just able to do it. There seems to be an innate ability for
hyperlexic children to tell which group of letters forms a word and which word
of letters does not. One child would not even attempt to read a group of
nonsense letters because he did not recognize it as a word. It is suggested that
there is an existence of an innate language capacity where the child has the
ability to recognize a written word as a linguistic symbol. Some children can
read any word placed in front of them, even though they may have never seen the
word before. They rarely mispronounce even the most difficult words. Children
are either sight-readers of familiar words or they are logo readers, which means
they will read logos such as Fisher Price on a toy bike (Kupperman).
Using language functionally and reading other people’s intentions and
social cues are areas where problems occur. Social Skills is another thing
hyperlexic children lack. They are unable to normally interact with other
children because of their need for habitual routines and because they are not on
the same developmental level as most children their age. Normal children often
perceive hyperlexic children as being weird or very abnormal. A hyperlexic child’s
inability to read people’s social cues also hinder their ability to socially
relate to others. They cannot understand sarcasm because they take things for
their literal and concrete meaning; therefore what they hear and take in is
often times not really what is meant. Hyperlexic children have an impairment in
the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation despite adequate speech (Kupperman).
Young hyperlexic children have as much trouble learning English as someone
over the age of twelve years has learning a second language. Hyperlexics
characteristically reverse pronouns and have normal development until the age of
eighteen to twenty-four months, and then they begin to regress. The child may
become aloof, non-communicative, and more autistic-like. After about twenty-four
months, the child then beings to improve (Kupperman). No one has an explanation
for why this happens.
The first words begin to be uttered at around twelve months of age and tend
to be words of their favorite things, such as "train" or
"juice." Labels for people, like Mom and Dad, are not learned until
much later, if learned at all. Names of letters and numbers are also among their
first words because of their fascination with them. They also have problems
answering "wh" questions because they are only able to think in
concrete and literal terms, having great difficulty with abstract concepts (Kupperman).
It is not unusual for these children to listen selectively, appearing at times
to be deaf.
The most important characteristic that distinguishes a hyperlexic child from
a normal child developmentally is that their auditory pathways in the brain are
extremely poor, resulting in seriously compromised verbal communication (Ray).
They rely more on their visual pathways in the brain. The child’s reading
skills should be used as a primary means of developing language. If you want to
make sure the child is getting the message you are telling them, the best thing
to do is write it down. It is also very helpful to find a book on the subject
the child is learning in school for them to read. This will aid in their
learning and understanding of the subject.
The best way to understand how a hyperlexic mentally functions is to apply
Blooms Taxonomy of Thinking Levels, which are knowledge, comprehension,
application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Knowledge is one of the major
strengths of these types of children. Their strong memory allows them to store
and retrieve chunks or phrases of information or even whole conversations. They
have the ability to repeat everything that is said, word for word, exactly how
it was said. Comprehension and applications, or the understanding and use of
information are the areas where language comprehension will be noticed. A child’s
strong memory system breaks down when it is necessary for them to take
information they have heard from outside sources and then rearrange it into
original thoughts of their own. Analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are the
areas where language comprehension failings will show themselves most in the
reading of material (Miller, Language Learning and Comprehension). Because these
children are unable to create their own original thoughts that they have never
heard before, they lack the skills to read a passage, break it down, and
translate it into it’s underlying meaning and then apply the critical thinking
skills that developmentally normal children possess.
Echolalia is also very popular among hyperlexic children. This takes place
when a child repeats what has been said to them in order to memorize the
sentence structure without completely understanding the meaning (What is
Hyperlexia). Having heard the phrase and repeated it back, it is then stored in
their memory until a time when the child sees fit to use it. It is also common
for a child to stand next to another person and mimic that person while
repeating everything that is being said. They do not set out to entertain
people, but rather this is another characteristic of being hyperlexic. On the
way home from an outing, a mother says to her child, "Wasn’t that
fun?" Her son then replies, "Yeah mom, that was great sex!"
Obviously that is not an appropriate response when asked if a trip to the zoo
was fun. The child had been watching television and heard that line uttered,
then stored it in his memory and used it because he thought it was in the
appropriate context, when in actuality it was not (Miller, Susan). He was unable
to decipher the difference.
Routines and habits are very important to hyperlexic children, preferring
that they not be interrupted, but rather that they stay exactly the same day to
day. When going to the store, there can be only one route, which will be taken
every time they go to that store. If before going to the doctor, the parent
stops at 7-Eleven for a diet coke, every time the child has to go to the doctor,
they are going to insist that they stop at 7-Eleven for a diet coke. If for some
reason this particular routine gets interrupted, the child will become very
stubborn and it will be practically impossible to get their attention or
cooperation. The child does not respond this way because they want to; it is
part of their disease and cannot be controlled. Since there is such a dependency
on routine and habit, the child creates a "circle of comfort" which is
very exclusive. This "circle of comfort" is a set number of people who
the child has gained a sense of trust with. If you are allowed into this circle,
you are loved very deeply (Ray). If you are not allowed in, you will have
difficulty communicating with them and gaining their cooperation.
