What Is Hyperlexia? My Child’s Journey to Reading at Age 3

This is a personal story of hyperlexia – a glimpse into what it looked like when my son began reading at age 3. At the time, I didn’t know what hyperlexia was, but I soon discovered it was one of my autistic child’s most remarkable strengths.

Konrad crawled onto the chair beside me as I labeled note cards with words like “chair,” “book,” and “cup.” I was hoping visual labels might help him speak.

Without a word, he picked up a card. “Horse,” he said.

I looked at it, stunned. “Yes… it says horse.”

Then, one by one, he read the rest: “Oven. Door. Bed. Window. Tree. Sun.”

My heart pounded. I hadn’t taught him these words.

Then he paused, tapped the blank cards, and pointed to the marker.

“I was going to write more,” I said, still reeling. “Honey, how did you learn to read?”

He handed me the marker.

I wrote a new sentence on a card. When I showed it to him, he read aloud: “My. Three. Year. Old. Kid. Can. Read.”

I pointed to the question mark. “It’s a question. Mom is kind of shocked right now.”

He studied the card again and then echoed: “My three-year-old kid can read?”

“Yes!” I said, laughing.

He nodded, jumped off the chair, and ran into the living room – like it was just any other day.

My Kid Reading at Age 3?

When Konrad was three and reading, I had never heard of hyperlexia or kids teaching themselves how to read. This notion took a bit of time to process. And a kid reading before talking? Also a new concept to me.

Since Konrad was not able to tell me how he taught himself to read, I had to piece together his activities to consider what may have supported this cool ability.

Three months before Konrad showed me that he could read, I had given him a laptop toy for Christmas. The toy featured a keyboard with letters, and when you pressed a letter, you heard the sound that the letter makes.

The laptop toy that likely helped Konrad teach himself to read at age three

Konrad would sit with this toy for thirty minutes or more in one session, pressing the letters over and over while tilting his head and intensely listening to the sounds, but he never repeated any of the sounds.

He also spent time watching YouTube kid shows with animated nursery rhymes. He only liked the shows that included captions. If there were no captions, he got mad at the show.

During our walks, he liked to stop at street signs, and he would name the letters on the signs. Our walks had been a game of finding letters.

I read to him each night (still do).

My best guess is that the combination of these regular activities supported the development of his self-driven ability to read.

What is Hyperlexia, and How Can Reading at 3 Help a Kid Communicate in the Way that Works for Him?

With the internet, I came across the term hyperlexia – a condition in which a child begins reading earlier than expected. My introduction to hyperlexia coincided with Konrad being diagnosed with autism. While my three-year-old kid taught himself to read, hyperlexia can happen with kids younger than two.

Konrad focusing on a magazine at age three

Some sources indicated that kids with hyperlexia can decode words but cannot understand what they are reading.

Some sources called hyperlexia a “splinter skill,” a term that seemed to downplay the value and usefulness of reading at an early age.

Due to Konrad's autism diagnosis, people were more likely to dismiss his reading skills and assume that he was not comprehending what he was reading.

However, his ability to read was – and still is – a huge strength.

On the same day that Konrad showed me that he could read, he also showed that he understood the meaning of each word that I had written on the cards.

He taped the card with the word horse to the rocking horse. Oven to the oven. Chair to a chair. I had to tape the note card that said ceiling to the ceiling, but only after Konrad pointed to show me where to put it. He correctly attached every note card to its corresponding item.

So, I bought and used a lot of note cards to support our communications.

I wrote out various questions and phrases on note cards. We are leaving to Grandma’s house in five minutes, for example. Do you want noodles for dinner? Do you need a drink? After two more times down the slide, it’s time to walk home.

These cards helped with transitions, expectations, and resulted in receiving responses from him, like a head nod or him saying “yes” or “no.” (Verbal communications had not gotten these responses at age three).

Konrad could read.

Konrad understood the meaning of words.

Using written words helped us communicate in a way that worked for Konrad.

Unfortunately, I still sought to understand hyperlexia with trying to grasp its three levels and how it all related to Konrad's future. I ended up confused, frustrated, and distrustful of information.

So, I'll just focus on what was helpful.

Hyperlexia: A Cool Strength

 Here are a few strategies that worked well for Konrad.

Write it down. Give him opportunities to type words. At age three, Konrad was reading. At age four, he was typing words to communicate with people. Writing him notes and letting him type out responses worked well.

Use reading skills to support an understanding of conversation. Engaging in a verbal conversation was not Konrad's preferred communication style at a young age. To show the structure of a conversation, I wrote mock scripts for us to follow (Konrad's line, Mom's line, Konrad's line, Mom's line, etc.). At age five, his verbal skills were developing more, and then by age six, conversational skills developed and he could more easily converse with people without the support of written words.

Put on captions. To be able to comprehend dialogue in movies and videos, Konrad needed captions. We used captions with anything we watched. Konrad is now eleven, and we still keep captions on while watching videos.

Encourage reading in the way he wants to engage in text. Konrad has a couple of prized items in his room: a complete set of World Book Encyclopedias (from my childhood) and dictionaries. He relaxes by sitting in his office chair and reading these books. When he is interested in a subject, he comprehends and retains the information well. He excels with self-directed learning. He loves written words, including words and letters in other languages.

Use technology. Konrad learned well with educational apps. Khan Academy Kids and Starfall were two of his favorite apps at a young age. Navigating technology and learning with it came naturally to him. However, we had a few surprises, such as Konrad creating a YouTube channel at age four.

Konrad's hyperlexia has taken us on a cool journey. Well, a cool journey only when we didn't rely on a mass of unhelpful, negative information about hyperlexia and its connection to autism. Currently, Konrad is writing several user manuals for all of his inventions. A strength that emerged at age three is still developing in cool ways.

If you have experience with hyperlexia, tell us in the comments! And for more ways Konrad developed that didn't follow "typical" milestones, check out this post.

Jen with Cool Wiring