Hyperlexia – The First Chapter

Our son started reading independently when he was 2- 2.5 years old. Before I launch into that, I’d love to give some background.

When I was pregnant I taught art, Spanish, and Content Literacy Support. That is the fancy way to say that I assisted teaching kids to read. There was a chance that our son was listening in utero. I really did want our son to be a reader if I could help it. His baby shower was book themed, which resulted in an extensive library. One tradition we stuck with was that we read to our son before bed (nighttime and naptime). So it would be conservative to say that there was foundation and exposure to reading early on. We did visit the library before moving to the Bay Area, but now we frequent 1-3 times a week because it is walking distance.

What did I mean by saying my son was reading alone without help when he was 2 years old? Pretty much we noticed he would read stop and exit signs, but we thought it was a coincidence. When I would point to letters asking him to tell me the letter name he gave me the letter sound instead. It was very unexpected and confused me. I mentioned above that I taught 5 year olds how to read right? So we never thought it was possible to read so young. When our son was 2 years and 6 months old his speech therapist suggested that he might be able to read. We had never heard the term hyperlexia before. At the time our son had a smaller vocabulary for his age, but when we realized he could read we labeled everything in our apartment. You name it: “door”, “open”, “chair”, “book.” There was something missing; I had not been called “Mama” yet. So I recieved a label too, which resembled an ID name tag with “Mama.” It took a couple weeks but he was roughly 2 years and 9 months old when he called out, “MAMA!” When you’ve been waiting to hear it, it is a moment you do not forget.

So that is the beginning of our story and part of the big picture as to why I am writing this blog. Hyperlexia opened a door for our son to find his voice and communicate with us and the world. We love reading and our son really loves reading. For the record, it has always been very fluid and easy going. We have never forced reading, and the only intervention we offer is help with words he mispronounces. We often find our son reading alone, and later he enthusiastically loves to retell the story or facts.

To learn more about hyperlexia please check out the following link. There are many more resources available online, but here is one blog I like: https://www.andnextcomesl.com/2015/01/what-is-hyperlexia-hypernumeracy.html

Questions for our readers: How often do you read? Do children see you reading? Had you heard of hyperlexia before reading this entry?