Hyperlexia: Symptoms, Causes And Treatment Of This Syndrome
Hyperlexia is a syndrome with two main characteristics: on the one hand, it implies that the child has a precocious ability to read, and on the other, that he or she presents certain difficulties in understanding and using verbal language, which causes problems in social interactions.
In this article we will analyze the difficulties of this syndrome and its relationship with autism. In addition, we will learn about its causes, symptoms, and ideas to promote learning in these children.
Hyperlexia consists of a syndrome that is characterized because the boy or girl feels a great fascination either with letters, with numbers, or with both. Besides, Advanced reading ability is added for the child’s age compared to children of the same age.
Children with hyperlexia can begin to read words at age 2.
Understanding difficulties
Even if a child has hyperlexia and can read much earlier than children of the same age, the truth is that He also has certain difficulties understanding what he reads, or to use oral language correctly. This means that these children do not speak in the same way as other children who have learned to read at normative ages.
How do they learn?
But… how do children with hyperlexia learn to read and speak? They do not do it following the usual or considered normal procedure (like that used by other children), consisting of learning sounds first, then words, and finally sentences.
Hyperlexic children, on the other hand, use memory; So, What they do is memorize the words, phrases, sentences (or even entire conversations) through what they hear or read daily, whether from adults, the media, advertising, books, television, etc.
In this way, when they are able to create sentences, it is because they have previously learned to memorize and dissect what they have read or heard, to later create their own expressions, these being original.
Symptoms
The typical symptoms of hyperlexia are diverse On the one hand, this advanced and precocious reading capacity appears for the child’s age (compared to other children of the same age), along with a difficulty in understanding and using verbal language.
Another symptom that appears is a very good ability to memorize, along with learning language through it Furthermore, they are children who think in a very concrete way and who learn above all through visual stimuli.
Regarding the difficulties they present, there are problems when processing what has been said verbally, and when answering questions about “who”, “what”, “where”, “when” and “why”. Difficulties also appear in social skills (for example, to start or maintain conversations, or to respect turns to speak).
Finally, children with hyperlexia also manifest certain insecurities, related to changes in their routine.
Other characteristics of this syndrome
Children with hyperlexia generally have very good memories, both visual and auditory. This implies that They are able to remember what they see and hear quite easily and very accurately In addition, they use that memory to facilitate their language learning.
On the other hand, hyperlexic children may present echolalia (repeating words or phrases they hear from the interlocutor, without understanding what it really means). Echolalia can be immediate (repeating the word or phrase as soon as you hear it) or delayed (repeating it hours, days, or even weeks later).
These alterations or peculiarities in speech can cause communication problems, and make it difficult for them to start sentences or conversations spontaneously.
Other alterations
In addition, children with hyperlexia may also present other disorders, such as sensory integration dysfunction, attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADD/ADHD), motor dyspraxia, seizure disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and depression, among others. others.
Causes
The causes of hyperlexia are still unknown. However, it is suspected that the fact that it appears in the context of another developmental disorder (if that is the case), may reflect a neurological brain organization different from the normotypical one
Relationship with autism
It may happen that hyperlexia appears as a symptom of autism. However, we must remember that 75% of children with autism also have an associated intellectual disability (mild, moderate or severe).
In the event that hyperlexia appears together with autism the aforementioned symptoms will continue to manifest along with those of autism, and will above all involve difficulties in socializing, communicating, expressing oneself, etc.
In addition, the symptoms of autism will appear, such as ritualistic behaviors, fixation on objects or parts of them, language alterations (e.g. echolalia), restrictive interest patterns, hypo- or hypersensitivity, etc.
Treatment: educational strategies
The treatment of hyperlexia will be focused on solving the difficulties that the child presents in relation to his learning and his way of relating and communicating
It will be advisable to enhance your strengths, such as memory, and take advantage of them to create tools and materials that can facilitate your learning. For example, since these are usually children who learn better through the visual system, you may choose to use visual material as support.
Another technique that we can use is adapt teaching to your way of learning, that is, since the child learns to read by memorizing, we can choose to break down what he reads or what he says into shorter phrases or words, and explain to him what it means (or help him discover what it means). Gradually, we will remove the aid, so that he can finally generalize the procedures learned and continue his learning in an increasingly autonomous way.
