hyperplexia
The topic of hyperlexia intrigued me because I thought I knew what it was. I did not! Recently I read an article on dyslexia that mentioned hyperlexia as the opposite of dyslexia but with hyperlexia there was no comprehension. I had already diagnosed, in my own mind, two or three students at my school as having this problem. Although the information on hyperlexia is sketchy and at times contradictory I am no longer trying to put those particular students into the hyperlexia box. My purpose, with this paper, is to interpret the knowledge that exists on hyperlexia and organize this knowledge into what hyperlexia is, the connection to autism, PDD and nonverbal learning disorders, assessment and remediation and the brain connection. The literature on the subject of hyperlexia indicates that it is far more likely to occur in boys so I will be using the pronoun "he" when referring to a hyperlexic child.The American Hyperlexia Association (aha) gives three guidelines to use when considering a hyperlexia diagnosis. These guidelines are social interaction, repetitive behavior, and communication problems. If a child exhibits these signs then he "probably will meet the criteria for the
Communication problems keep the hyperlexic child from acting appropriately with other people. In addition to the inability to comprehend the intention of others he will also be unable to express himself and his intentions. He may repeat a phrase he has heard and memorized because he is unable to formulate and organize his own thoughts. The hyperlexic child also has difficulty understanding directions and listening to group instructions. He will have problems putting the spoken word into a meaningful context. As the child progresses through school he will have an increasingly difficult time reading content area material and judging the relevance of this material or using it to defend or support his opinion. This is when reading comprehension becomes an issue. 7. Likes to keep to predictable routines 5. Plenty of opportunities for social interaction even if they need to be scripted 6. Use music while giving the words to the songs on paper 3. Learns expressive language by echoing and memorization 2. Difficulty in understanding language 10. Speaking slow allowing for extra processing time and being ready to repeat The current brain research skirts around the syndrome of hyperlexia but provides some insight into closely related disorders. One does need to be careful, however, not to apply all the research on autism, PDD and NLD to a case of hyperlexia. Each of these learning disabilities must be examined separately.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Kupperman Repetitive, Diagnostic Impressions, BRAIN CONNECTION, NICHCY Children, ASSESSMENT REMEDIATION, UniSci Isn't, Kovach Behavior, Act IDEA, , CONCLUSION Hyperlexia, hyperlexic child, autism pdd, reading ability, child hyperlexia, social interaction, hyperlexic children, reading comprehension, diagnosis pdd, precocious ability read, medical diagnosis, social skills, children medical diagnosis, expressive language echoing, medical diagnosis pdd, learns expressive language,
Approximate Word count = 2449
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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