Hi and welcome! So if you’re new here, there’s some stuff you should know: my son has autism and is hyperlexic. You should also know that he’s easily one of the coolest people I know for a variety of reasons, and the fact that he’s been reading since he was about 2 is one of them.

No, that’s not an exaggeration. He’s only 4 (as of writing this post) and has been reading for some time now. And I’m not talking recognizing basic words, like his name, Mom/Dad, or the starter sight words. I’m talking about him reading books on his own. Going out in public and him reading the signs in the grocery stores or along the roadways. Like, he reads.

He’s always thoroughly enjoyed letters and numbers. He was reciting the alphabet and identifying letters before his 1st birthday, counting to 100 before turning 2, and drawing different variations of the English alphabet since he could hold a crayon. Once we introduced him to YouTube Kids, he then ventured into the alphabets of other languages — Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, even Greek — and eventually got to the point where he was learning some of those languages. Words, phrases, the whole nine.

It was so interesting to watch him dive in so deeply into other languages and cultures without even fully grasping the concept of a language. I mean, he didn’t really have a grasp on his native language yet. So how was he so easily and excitedly diving into other languages? And beyond the interest, how was he not getting these new languages confused with each other and his native, home-spoken language?

Our son entered into speech therapy shortly after turning 2, where he received a lot of help from a few different therapists. One in particular happened to also be neurodivergent. She noticed things about our son that the other therapists didn’t; she saw him in a different light because she shared the same one. The same feelings. Likely the same perspective.

She noticed that our son’s fascination with letters and numbers likely stemmed from something else — a condition she later informed us is called hyperlexia.

So… what is hyperlexia?

According to Autism Key, hyperlexia is defined as “a precocious ability to read words far above what would be expected at a child’s age.” A condensed list of common signs:

• significant difficulty in understanding verbal language
• fixation with letters or numbers
• echolalia
• memorization of sentence structures without understanding the meaning
• normal development until 18-24 months, then regression
• difficulty answering “W” questions, like who, what, when, where, why

Because hyperlexia is so closely related to autism, there are many misdiagnoses of the condition. It’s entirely possible for a child to be neurotypical and have hyperlexia. But, similarly to ASD, hyperlexia is a spectrum. There are 3 known levels as of 2024 and they are as follows, according to SSM Health:

Level 1: Neurotypical children who are gifted and just simply read for comprehension well before their peers of the same age. No issues with social interactions, sensory input, or auditory processing.

Level 2: Typically associated with autism. Because autism is frequently associated with an excessive fascination in letters and numbers, this interest is likely to develop into a memorization of letter combinations — or words — and eventually leads to full-fledged reading. Despite being literate, this memorization of words and their pronunciations doesn’t typically come with comprehension.

Level 3: This group frequently shows the same signs as level 2; however, they also encounter difficulties surrounding auditory processing, sensory reception, and social interactions. A second key difference between the groups is that level 3 individuals are neurotypical, but experience “autistic-like” symptoms. However, these symptoms fade with age and they usually go on to lead neurotypical lives.

Imagine being so in-tune with the small details of the world around you that you can literally see letters and numbers in everything you encounter. My son would look at a worm, but he wouldn’t see a worm — he’d see the letter S. He’d see rooftops and they’d all be letter A’s to him. Minnie Mouse’s bows would be two letter B’s back-to-back in his eyes, and Mickey Mouse’s head was just a series of letter O’s. I was always so astonished at how he would see the alphabet all around him. And though he’s 4 and understands more about how letters and numbers are all part of a bigger function, he’ll still occasionally point out the fluffy, white number 8’s floating around in the sky, despite now knowing that they’re clouds 😉 His love for letters and numbers has given me a new appreciation for them — and a greater appreciation for the beauty of our city… our world.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think having that ability is so freaking cool. But for Level 2’ers, like my son, hyperlexia comes with its fair share of challenges. One of the biggest issues comes from how society interprets hyperlexia — not so much the challenges related to the hyperlexia itself. The same can be said for autism in general.

