Are Hyperlexics Dyslexics?

Annotation: Hyperlexia: disability or superability?

“…In other words, when anchored on general ability, both conditions might involve the same processes, but capture different extremes. Based on this reasoning, as well as some evidence of high frequency of learning disorders, especially dyslexia, in families of individuals with hyperlexia (Healy & Aram, 1986), hyperlexia was classified as a subtype of developmental dyslexia (Benton, 1978; Cohen et al., 1987; DeHirsch, 1971; Healy, Aram, Horwitz, & Kessler, 1982; Child Neurology Society, 1981). However, this classification of hyperlexia has not received support among professionals interested in dyslexia (e.g., McClure & Hynd, 1983) and is currently rarely used.…”

“…The main question here is whether single‐word reading exhibited by individuals with hyperlexia is ‘typical’ reading or is reading based on a specific type. DeHirsch (1971) was the first to introduce the hypothesis that the mechanism behind hyperlexia was in visual memorization of whole words. Cobrinik (1982) also assumed that hyperlexic reading is exclusively visual and implemented this assumption in an experimental study.…”

“…Although references to the phenomenon of spontaneous and precocious mastering of single-word reading 1 have been presented in the literature on children with impaired intellectual abilities since the beginning of the last century (e.g., Bender, 1955;Bergman & Escalona, 1948;Eisenberg & Kanner, 1956;Kanner, 1943;Mahler & Elkisch, 1953;Manner, 1943;Parker, 1919;Phillips, 1930), the term ÔhyperlexiaÕ -now used to describe these unusual abilities with printed words -was introduced only in the late 1960s (Silberberg & Silberberg, 1967, 1971). However, soon after the introduction of this term to the literature (for early reviews, see Cain, 1969), a similar phenomenon, capturing the discrepancy between the levels of decoding and comprehending printed words (i.e., precocity of single-word reading emerging ahead of the development of comprehension), was observed both in children with typical (Niensted, 1968) and superior IQ (Jackson & Biemiller, 1985;Pennington, Johnson, & Welsh, 1987).…”

Reading for meaning and reading for sound in autistic and dyslexic children

“…Advanced ability to recognize and pronounce written words within the context of a developmental disorder has been termed hyperlexia (Silberberg & Silberberg, 1967;Huttenlocher & Huttenlocher, 1972;Mehegan & Dreifuss, 1972). It has further been suggested that hyperlexia should be seen as a form of dyslexia (de Hirsch, 1971;Benton & Pearl, 1978). This makes sense if at the same time there is a failure in other aspects of reading.…”

Teaching Children with Hyperlexia

“…The criterion used in their studies for children to be designated as having hyperlexia was that "their reading score is one year above expected level in the first three grades and 1.5 years above expected word recognition level in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades" (p. 4). During the 1970s and 1980s a number of researchers continued to work with children who "fit" within this category (Goldberg, 1987;Healy, 1982;Hirsch, 1971;Huttenlocher & Huttenlocher, 1973;Kistner, Robbins, & Haskett, 1988;Mehegan & Dreifus, 1972 Teaching Children With Hyperlexia Silberberg, 1971). Despite these two decades of research, there is still a general lack of knowledge concerning this disorder and a continuing question of how to clearly define the syndrome (Richman, n.d.).…”