Guest guest Posted July 15, 2001 Report Share Posted July 15, 2001 Hi everyone, My son (just turned 4 yrs) has been diagnosed with PDD and has been reading for the past 6 months. He fit the description for Hyperlexia Syndrome to a " T " . If any one else has experience with Hyperlexia I would love to hear about what you found helpful and for those of you in the Boston area, what local resources you would recommend (speech therapists, ed consultants etc). Thanks in advance for any input you can offer. Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 16, 2001 Report Share Posted July 16, 2001 Kris- My son was considered hyperlexic, he started reading letters at 10months old, and even at his most severe-autistic time (3.5) He never stopped reading. What we did was use what they now call a PECS board ( I don't remember that name at the time) and label EVERYTHING. It eventually seeps in (my son is now 7.5, and has a vocabulary on level) I put words all over the house (lamp, switch, tv, toy, door, bathroom, EVERYTHING, my house looked like Blues Clues) And the PECS board we took polaroids of everything, and put the word label underneath. Eventually we phased out the pictures, and were able to say the words. -Shari OT: Hyperlexia > Hi everyone, > My son (just turned 4 yrs) has been diagnosed with PDD and has been reading for the past 6 months. He fit the description for Hyperlexia Syndrome to a " T " . If any one else has experience with Hyperlexia I would love to hear about what you found helpful and for those of you in the Boston area, what local resources you would recommend (speech therapists, ed consultants etc). Thanks in advance for any input you can offer. > > Kris > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 My son also has Hyperlexia. In preschool they used alot of labeling as well and at home I went through more of the facial expressions and social situations with him. I had gotten a bunch of material on emotions from a child psychologist that had visited his preschool at the time and it helped. Nothing has helped him as much as the diet though. I did alot of one on one time with him and going through the steps of everything very slowly. I ALWAYS asked him specific questions about his day (and still do) to see if he understands what I am saying. For example: Did you color today? What did you color? What color crayons did you use? Is the picture hanging up in the classroom?. His teacher encouraged me to do this to help him and it started working. Good luck MA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 Hi, My son is also hyperlexic, though does not seem to have difficulty with comprehension of language. When I first heard about hyperlexia, I looked around, and I found this site to be interesting. It's for the Center for Speech and Language Disorders, which is a commericial site (I have no connnection with them), but they seem to specialize in hyperlexia and have some books available which may be of interest to you: http://store.yahoo.com/csld/index.html I also have some access to some databases from which I can sometimes get full text articles from speech and hearing research journals. If you want, e-mail me privately (because of space and copyrights, I don't want to send anything via the group), and I can see if I can find any recent research which is supporting one approach (using the visual strengths) over another. Best, --------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 Hi, My son is hyperlexic, as well, and we have been able to use his reading ability to increase his language development by labeling everything with the written word, pairing pictures with words to teach concepts and using writing as a way to give him information/directions rather than verbally. Some good websites are the Center for Speech and Language Disorders in Elmhurst, IL www.clsd.com -- they, literally, wrote the book on hyperlexia, called Reading Too Soon. Also, the American Hyperlexia Association is www.hyperlexia.org Good luck with everything. Fondly, J--mom to Graham (7yrs, probable Aspergers syndrome) and Hayley (11 yrs, mild ADD) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 Hi Kris, Austin's dx was PDD-Nos and Hyperlexic. He was reading at 15 months, is 5 yrs old now and reads at a college level. His reading comprehension level is beyond a 3rd grade level. At 3.11, when he was dx'd, he had the language of a 2 to 2.5 yr old. When he was retested at 5.0, he had the speech and language of a 5.6 to 7.3 yr old! I was told that Austin didn't comprehend what he read -- but I disagreed and still believe they are wrong that hyperlexic children don't comprehend. Soon after the dx, I started writing books for Austin on the computer. The books were 'wh' books (Austin's What Book, Where Book, Why Book, When Book). I would take as much from his speech and language therapy lessons and put it in writing. Also, I wrote books about potty training -- it helped. None of my books made the best-sellers list, but Austin loved them. ;-) When Austin went bonkers because we chopped a tree down in our yard, I went to the library and took out a book about a dead tree that became a home for all kinds of critters. It helped. I understand there are children's books about social behaviors that would be perfect for a hyperlexic child. There is an excellent article at this web-site: http://www.hyperlexia.org/hyperlexia.html I took a small part of the article and pasted it below. This gave me a lot of hope and insight after we first got the diagnosis. Wishing you the best, Evelyn Mom to Austin (recovered from pdd) and (nt) 5 yr old twins ################################## PROGNOSIS One of the most striking things we have noticed in our experience with these children is that when we first see them at the age of 2 or 2 1/2. they look bad. They are not able to understand language. They may use a few words but often they are echolalic. Their behavior looks autistic. However, we have found that these children emerge out of that autism. Although they may retain some aloofness or antisocial and oppositional behaviors, Their need to maintain their aloneness and their need to engage in self-stimulating behaviors decreases dramatically as their language comprehension and expressive language improves. By the time they reach first or second grade they certainly would not be described as autistic children, although they may remain somewhat aloof from other children. They can be taught social skills and they do enjoy using them with their newfound friends. Because the eventual success of these children depends on the development of their comprehension and use of language skills, intensive speech and language therapy and special education teaching can help achieve these objectives. It is also important they be taught appropriate social skills and grouping them with children who use appropriate skills is a critical part of the planning. ################################## OT: Hyperlexia > Hi everyone, > My son (just turned 4 yrs) has been diagnosed with PDD and has been reading for the past 6 months. He fit the description for Hyperlexia Syndrome to a " T " . If any one else has experience with Hyperlexia I would love to hear about what you found helpful and for those of you in the Boston area, what local resources you would recommend (speech therapists, ed consultants etc). Thanks in advance for any input you can offer. > > Kris > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2001 Report Share Posted July 25, 2001 Hi Evelyn, The books you wrote on the computer sound wonderful! I have a 3 yr old Autistic, Hyperlexic and would love to gt copies of these. Especially the one on potty training. Do you have tehm for sale anywhere? Thanks Leah OT: Hyperlexia > > > > Hi everyone, > > My son (just turned 4 yrs) has been diagnosed with PDD and has > been reading for the past 6 months. He fit the description for Hyperlexia > Syndrome to a " T " . If any one else has experience with Hyperlexia I would > love to hear about what you found helpful and for those of you in the Boston > area, what local resources you would recommend (speech therapists, ed > consultants etc). Thanks in advance for any input you can offer. > > > > Kris > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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