Toddler with hyperlexia and speech delay, did your child seem gifted?

[MummytoJE]

I was wondering if anyone had a toddler with hyperlexia (specifically type 3) and turned out to be gifted.

Our son has a pretty significant speech delay at 28 months but a very advanced comprehension. Speech therapist said not ASD signs in the assessment, and we are pretty sure he has hyperlexia.

Whilst he is not obsessed or fascinated with letters, he is very good at them. He does the following:

-Can say every letter of the alphabet randomly when shown (or in order)
-Can identify images (that he hasnt seen before) based on a letter, so say we say Q he says q then finds a picture say of a queen
-Can come up with a word based on a letter, at random eg if we say 'e is for' he will say eeh for egg or eee for elephant or p is for 'pizza' - not based on any rhyme or song or anything, just random words that he knows (he says the words that way because of suspected phonological delay and/or CAS)
-can fit a letter into any corresponding letter shape on a board
-knows letters just from a faint or non obvious outline

Has anyone had experience of this at all with their child?
Many thanks

A friends child was referred for speech therapy at the 2.5 year check.
By the time the appointment came around, he'd taught himself to read!
He's now 12. Doing well in school but not spectacularly so. And very obviously autistic.

My son sounds similar. Non-verbal until 30 months. Speech explosion over 6 weeks, but it took until 3 and a half for the sounds to all sort themselves out.

Has always been good with letters and numbers, could identify all letters phonetically at 18 months. Started reading at 3, now he has just turned 4 and is reading proper chapter books. He is on the waiting list to be assessed for autism though…

Idk if it helps but I was hyperlexic, apparently taught myself to read aged 2. I suppose you would say I was a gifted child; I do have a high IQ (not genius level but higher than most people’s). I’ve gone on to be pretty good with language learning and all that stuff.

I believe I spoke at an unremarkable age though, and I was diagnosed with ADHD in middle age so I’m not neurotypical. Not considered to have ASD though.

We’re a bit of an odd family all round but all manage to function reasonably well in society 😂

Yep my 7 year old, he’s not gifted, just autistic.

Don’t think my experience matches, but just in case.

At 28 months my DD could read well, but speech was fairly unintelligible to others. Could read way more words than she could say in fact. Did end up having brief speech therapy at 4. Wouldn’t class her as hyperlexic though as comprehension was too good. Speech more or less normal now at 7. Wouldn’t put in the “gifted” category, but clever.

My DS was very similar to your DS at that age. He is autistic and very bright. Not diagnosed till adolescence, though, because he didn't have all the "classic" signs that often make it more obvious in young kids (he makes eye contact, makes jokes, has no obvious tics).

I had speech delay as a toddler, but knew my letters and could read and understand quite a lot of words before I could speak them (24 months). I'm gifted and also autistic.

My DD was an early and articulate talker (unlike me or her brother) and basically taught herself to read at 3. She is also gifted and also autistic.

Not mine but I have known a couple of toddlers the same age able to do this that are bright but not gifted.

@MummytoJE

Just wanted to add more info about my DS, in case it's relevant.

His speech improved a lot around the time he turned 3. Within a few months he was considered to be in the normal range for his age group, and was discharged from the speech and language therapy people at about 36 months (although some years later we did pay for private speech therapy for him, because he had a lisp.)

He did very well academically. He is now at university, living in a shared house with some like-minded friends and having a great time. He has a good social life (although this tends to revolve around hiking with friends, gardening, and the Doctor Who society, rather than the classic pubs-and-clubs student experience). He lives independently, albeit mostly on frozen pizza, but then he's a student after all. He is learning to drive and applying to join the army reserves.

I wanted to add this, because a lot of people on here have mentioned autism and I know that can be a scary idea as a parent. Obviously your DS may not be autistic at all. But if he is, then please know that a lot of us still have really nice lives and achieve a lot.

Aw appreciate that and so happy your son is thriving! Must be wonderful to watch. Yes autism has been ruled out but I wouldn't be worried if it was, I think it's a super power and that people on the spectrum are here to change the world 😀

I have an 8 year old. At 3 she was quite obsessed with letters, she could do the things you said. And by the time she was 4 could read a bit. But when I've looked up hyperlexia, she doesn't fit this as she didn't teach herself, read before 3, plus she has good comprehension. And the 2 year old tantrums we did I spy as you describe. She's not got a speech delay so her experience is probably not that helpful for you. To the best of my knowledge she's not gifted or autistic. She is bright, English is her favourite lesson, at greater depth for everything, in year 1 she'd met the end of year requirements by Christmas.

Just trying to work out how they have ruled out ASD? The speech and language therapist won’t be able to diagnose it, especially not in a very young child.

As a primary SEN specialist, I would expect to find neurodivergence, especially ASD, when I find hyperlexia. Reading comprehension usually lags well behind.

DD is 26 now, but I didn't teach her to read and she started school aged 4 with a reading age of 8y 8m. I'm pretty convinced she has ADHD.

