Hyperlexia is an extreme focus and obsession with letters, numbers, words, and reading. If your child is young and not yet talking but can read or say letters or numbers, they may be hyperlexic.
There are two types of hyperlexia. Hyperlexia can, at times, be a sign of giftedness if not accompanied by any other developmental delays. But even if your child can read, do math, or know their letters at a very young age, it does not mean there may not be an intellectual disability. If your child has hyperlexia accompanied by other delays such as delayed talking, delayed pointing, not sharing, not showing, no response to name or limited response to the name, not pretending to play when they should be, and not putting words together when they should be, these all together almost always point to autism.
Check out my digital assessment; it’s only going to take 10 minutes, and you will find out exactly the strengths and weaknesses of your child. From there, you need to program and teach based on their needs. Do not hyperfocus on teaching or expanding their hyperlexic interest, because that can create non-functional skills and other problems down the road. Use their interest as reinforcements, such as letter puzzle pieces as rewards during a shoebox game.
Scripting is a form of stimming; it happens when the mind is not busy to entertain and can be fun for your child. If your child is relaxing and alone, the stimming is okay; everyone has personal stimming behaviors. But, if scripting is getting in the way of instructional time, keep track of what keeps your child busy and engaged and build that into programming to reduce the stimming and keep their attention.
