Re: New to the list, would love local support tips and play dates

[Guest guest]

Hi April, welcome to the group! I have a now 13 yo ds who is

hyperlexic as well. He is gifted as well so his problems academically

always seemed less severe since he was already so far ahead anyway. He

was not high functioning in the beginning - autistic and very much

unaware that others even existed except to facilitate something he

wanted. So we started with an ABA program. We systematically covered

all sorts of areas of development to teach him the parts he was

skipping or missing.

We started out using the books, " Teaching Children with autism to mind

read " and " Behavioral intervention for young children with Autism. "

Adding to that were any resources that fit his needs such as " Teach Me

Language " and later on as he finally caught up with language skills, we

used " Super Skills " to work on social skills.

The problem is that people saw his " gift " and would assume he could

understand more than he could. So we started at the beginning to help

teach him the skills he didn't have and I always pushed people to not

assume he knew things. I used to tell people he could read before he

could say " mommy. " I don't know if that helped them see the problem.

But that was the problem. lol. We used a lot of stories because

letters and numbers were interesting to him. We taught a lot using

words first. For initiating conversation, we'd set up goals and then

he would walk around and have to initiate a conversation as directed.

Many times, the teachers made up a tic-tac-toe style board with a

question or word in each box. Then he would be able to cross them off

as he accomplished them. For instance, he might be learning how to say

" hi " to people. So they'd write a different way of saying " hi " in each

box and walk him around the school so he could tell people " hi " . And

each time he used a word or phrase, he'd mark it off until he was

finished. And once he caught on to things, he morphed into his own

style eventually and with the ability to speak for himself. He still

struggles with over-using phrases he hears from tv shows and other

people. But that's autism. And it's minor in comparison to where he

was in the beginning.

One way I did help mold his speech early on was to have him restate

what he wanted after hearing me say it. So he might come to me and

sing the " kit kat " song from tv to say he wanted something to eat, for

an example. I would let him finish, then say, " Reece says, 'I want a

snack!' " He would then repeat, " I want a snack! " and I'd praise him

and get it for him. Ditto if he spelled what he wanted - often he

would do this...walk up to me and say, " P-E-P-S-I! " So I would say,

" Reece says, 'I want a drink!' " and he would then repeat the statement

and I'd get him a drink.

I don't know how to incorporate the bilingual part because we just

worked on learning English here. But correcting him that way by

providing the appropriate words and phrases helped a lot and I suppose

you could do it any way you like or mix it up even with the same

effect. And really, that is what we do when our NT babies learn to

talk - we praise what they do get out and then restate it so they can

hear the correct way of saying things. I made a lot of books for my ds

as well. It was so easy to take digital photo's and stick them in a

little " brag book " you can buy at Walmart for $1. Then I would write

social stories for him. Or sometimes just vocabulary or people

identity. Put the words in each spot and he was riveted. Hyperlexic

kids also have a huge problem with " WH " questions so we worked on that

a lot as well. Using the books I made him sometimes and we read a lot

of books where I stopped him from galloping off with the words to ask

questions and get meaning from the story.

Roxanna

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

( ) New to the list, would love local support

tips and play dates

Hi all,

My son, 4, was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism/Aspergers about 4

months ago. He has intense interest in numbers and letters and started

to read and write at 2.5 yrs. At 4 now he reads and writes quite a bit

of Chinese also. He is also very interested in electronics like

boombox, TV/DVD player, computers, cell phones, etc.

He has very limited interest in interacting with other kids. Since

starting the special ed program at the school (IEP), he seems to have

improved somewhat in communication and initiating interaction. However

the fundamental reason that he does not talk or play with peers is that

he simply doesn't share much interest with them. Most of the time he's

either writing or doodling, or trying to get his hands on some

electronic device.

When he does " initiate " a " conversation " with me, often times it

involves some gibberish sounds or weird combination of words that

doesn't mean anything or is completely out of context of what is

happening. He also hates when I speak or sing in English even though we

are a bi-lingual family and we hang out with other bi-lingual family

and friends.

I've read quite a few different books and online articles, and we've

put him on the GFCF diet for 3 months now with very little difference.

I'm just feeling really frustrated right now and would appreciate any

advice.

If any of you are in the South Bay Area (San /Cupertino/Sunnyvale),

or know any local groups that we can participate, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

[Guest guest]

Thanks so much Roxanna. I've only been on this list for a couple of days and

already feel that people here are so intelligent and caring. I searched

hyperlexia here and have read quite a few of your posts. Thanks. I didn't know

about this before and none of the generic Autism/Aspie diagnoses we got

accurately described my ds. I will definitely try the books and therapies you

suggested.

I've had a lot of similar experiences as you & your ds. Andy's autism traits

were not so obvious as he always interacted with us and would share with us what

he found exciting, etc. He was a late talker and for a long time, spoke with

undecipherable pronunciation (in neither language LOL). I figured out that he

just physically couldn't pronounce two or more different syllables so broke down

words for him. His first words besides Daddy and Mama were light, car and colors

in repeated single syllables (sort of like purpur for purple).

When he was 2 he got hooked on his favorite show Wow Wow Wubbzy. We have the

close caption on and he just quoted entire lines from the show all day long, not

speaking anything " normally " . And he figured out phonics from the close caption.

For it seemed an entire year (2.5 to 3.5), all he did was quoting Wubbzy and

writing words and sentences. It just seemed language acquisition exploded way

beyond comprehension, with a confusing bilingual twist. He's fascinated with the

strange and new stuff that he doesn't already know.