Seriously, who worries that their child can read too young?Īnswer: Parents of children with hyperlexia. What would his differences mean for him growing up? How could I better support him and what kind of support should I seek? I didn’t (and still don’t) want to change him, but I recognized that his atypical development might cause him some difficulties in the neurotypical world in which we live.Īt that time, we were living in Japan, so cultural and linguistic differences also complicated our ability to access suitable support.īizarrely, one of my biggest struggles was that I believed I couldn’t talk about any of this in case it sounded like I was bragging I mean, back then, our greatest concern was that our 2-year-old could read. What a funny thing to worry aboutĮl consistently takes my breath away, but when I first realized he was developing differently I worried too. Although, during those early days, I felt both grief and excitement for our future together. I had long had a peripheral interest in neurodiversity so having a child who connected with the world differently was a joy. Needless to say, I was also intensely proud of him and loved that I was having to re-evaluate my concepts of play and early years development. I had been looking forward seeing El do some of the funny things other kids do: mixed up counting, pretend reading, and even playing with toys. Scared because I didn’t know if I would be able to support my son and had no idea where to turn. Sad because I had to let go of some of the expectations I’d built up around parenting. Since his fixation with symbols began, I have been simultaneously amazed, baffled, scared, proud, and sad. This seclusion, combined with the intense love I have for my child, resulted in a profound emotional conflict. We were living in the Northern Japan Alps, when El’s developmental differences were becoming more apparent, so we were culturally, linguistically, and geographically isolated. It wasn’t long before I realized that this was El’s way of playing. In fact, my passion for encouraging play meant that, for some time, I was seeking alternative ways to engage my son. He has never been taught how to do any of this. He was equally drawn to numbers at 2-years-old, El was counting and sequencing numbers up from one to twenty.īefore he turned 3, El could read and spell multiple words and, at the time of writing this post, he was reading full sentences. By the time he was 16-months-old he knew all the upper and lower case letters, never once confusing b, d, p, or q. Unlike most children his age, he can read.Īt around 12 months old he developed an intense fascination with the ABC magnets on the fridge. Silberberg (1967)Įl has just turned 3.5 and, like most children his age, he strives for independence, needs lots of cuddles, and wears his heart on his sleeve. Hyperlexia: the precocious ability to read words without prior training in learning to read, typically before the age of 5.
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