Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Hyperlexia?

Honestly, this sounds a lot like what DD did and from my understanding this is very common in toddlers. DD would say words a handful of time and then not repeat them. Eventually she just started talking and sure enough those words that I hadn't heard for months reappeared. My mom said I did the exact same thing as a toddler.

If you're worried about autism this doesn't sound the same. From my understanding with regressive autism is that kids know say 20 words use them regularly and then stop all of a sudden and can no longer communicate. What you're seeing is using words and then putting them on the back burner and using new ones instead. It sounds like he just putting them in the bank and learning new ones until he is ready to speak completely.

My dd now5 was similar - she learned to read and talk at the same time - and learned to speak many words from reading them. The only "negative" I saw was that for a long time she would pronounce words while speaking as though she was reading them - so she would always say "bean" for "been" - and still calls sewing "Sue- ing" - she is otherwise fine though. Both of my kids did go through a period of pretty severe stuttering - and that went away on its own - I think it has something to do with having so many new words in their heads, but not yet having a ton of practice retrieving them.

My dd now 10yo was also similar. Learned to read and talk at the same time (one of her earliest words was "readabook"), was a good reader by 24-25 months, and learned many words by reading them. The possibility of hyperlexia was raised around that time -- I remember googling for "early readers" back then hoping for evidence she was just a good reader, which in fact she was/is. Forums like this are great for knowing you're not alone. We also began wondering whether early reading was a sign of giftedness or just a specialized interest of hers.

She *still* mispronounces some words, but not enough to be a problem. She also had stutter-like speech quirks ("mazing" was a word the therapist used), but does well now after working with a speech therapist in 2nd and 3rd grades.

She still adores books and reading, and is a phenomenally fast reader. Her reading is a joy for her and also an amazing gift. She is a well-adjusted 5th grader, but has also turned out to be hg+. She scored extremely well on the Explore last year as a 4th grader, so it seems the early reading was a sign of things to come.

Any updates on your son? How did the evaluation go?