Societal and educational challenges of hyperlexia

Much like the autistic collective, hyperlexic individuals tend to be assigned the label of “gifted,” simply because a child reading well before their age is typically a jarring, unexpected experience. If you’ve ever had the gifted label, you’re familiar with the stigmas associated with it: you’ve got everything under control. You don’t need any help academically. You’re a genius. And we all know how the genius label comes with its own set of issues and judgements. So in many cases, the label of hyperlexia is problematic.

Beyond it’s societal issues surrounding the label, hyperlexia can come with processing issues, specifically understanding how to connect words read to their meaning. That means that even though hyperlexic individuals (specifically level 2 hyperlexics) may be able to read fluidly and seamlessly, it’s unlikely that they will actually comprehend what they’ve read. Numbers are easier to assign a visual value to; one can count the number of candles on a cake, or the number of fingers being held up on a hand. They can then perform mathematical functions on those values visually. Words, however, loose their visibility after a certain grade level; one can easily visualize the concept of picking an apple off a tree, or the different parts of a body and how they all work together. It’s significantly more difficult to understand intangible or theory-based concepts seen in higher grade levels, like the scene depicted in a Shakespeare piece or the psychology behind how the mind comes to make a decision.

So pair the constant disconnect between academic reading materials and their hyperlexic readers with the aforementioned prejudgments towards hyperlexic individuals and, well… there’s a problem.

That problem is essentially a disconnect between the needs of hyperlexic individuals and the offered services. This is especially true in low-income, underserved communities. Quality instructors are frequently challenged by underfunded programs and over-filled classrooms. “Quiet, smart” students frequently go unnoticed, despite showing signs of needing additional assistance academically. They excel in a few tougher subjects, like math and science, so they end up being overlooked because it’s assumed that they are incredibly smart; their lackluster performances in other classes typically being attributed to “boredom” or “inadequate challenges” in coursework. These children end up falling through the cracks of the school system and, in many instances, developing academic issues that become significantly more difficult to address as time goes on — skipping class or becoming disruptive, even dropping out altogether.

And though the hyperlexia label is typically just assigned for informative purposes and disregarded after early childhood, I feel we should note the importance of understanding hyperlexia and how it works; not just for its acceptance (and ultimately its de-stigmatization), but more importantly, for educational purposes down the line… well beyond childhood. This is especially important for level 2’ers, as their intense interest in the alphabet and numbers won’t just “go away.” It may dwindle some as they find other special interests, but it’ll never be gone.

Homeschooling with hyperlexia

As a homeschooling mama of a letter-obsessed hyperlexic, one of my biggest challenges has been getting him to understand the world around him outside of letters and numbers, while still engaging him and showing how everything still connects back to letters… if that makes any sense. So the majority of our lessons, regardless of subject, begin with some sort of reading activity.

These usually include me typing instructions on a large piece of paper in a hollow, traceable font and having him trace out his instructions. This pre-work activity allows him to guilt-free indulge in his interest, which gives him the opportunity to receive some much needed stimulation before having to sit down and focus on something else for a minute. And when he’s done tracing the instructions, we read them together out loud for comprehension to make sure he understands the task, taking care to point at each and every word as we read. Then I read it out loud a second time by myself, making sure that we make eye contact frequently — just as I would if I were giving him an instruction or command outside of the assignment. I make sure that I speak clearly, sternly, and concisely, in a normal but varied tone to add interest, in hopes that he’ll pick up on my speech tendencies.

I also have him complete tracing assignments on a standard piece of kids writing paper — you know, the paper we learned to write on in elementary school with the big lines. I’ll write sentences out in dotted writing with dark ink, like you’d see in workbooks that are prompting students to trace. I then instruct him to trace them in the marker color of his choice. Those sentences usually are related to a specific topic that we’re focusing on for the day. Any subject, from science to math or reading. Even social studies and Spanish. What I noticed is that he looks forward to seeing the letters, tracing and writing them, and he’s much more likely to sit and listen to what I have to say about the sentences. He’s actually eager to understand more of the meaning behind the words he’s traced. He’s also understanding the fact that letters are written adjacent to each other in order to form words, not just scattered across the paper. This is helping him to understand the concept of words and written communication, something that he wasn’t originally able to understand despite reading very early on in life. And just as the activity mentioned above, we’ll read the traced words together, and I read again alone.

