Hyperlexia or just a good reader?

[SpinningTops]

I wonder whether my son's reading skill could be hyperlexia or just that he's a good reader?
He is on the waiting list for an autism assessment so could be part of that.

He has always loved letters. Phonics songs were one of his favourite things when he was younger. At about 3 he could read things like 'The dog dug up a flag' fairly easily. Now he's a free reader in Y1 and can read almost anything.

The thing that makes me wonder is that he's never really read phonetically, he reads by word recognition and once he's seen a word it is banked and remembered forever more.

His comprehension is reasonable which I think makes it more likely to just be good at reading? He's generally a bright, curious, fact loving boy.

This is just because I'm curious 😊

Interesting, have 3 like this and would also just say natural linguists. No super maths skills or anything else out of the ordinary.

This sounds just like my teenage son when he was that age. Diagnosed with autism age 4. He's still very high-attaining.

I'd just provide plenty of reading matter at home, both stories and non-fiction, and let him get on with it unhindered. Just casually mention that if he finds a word he hasn't seen before, he can ask you and you will tell him what it means.

I can still remember learning to read (I went off like a rocket with reading as well, apparently) and comprehension definitely fills in afterwards. Let's face it, a lot of words can be readily worked out once you know some basics. Footprint for instance. You know what a foot is, you know what a print is. You don't have to be taught the meaning of the word before you can read it, you can work it out.