Hyperlexia

[rsl12]

A hyperlexic child will usually learn to read before they learn to speak. Supposedly I was hyperlexic. and I guess I still am, since i guess hyperlexic children must grow up to be hyperlexic adults, whatever that means. hyperlexia is kind of like the opposite of dyslexia. People with dyslexia show decreased activity in a certain part of the frontal lobe of the brain while reading. People with hyperlexia have increased activity in that same part of the brain when reading. Is there anyone else on the board who knows they are hyperlexic?

What's interesting about it: Hyperlexia is classified as kind of a learning disability! I found this out a few days ago when a friend of mine (who is working on a degree in education) did a paper on hyperlexia. Why would increased activity in the brain be a disability? supposedly hyperlexic people have a hard time seeing the 'forest for the trees' and will often take people's word in a literal context instead of distilling the meaning out of it. Also, there may be some social awkwardness associated with such people. While I think both of these things are true of me to some degree, I would have never considered either one to be really a learning disability! what say you?

[NoSoup]

Hmm... That desciption suits me as well, I have always been a very avid reader (I'd polish off a 200-300 page novel every day or two when I was eight or nine years old, and I think very logically.

Oh, just did a little research on it... I see now why it is a disability, and realize that I probably am not hyperlexic, as I have very few of the symptoms...

A precocious ability to read words, far above what would be expected at their chronological age or an intense fascination with letters or numbers.
Significant difficulty in understanding verbal language
Abnormal social skills, difficulty in socializing and interacting appropriately with people

In addition, some children who are hyperlexic may exhibit the following characteristics:
Learn expressive language in a peculiar way, echo ro memorize the sentence structure without understanding the meaning (echolalia), reverse pronouns
Rarely initiates conversations
An intense need to keep routines, difficulty with transitions, ritualistic behavior
Auditory, olfactory and / or tactile sensitivity
Self-stimulatory behavior
specific, unusual fears
Normal development until 18-24 months, then regression
strong auditory and visual memory
Difficulty answering "Wh--" questions, such as "what," "where," "who," and "why"
Think in concrete and literal terms, difficulty with abstract concepts
Listen selectively, appear to be deaf

Link Here

Hmm... and here I had thought for a moment that I had found some medical reason for my reading habits & occasional inability to relate to extremely emotional people...

[Pellaz]

Going to do some reading up on this, as it seems to fit me fairly well. I've heard stories all my life that I learned to read before I could talk (serious, not anecdotal). I've preformed the "blink blink I'm sorry, what did you say?" more times than I could describe, have been accused of being reclusive/shy (I'm not, just don't really enjoy *talking* to people all that much), have what I've always classified as minor to moderate ocd, have high auditory sensitivity, manic in my fears, incredible auditory memory and probably above average visual. I don't *think* I've got much difficulty with abstract concepts, although I seem to remember something along these lines as a child...will have to ask the folks tomorow.

This is incredibly interesting, and I'm going to love learning more about this to see if it explains some questions.