Since many people are unfamiliar with the term hyperlexia, it can make the transition back to school a bit challenging. And sometimes frustrating too. Especially if it's your child's first year at school.
So, while it's helpful to know that, as a parent, you will likely encounter some challenges along the way, it probably doesn't ease your worries one bit.
However, there are some important things to remember as your hyperlexic child heads to school that will hopefully help make the experience a bit less surprising or frustrating.
Things to Remember as Your Hyperlexic Child Returns to or Starts School
1. The teacher and school staff have likely never heard of hyperlexia before so you'll probably have to introduce them to the term and describe what hyperlexia is. The same thing applies to gestalt language processing.
- Feel free to send them a copy of the Hyperlexia Handbook or one of these handy PDFs as a starting point
2. The teacher and school staff might not believe you at first when you tell them that your child can read, especially if your child is entering preschool or kindergarten. Sometimes they just need to see hyperlexia in action in order to believe it. Then they'll probably ask you something like, "Did you know your child can read?!" (And, yes, they'll likely still ask that even if you told them so ahead of time!)
3. Consider the spiky learning profile of hyperlexic learners and make sure that your child's teacher understands that your child might excel in some areas (e.g., decoding, spelling, math), but require extra support in others (e.g., comprehension, social interactions, transitions, writing assignments, fine motor skills, sensory needs).
4. Hyperlexic readers can be really good at masking their comprehension issues. It's also important to note that tests don't always pick up on their struggles in this area. That's why it's so important to prioritize and support comprehension skills, even if things appear fine at the moment (see point #10 here).
- Suggested reading: Drawing a Blank: Improving Comprehension for Readers on the Autism Spectrum by Emily Iland
5. You need to advocate for your child's needs. That includes emphasizing their strengths and skills, collaborating with the school team, making sure appropriate accommodations and supports are put into place, and so on. You might find the following resources helpful:
6. Visual supports are a great way to support hyperlexic learners at home and in the classroom and taking the time to write things down can make a huge difference. Here are some examples of different types of visuals to use with hyperlexic learners:
7. School can be overwhelming and dysregulating. So plan for downtime after school. Some ideas include:
- Providing access to letter toys or number toys
- Setting up a calm down corner
- Quiet time (e.g., reading, doing puzzles, doodling on a whiteboard or Boogie Board)
- Outdoor time (e.g., walk, playing outside, swinging at the playground)
This list of tips above is by no means exhaustive. It's meant more to give you an idea of what to expect (e.g., no one believing you or is familiar with hyperlexia) and how to make sure your child is well supported (e.g., using visual supports, highlighting their strengths, discussing how they learn best).
There might be a few some perhaps lots of hiccups along the way and that's okay. Learn to expect that and embrace that.
Educating others about hyperlexia and advocating for your child's needs might be exhausting work, but it's well worth it in the end if it means your child is well supported and thriving, whether that's at school or in any other environment.