Not sure if there’s any psychological or psychiatric merit behind my “read together then listen” method, but my brain feels like the eye contact and me reading by myself seems more like a verbal command rather than him reading for comprehension. It gives him some practice on comprehension by assigning actual instructions to the words he just read. It seems to work for us, so long as I can keep his attention while I’m giving him the command.

It’s also important to note that works for our son because his receptive language skills are great, despite his expressive language skills still being quite underdeveloped. So while he’s still learning how to speak to others and form his own sentences, he can understand very well what others are saying to him and around him, as long as we speak clearly and he’s paying attention.

Life-schooling with hyperlexia

Another practice we’ve implemented, homeschooling and just in general, is leaning into his love for letters and numbers rather than trying to change how he interacts with them. I don’t like the idea of trying to get him to stop feeling joy from things that clearly make him happy, especially during his childhood. I firmly believe that instances of trying to change an autistic person only hurt them in the long run; I’d rather foster more acceptance of their habits, so long as they’re not destructive of themselves or others.

So we choose to just make the letters and numbers more available and encourage him to indulge. We load his iPad with all kinds of letter and number-related things — calculators, letter tracing apps (like the ABC Mouse Traceables app), downloads of his favorite YouTube alphabet lore videos, the list goes on. We’ve also shown him how to use the Notes app on his iPad to draw letters by hand; he even had an Apple Pencil for a while. He loves Minecraft and has it loaded on his iPad, so we taught him how to build in creative mode by recreating the alphabet. We just encourage him to let his love for letters and numbers show however he can.

And because he likes watching shows with his younger sister, we ensure that the subtitles are on during any programming. This gives him a chance to practice his reading skills and improve his comprehension skills by giving him a visualization related to whatever he’s hearing. So we’re reinforcing the words through verbal communication and visual interpretation. Again, no idea if there’s any psychological merit behind those ideas, but they seem to be working.

But most importantly, we always reiterate to him the importance of using his words and asking for help if he doesn’t understand something. We hope he understands that it’s okay to be confused by something or what it means. That can go anywhere from reading words to reading facial expressions or emotions. As long as you ask rather than just let it go, you’re doing the right thing and you’re growing as a person.

His grasp of expressive speech is improving by the day, despite us not attending a speech therapy session in close to a year. And his understanding of the words he’s reading is improving, too. We’ve found that implementing these strategies has been a wonderful way to keep him progressing forward until he begins school and restarts speech therapy.

And best of all, he’s still able to be his letter-loving, number-obsessed self. As his mama, that’s all I could really hope for.

Thanks for reading this. I hope you leave here with a better understanding of not just hyperlexia, but of differences in cognitive abilities in general. And I hope this helps foster a kinder, more understanding and less ill-judged viewpoint of our world’s “gifted” population 🙂

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About the Author

Alexandra is the founder of the ‘Tism Things platform and owner of online business The Shop by ‘Tism Things. A proud stay-at-home wife and mama to two amazing, smart, and empowered littles, Alexandra frequently spends her time learning about autism and ADHD, its effects on families and caregivers, and ways to support individuals with either or both conditions. Driven by her son and husband’s autism and ADHD diagnoses, Alexandra prides herself on employing creative methods to adapt her household into one that welcomes people of all neurological types, aiming to foster a sense of inclusivity, understanding and acceptance among anyone’s path she crosses.

When she’s not in a ’tism rabbit hole on the internet or playing with her babies, she’s likely out shopping, cooking something yummy, helping out her grandparents, or out in the garden trying to keep her plants alive in this Georgia heat. Honestly, probably that last one.

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