Toddler with hyperlexia and speech delay, did your child seem gifted?

[MummytoJE]

I was wondering if anyone had a toddler with hyperlexia (specifically type 3) and turned out to be gifted.

Our son has a pretty significant speech delay at 28 months but a very advanced comprehension. Speech therapist said not ASD signs in the assessment, and we are pretty sure he has hyperlexia.

Whilst he is not obsessed or fascinated with letters, he is very good at them. He does the following:

-Can say every letter of the alphabet randomly when shown (or in order)
-Can identify images (that he hasnt seen before) based on a letter, so say we say Q he says q then finds a picture say of a queen
-Can come up with a word based on a letter, at random eg if we say 'e is for' he will say eeh for egg or eee for elephant or p is for 'pizza' - not based on any rhyme or song or anything, just random words that he knows (he says the words that way because of suspected phonological delay and/or CAS)
-can fit a letter into any corresponding letter shape on a board
-knows letters just from a faint or non obvious outline

Has anyone had experience of this at all with their child?
Many thanks

A friends child was referred for speech therapy at the 2.5 year check.
By the time the appointment came around, he'd taught himself to read!
He's now 12. Doing well in school but not spectacularly so. And very obviously autistic.

My son sounds similar. Non-verbal until 30 months. Speech explosion over 6 weeks, but it took until 3 and a half for the sounds to all sort themselves out.

Has always been good with letters and numbers, could identify all letters phonetically at 18 months. Started reading at 3, now he has just turned 4 and is reading proper chapter books. He is on the waiting list to be assessed for autism though…

Idk if it helps but I was hyperlexic, apparently taught myself to read aged 2. I suppose you would say I was a gifted child; I do have a high IQ (not genius level but higher than most people’s). I’ve gone on to be pretty good with language learning and all that stuff.

I believe I spoke at an unremarkable age though, and I was diagnosed with ADHD in middle age so I’m not neurotypical. Not considered to have ASD though.

We’re a bit of an odd family all round but all manage to function reasonably well in society 😂

Yep my 7 year old, he’s not gifted, just autistic.

Don’t think my experience matches, but just in case.

At 28 months my DD could read well, but speech was fairly unintelligible to others. Could read way more words than she could say in fact. Did end up having brief speech therapy at 4. Wouldn’t class her as hyperlexic though as comprehension was too good. Speech more or less normal now at 7. Wouldn’t put in the “gifted” category, but clever.

My DS was very similar to your DS at that age. He is autistic and very bright. Not diagnosed till adolescence, though, because he didn't have all the "classic" signs that often make it more obvious in young kids (he makes eye contact, makes jokes, has no obvious tics).

I had speech delay as a toddler, but knew my letters and could read and understand quite a lot of words before I could speak them (24 months). I'm gifted and also autistic.

My DD was an early and articulate talker (unlike me or her brother) and basically taught herself to read at 3. She is also gifted and also autistic.

Not mine but I have known a couple of toddlers the same age able to do this that are bright but not gifted.

@MummytoJE

Just wanted to add more info about my DS, in case it's relevant.

His speech improved a lot around the time he turned 3. Within a few months he was considered to be in the normal range for his age group, and was discharged from the speech and language therapy people at about 36 months (although some years later we did pay for private speech therapy for him, because he had a lisp.)

He did very well academically. He is now at university, living in a shared house with some like-minded friends and having a great time. He has a good social life (although this tends to revolve around hiking with friends, gardening, and the Doctor Who society, rather than the classic pubs-and-clubs student experience). He lives independently, albeit mostly on frozen pizza, but then he's a student after all. He is learning to drive and applying to join the army reserves.

I wanted to add this, because a lot of people on here have mentioned autism and I know that can be a scary idea as a parent. Obviously your DS may not be autistic at all. But if he is, then please know that a lot of us still have really nice lives and achieve a lot.

Aw appreciate that and so happy your son is thriving! Must be wonderful to watch. Yes autism has been ruled out but I wouldn't be worried if it was, I think it's a super power and that people on the spectrum are here to change the world 😀