Varisha Hutheram Speech and Language Therapy

05/02/2026

When a child feels seen, their behavior shifts — not out of fear, but out of trust. 💛

They begin to regulate, connect, and try again… not because they’re scared of consequences, but because they feel safe enough to grow.

That’s the power of being truly present.

02/02/2026

31/01/2026

They differ in terms of: ⬇️

- Reading instruction
- Comprehension levels
- Intensity of interests
- Dependency on written language
- Language development
- Social development
- Diagnostic criteria
- Presence of repetitive behaviors
- Age of onset
- Learning style

✨ It's important to remember that not all early readers are hyperlexic. ✨

Instead, hyperlexia is "viewed as a type of a precocious reading" and "is defined by a very specific pattern of compulsive interest and exceptional skills, and we would like to ‘preserve the concept of hyperlexia’ for this unique profile.” (Ostrolenk et al., 2017)

In order to do that, though, we need people to stop saying that hyperlexia just means early reading. Hyperlexia is SO much more than that.

Comment "MORE INFO" to read more about the key differences between hyperlexia and other early readers.

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[Image description: A Venn diagram comparing hyperlexia and other early readers and how they overlap and differ. The Venn diagram is on top of a faint letter background.]

14/01/2026

14/01/2026

Really, really like this chart!

https://connectingspeech.com/blog/f/the-new-improved-speech-acquisition-chart-and-how-to-read-it

09/01/2026

This week we are thinking about early communication!

Credit: The SLT Scrapbook

07/01/2026

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧'𝗦 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬❓
⦿ Communication
⦿ Listening Skills
⦿ Social Emotional
⦿ Observation Skills
⦿ Hand-Eye Coordination
⦿ Problem Solving
⦿ Mathematics
⦿ Memory
⦿ Gross Motor Skills
⦿ Fine Motor Skills
⦿ Sorting Skills
⦿ Pattern Recognition

06/01/2026

Some children read before they can explain what they’ve read.
They decode effortlessly, memorise whole books, and recognise words long before school — yet comprehension, communication, and social understanding lag behind.

This is hyperlexia.

It’s not “just gifted reading”, and it’s not something to train out of a child. It’s a unique neurodevelopmental profile where pattern-spotting comes before meaning, and words feel safer and more predictable than people.

Understanding hyperlexia helps adults stop overestimating comprehension, stop mislabelling behaviours as obsessional, and start offering the right kind of support — support that honours strengths while gently scaffolding understanding.

Save this if you work with, teach, or love a child whose reading ability doesn’t tell the whole story.

Free download available, check visual for instructions to request. Be sure to LIKE the post also.

06/01/2026

05/01/2026