"Using written narratives, or social stories, can be an effective way to teach social skills and norms to hyperlexic people. They often find it easier to understand and remember information presented in written form." This part stuck out to me as something I have experienced. I was constantly reading as a child and still read (I've been told) absurd amounts of words a day (I've been meaning to actually calculate an average, but my current estimate is 100,000-150,000 words a day if I have nothing else to do that day, which is the dream). Something I realized later was that reading as a child allowed me to "see into the minds" of other people in a way that allowed me to mimic them better, ie. mask better, because I could finally understand how "normal" people thought and felt. This did lead me to misunderstanding several things for many years (one example that I later figured out was that when people "felt" thirsty or hungry, this was an actual feeling and not a literary device. I have incredibly poor interoception, obviously). I am not sure if I qualify as hyperlexic--which is why I am doing research on it--due to not knowing if I was an early reader or not. I'll have to ask my parents, but I'm sure they would've said something (then again, my older sister was diagnosed autistic young, so their view of what was normal for a child was... skewed, and part of the reason I was diagnosed late). I do have a memory of being told I "faked" reading as a child but memorizing whole books, and knowing when to turn the page so as to "appear" to be reading. Maybe there's something there. This was a good post and I liked it, thank you :) very clear and easy to understand while still informative.
Hey, thank you for reading! Especially an older post like this. I didn’t think people were still finding it, let alone spending time with it and leaving thoughtful comments, so that really means something.
Also, I think you’re the first person I’ve seen actually say out loud that they read that much a day! I feel so validated! I’m right around there too (maybe 90k on average) and I’ve always felt weird about how much I read, like it’s excessive or something. So I really appreciate you sharing that, like you don't even know!
I used to fake-read too. I’d sit there with books, turn the pages at the right time, and act like I was reading even if I wasn’t technically decoding the text yet. Not sure what that was... maybe trying to meet some unspoken expectation, or just copying what readers looked like. But I do remember hiding the fact that I could read well, so maybe that? Either way, it stuck with me.
What you said about reading helping you understand how people think definitely tracks, even if it doesn’t always lead to the right conclusions. I’ve had my own long list of misunderstandings like that too, especially around things that most people seem to just know.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your experience and for the kind words about the post. It really does mean a lot. ❤️
I was an early reader and read way beyond my age from early on - I don’t know if my speech was delayed but I would get mean comments from extended family about becoming almost mute in social situations…thank you for such a detailed description, really interesting!
Thank you so much for sharing this very detailed info about hyperlexia! I didn’t know there was a name for it. This looks like my wife! I will share this piece with her to see what she thinks 💜
"Using written narratives, or social stories, can be an effective way to teach social skills and norms to hyperlexic people. They often find it easier to understand and remember information presented in written form." This part stuck out to me as something I have experienced. I was constantly reading as a child and still read (I've been told) absurd amounts of words a day (I've been meaning to actually calculate an average, but my current estimate is 100,000-150,000 words a day if I have nothing else to do that day, which is the dream). Something I realized later was that reading as a child allowed me to "see into the minds" of other people in a way that allowed me to mimic them better, ie. mask better, because I could finally understand how "normal" people thought and felt. This did lead me to misunderstanding several things for many years (one example that I later figured out was that when people "felt" thirsty or hungry, this was an actual feeling and not a literary device. I have incredibly poor interoception, obviously). I am not sure if I qualify as hyperlexic--which is why I am doing research on it--due to not knowing if I was an early reader or not. I'll have to ask my parents, but I'm sure they would've said something (then again, my older sister was diagnosed autistic young, so their view of what was normal for a child was... skewed, and part of the reason I was diagnosed late). I do have a memory of being told I "faked" reading as a child but memorizing whole books, and knowing when to turn the page so as to "appear" to be reading. Maybe there's something there. This was a good post and I liked it, thank you :) very clear and easy to understand while still informative.
Hey, thank you for reading! Especially an older post like this. I didn’t think people were still finding it, let alone spending time with it and leaving thoughtful comments, so that really means something.
Also, I think you’re the first person I’ve seen actually say out loud that they read that much a day! I feel so validated! I’m right around there too (maybe 90k on average) and I’ve always felt weird about how much I read, like it’s excessive or something. So I really appreciate you sharing that, like you don't even know!
I used to fake-read too. I’d sit there with books, turn the pages at the right time, and act like I was reading even if I wasn’t technically decoding the text yet. Not sure what that was... maybe trying to meet some unspoken expectation, or just copying what readers looked like. But I do remember hiding the fact that I could read well, so maybe that? Either way, it stuck with me.
What you said about reading helping you understand how people think definitely tracks, even if it doesn’t always lead to the right conclusions. I’ve had my own long list of misunderstandings like that too, especially around things that most people seem to just know.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your experience and for the kind words about the post. It really does mean a lot. ❤️
I was an early reader and read way beyond my age from early on - I don’t know if my speech was delayed but I would get mean comments from extended family about becoming almost mute in social situations…thank you for such a detailed description, really interesting!
Thank you so much for sharing this very detailed info about hyperlexia! I didn’t know there was a name for it. This looks like my wife! I will share this piece with her to see what she thinks 💜
That just made me smile. Thank you so much! I’m curious to know if she identifies with it.