Have you wondered, "Is there something like hyperlexia, but for numbers?"
Yes, it's called hypernumeracy!
Is there a lot of info on this? Sadly, no. But there's likely more than the 63 search results I found back in November of 2014...at least I hope there is by now.
So what is hypernumeracy exactly? And what does it look like?
Well, think of it like hyperlexia, but with numbers and math being the main focus instead of letters and reading.
Think of it as a precocious self-taught ability to count, do math, and recognize numbers. You can read more about the definition of hypernumeracy here.
With hypernumeracy, a child's first words might be numbers and they will have an intense fascination and passion for anything involving numbers or math. See other common traits of hypernumeracy here.
They'll learn to count and do math at an early age, well beyond what is expected for their age. (What do you mean not all preschoolers do exponents?!)
It's also worth nothing that these math and number skills are all self-taught. We didn't teach them. These skills and abilities appear to happen spontaneously, as if out of nowhere, just like the precocious reading ability does in hyperlexia. So these abilities catch a lot of parents by surprise.
But it's important to note that hypernumeracy is so much more than counting or learning math early. It goes well beyond that, similar to how hyperlexia is more than just learning to read early.
See, kids with hypernumeracy are very serious about their numbers. They think in numbers and quantify pretty much everything.
They will relate everything to numbers in some way. For instance, they might refer to grandma's house as "488 house" because that's what her house number is. Their favorite movie might be referred to by its runtime instead of its title. Those kinds of things. If you need more examples, you can take a closer look at hypernumeracy here.
For kids with hypernumeracy, play centers around numbers and their favorite toys are often things like calculators. And they'll turn everything into numbers if they can.
Even their air writing might take the form of numbers and math equations instead of words and letters.
Literally everything is number focused for them.
Similar to how reading/decoding comes easy to those with hyperlexia, math comes easy to kids with hypernumeracy.
So if you've noticed that your hyperlexic child is gravitating more towards numbers and is picking up math on their own, it's possible that they might have hypernumeracy as well.
Will all hyperlexic kids have hypernumeracy as well? Nope.
Some hyperlexic kids have dyscalculia and find math and numbers to be a big challenge. And some hyperlexic kids might just have a special interest in numbers and that's it. Then there are others who might have zero interest in numbers or math.
So think of hypernumeracy as an add-on. Another practical label to describe how your child thinks and learns. There will be some hyperlexic kids who have this add-on, but not all will.