My son was like this. Delayed speech but excellent comprehension. Used to have his tongue forward and mouth loose and I am pretty sure it was low oral tone that delayed speech.
He taught himself to read playing a game online (star fall) when I was in the trenches with newborn siblings. By the time he started nursery at 3y5m he could read - they did a reading age and it was about age 8. He could also talk by then - it developed very fast when he was around 2.5 - but was only just toilet trained.

He is very very bright (IQ tested twice and at 99.5 percentile both times) and very independent. Not diagnosed autistic (unlike his sibling) but he thinks he probably is, and certainly gravitates to neurodivergent friends, but if he is he doesn't really have any support needs. Got a grade 9 in English Language in the end so caught up thoroughly! I wouldn't call him gifted because I don't really know what that is. He's a mathematician, and very good at coding etc - for example, was in the top 15 in the country in his year for the Bebras challenge.

Jesus Christ. Please stop.

They haven't assessed formally or ruled out just said there are no signs they would expect to possibly see by his age (informally all 3 STs said that)

Ok angry internet stranger 🥱😂😂😂

Are you one of these people who goes up to a mother pushing a wheelchair and tells her that she’s a superhero and that only people strong enough for the toughest battles are given them?

Or are you just massively naive about what living with autism is like for a very large amount of people? A disability is not a super power. Having to wipe your child’s bottom as an adult because they can’t do it for themselves isn’t a “blessing”. There’s nothing “magical” about a child so severely incapacitated by autism that they physically hurt themselves, you, and everyone around them through sheer frustration.

Anyway, continue with your snide little emojis and ridiculous preconceptions. I genuinely hope you never find out just how awful autism can be.

I'm sure you were just bursting to say all of this, so glad you got your chance. Reinforcing negative stereotypes, the type that are now leading to scientists trying to identify the genes that cause autism and remove them. Kind of like the anti disability argument for children with DS and abortion etc. Not all autism stories are negative or extreme the same way not all disabilities are. That is extremely ableist of you.
I can say and think what I want.

It’s the truth, not a negative stereo-type. What @RustyShackIeford has posted is a lot of people’s experience of raising an autistic child. They didn’t say all families, just a large amount!

I have a child with likely autism (on the diagnostic pathway), albeit high-functioning. If I could take his autism away, I would. Seeing him struggle with things that other children take for granted. Things like making friends, playing in a playground, just talking to another child! The fact that he is hyperlexic doesn’t in any way make up for this! And he is likely to struggle much more in life as a result of his social communication difficulties.

Honestly it never ceases to amaze me how a perfectly reasonable post descends into an angry exchange on Mumsnet.

Yes bright not gifted, 3 As at A level. Possibly autistic but not diagnosed.

Well my son can't communicate for his age with us or other children and I wouldn't take it away because that is who he is and I want the world to change, not him. I want the world to adapt to his needs and nott the other way, including me. Do you think that is easy?

The problem with autism erasure is both ends. The high needs experience and the low needs experience. I didn't do either, I simply said I would be ok if my son was autistic, because I would be. I said they are changing the world because they are.

Even high needs that are presented here as being wholely negative. This person and you projected onto what I said. I didn't say it was easy, I didn't say it wasn't extremely hard, I simply said they will change the world because as the world understands and adapts to their needs more, they will.

It’s been established by a few studies that hyperlexia and/or precocious reading do not indicate giftedness or higher intelligence in later childhood.

I think its the phrase “autism is a superpower” that myself and the PP have an issue with. This phrase is normally said by people who have no idea what it is like trying to parent an autistic child and just assume he will be like Einstein or Stephan Hawking and assume he will be profoundly gifted at maths and like Warhammer.

Whereas my son is average at maths, 2 years ahead in reading, but 2 years behind socially and emotionally. Which long term will matter a lot more than him being able to read age 3 in terms of his happiness later on.

I guess from my perspective my son would still be himself without his autism. Just able to play with toys, able to tolerate others in his space without hitting them, able to tolerate or even better enjoy a hug. I can’t see how these difficulties bring him any benefit in life. But appreciate that others have a different view on whether their child would still be the same without their autism.

I can see from your reply that you didn’t mean it like some people do when they say “autism is a superpower” and I understand more now where you are coming from. I’m just trying to explain how that phrase can come across. I hope the world can change too! Just worried it won’t change fast enough for my child.

My daughter and granddaughter could both read at two and a half. DD was considered gifted, but by the end of secondary school, some of her friends had caught up or overtaken her. While she hasn't chosen to get a diagnosis, she has typical 'girl autism' and has masked successfully for a long time. It's only in adulthood that the masking has led to anxiety and depression.

My DGD is only six. School is keeping an eye on her with a view to referral. She's doing well at school, but at this point, reading apart, I don't see her as typically gifted. Her speech was very delayed, but she had private speech and language support which made a huge difference.