Children with High-Functioning Autism: "Gifted" or Hyperlexic?

Parents who have discovered that their young child is "gifted" because he/she may be able to recite the alphabet at 18 months of age, or can read words by the age of 2, may want to reassess the situation. Hyperlexia often coexists with High-Functioning Autism and Aspergers. Hyperlexia is not seen as a separate diagnosis; however, with current fMRI research revealing that hyperlexia affects the brain in a way completely opposite to that of dyslexia, a separate diagnosis may be on the horizon.

==> Click here for full article...

13 comments:

  1. Can be both; my son is hyperlexic, and gifted an asperger's.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good way of looking at it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Definitely both. My son is hyperlexic, Aspergers with an IQ somewhere over 160. The hyperlexia was really funny when he was little because his internal vocabulary was so much higher than his spoken vocabulary. Quite often we had to decode what he was saying, as he was pronouncing words phonetically due to only having read then instead of hearing them, e.g. ventriloquist, Egyptian.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Everyone told me my son was just gifted and very smart. He was spelling our last name, foltynski, by 2. I knew something was up when he wouldn't crawl and walked so late... he is improving so much now at 5. Signs of Aspergers is fading. Now we really only have the social and emotional issues.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My son is in the process of being diagnosed with Aspergers now. But, this article definitely applies to him. Does it matter if we call it Aspergers or hyperlexia? How do I know if he has both since the symptoms are very similar? Are the treatments different?

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is my son exactly! PDD-NOS, early reader, late (and odd) talker and still at age 15 pronounces words strangely because he reads way more than he hears/talks. He has a working memory IQ of 140 but very slow processing. Can you also cover the topic of selective mutism and how it might relate (or not) to autism/Aspergers sometime? My DS15 can speak well, but hardly ever does. He also listens quite selectively.

    ReplyDelete
  7. in general - I'd say I thought he was "Bright" - but @ Kristi ^ we are on the path to determining all 3 - A.S.~Hyperlexic~Gifted - & indeed he was/IS BRIGHT - in so very many ways - Aren't They All!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful articles you post. Our 5-year old daughter was diagnosed with Aspergers last year, and we've found your website and posts to be really educational and useful. Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
  9. My oldest child was assessed for ASD especially after my three boys were diagnosed with Asperger's. But they said no she was not ASD, although she is wayyyy more strict in terms of routine, comfort zone, being literal. She was diagnosed with severe anxiety, mixed receptive/expressive lang disorder, and auditory processing disorder. I finally realized the difference between her and my other three... internal drive. She is intrinsically motivated, whereas my boys... are motivated by sensory needs and rituals/preferred activities. It's been a fun, interesting ride with all these kiddos. I'd be bored without them ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. We have a 2 ½ year old son with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency and some other undiagnosed problems. When we did the routine screening at his Pedi’s office, the Pedi said he showed possible Autism and wanted us to see a behavioral specialist (PALS Development Center in Lubbock, TX). When we went to see her, my sister and I showed her a couple of videos of him “Blacking out” during one of his meltdowns and hurting himself. We explained to her his sensory and tactile issues and other things we had noticed. This was the summer of 2011 when he was just 1 ½. She said “I don’t think he has Autism because he makes eye contact occasionally and has good interaction with us. I think he is pretending and acting this way because he does not feel good and he knows if he does this he can be left alone.” With that we left and drove the 1hour 45 min back home. Now he still have the same behavior and he is not only hurting himself(he just punched himself in the lip 4/13/12) but he is becoming aggressive towards others. The babysitter and I say he gets an “I’m going to kill you look.” My mom says his eyes go glassy. Brian’s mom says he looks possessed. He is gluten and casin free because a biopsy revealed those enzymes are there but don’t work fully/properly. Becoming concerned I emailed the behaviorist and she emailed me back saying Chris needed to see a psychologist, in which a immediately made an appointment. Again the psychologist could not put a true diagnosis on him because he said he could not find anything about Alpha-1 and behavior problems so he didn’t know if it was related to that. I asked him if Chris could possibly have Asperger’s and he said that he could diagnose him with that because that diagnosis is being taken out of the medical books. He ended up diagnosing him with Adjustment Disorder- nonspecific and said he was developmentally and environmentally delayed. I don’t know what to do and no one (even the sitter) understands him and just want to spank him and punish him all day long. I know there are times he needs to be put in time out but my husband and I are getting frustrated.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Most of the time autism isn't serious, either. People tend to think about low functioning autism, but the majority of autistic people are high functioning.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for that comment. We are in the process of having our son evaluated for possible things, and your comment truly did put me at ease. He's still the bright, wonderful kid he's always been despite the quirks and frustrations that have led us to seek help. New "labels" feel serious, but you're right. The high functioning version actually isn't that serious when put in perspective. Again, thank you for the right words at the right time. ❤

    ReplyDelete
  13. What is it if you read very early and above level, but also are verbally precocious? Very deficient in math, social skills, motor skills beyond detailed artwork. Almost like the reading and art are splinter skills, but come with verbal.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.