The Enigma of Hyperlexia

HYPERLEXIA HAS BEEN DESCRIBED as a unique disorder in which children notably delayed in language and cognitive development begin spontaneously to recognize words at a very early age and continue to develop surprisingly advanced word recognition skills. Although such divergent development is provocative for both theory and practice in reading, little research attention has been directed toward hyperlexia, and a systematic description of the reading behaviors of such children has never appeared. This study describes 12 such children in terms of cognitive, linguistic, and reading competencies. Extensive interviews and individual testing with each subject confirmed the presence of an identifiable syndrome of hyperlexia, characterized by word recognition before age 5, disordered cognitive and linguistic development, and word recognition skills notably superior to other tested abilities. Comprehension, while present for literal units, broke down when abstract or relational thinking beyond a perceptual level were required. Comparison of listening and reading comprehension indicated generalized comprehension deficits, and results of testing suggested that hyperlexic children are deficient in formation and organization of schemata for incoming experience. It is proposed that, despite its unique nature, the study of this syndrome may contribute to our understanding of both word recognition and comprehension and their relationship in the total reading process.