Everything for a hyperlexic child is black and white. They make a set of
standards that they hold everyone to, including themselves. When these standards
are not met, the child becomes very upset. Because hyperlexics are such
perfectionists, they do not do well in competitive situations, such as games,
nor do they do well taking tests. To a hyperlexic, you are either a saint for
doing good, or you are the devil for doing bad. Once you have been labeled as
being bad, it is hard for you to gain their cooperation in any aspect.
Symbolism is very important to a child with hyperlexia. Whereas most young
children enjoy playing in a sand table or water table without realizing they are
learning from it, a hyperlexic child needs to be intentionally shown a cause and
effect relation. If they are not made to see that one thing causes another, they
will miss the experiment all together. They need to be shown concrete
demonstrations. Since a hyperlexic child learns to read before they can talk,
their whole outlook on life is skewed. Instead of seeing a table with four legs
supporting it, they see the table and legs making the letter "H"
(Miller, Susan). They prefer using blocks to make letters rather than just
playing with them and making a house or castle like most children do. It is not
unusual for a television show like "Wheel of Fortune" to be their
favorite show. This show has many things that a hyperlexic is fascinated with
like a spinning wheel, numbers, letters, and a predictable pattern as to how the
game is played and won.
To help aid a hyperlexic child’s communication, it is important to make a
program for a child rather than trying to make a child fit into a program
(Kroll). Developing the intent to communicate is of great importance. Allowing
the child to take the leading role and then following their lead is the easiest
way to accomplish this. Using their particular likes and interests is helpful.
It is important to make both verbal and non-verbal communication with the child
a positive experience.
Since many of these children have difficulty connecting their thoughts and
feelings to means of expression, it is useful to give the child examples from
your life experiences such as, "I’m hungry" or "I’m
sad." These expressions then need to be connected to facial gestures and
body language. Mirrors and audiotapes will allow the child to see themselves
making these gestures and will aid in their memorization for use at a later
time. Because processing difficulties often hinder the child’s understanding,
it is necessary to speak to the child at their language level. It may also take
extra time for the child to process information, requiring a person to speak to
the child in a slow rate of speech, with repetition often times necessary
(Kroll).
A child’s development is rapidly changing; therefore it is necessary to
constantly update professional assessments frequently. Parent and teachers need
to constantly review goals and create new techniques to implement the child’s
new interests or language demands (Kroll). The best thing a parent can do for
their child is to get them the support or help that they need, whether it is
physical, emotional, educational, or professional. Neglecting to get the
appropriate help is detrimental to both the child and the parents.
In order for a child to reach their potential, it is necessary for the
parents, teachers, and professionals to all work side by side to ensure the
child’s success. They all hold an important piece of the puzzle, which cannot
be completed without them. It is the teacher’s responsibility to take the
information the parents and professionals have given them and then make sure
they follow the necessary steps. Because a hyperlexic child is unable to grasp
social cues, they do not do well in a group setting. If it is necessary to have
the child in a group, it is important to sit the child right in front of the
teacher so that they know the teacher is talking to them. If this is not done,
the child may have no clue they were being spoken to or they may know the
teacher is talking to them, but only take in half of the directions they were
given (Kupperman).
It is also important that a child is not expected to completely follow verbal
instructions alone. Because the child does best when they know exactly what is
going to happen, it is best if the teacher writes down the schedule for the
child to follow. This helps because the visual pathways in the brain are so much
better than the verbal ones. The classroom schedule should be structured, but it
should not be too rigid (Kupperman). Routine is something that the child relies
on, however they need to be taught how to cope with and accept any slight
variation in the pattern. It would be impossible for the child to survive in the
real world if they did not know how to deal with change and unexpected
occurrences.
Even though the hyperlexic child is in many ways different from their peers,
it is vital that they be intertwined with normal children who possess good
social skills. They need to learn how to get along with people who they do not
know. They are not going to know someone everywhere they go, so they need to be
taught the appropriate social skills. Even though the hyperlexic child would be
described as a loner, it would be impossible for them to live all by themselves,
not communicating with anyone else.
As long as everyone works together to help the child with hyperlexia, it is
quite possible the child will eventually get better. Even though hyperlexia is
often times compared to autism, the outcome for hyperlexia is much more
realistic and positive than it is for autism. It is likely that by the time the
child reaches their junior high years they will be able to be placed in a
regular classroom with their peers, and that is the best place they could be.
Works Cited
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2000 <http://www.hyperlexia,org/.aha_labels.html>
A Comparison Between Analytic and Gestalt Modes in Language Acquisition and
Use
From Prizant. 1983. American Hyperlexic Association. 15 Feb 2000
<http://www.hyperlexia.org//analytic_gestalt.html>
Kroll, Karen. Language Development in Hyperlexia. 12 Feb 1998. Support
and
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<http://www.home.ican.net?~cha/general/Language%20Development.html>
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American Hyperlexia
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<http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings?9402/Language_Learning.html>
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Richman, Lynn. Peaceful Coexistence. Winter 1997. American Hyperlexia
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What is Hyperlexia? American Hyperlexia Association. 15 Feb. 2000
<http://www.hyperlexia.org/aha_what_is.html>