Hyperlexia is to me, a lovely form of neurdivergence. It's a powerful type of pattern recognition related to the written word that makes reading a breeze. Even if I come across an unfamiliar word, as long as it's written down, I can figure out its meaning via context.
I apparently started reading when I was about 18 months old. Having seen so many business chains in my young life, I started reading the signs. By the time I was old enough for consistent autobiographical memories, I was already a devoted bookworm. To this day, by bookshelves overflow.
Being hyperlexic also meant I was literate by the time I started kindergarten, and I was always years above my current grade's reading level. I'm also retroactively disappointed in many of my teachers. I doubt most of them noticed my skills, let alone tried to cultivate my talent. My guess is they were trained to teach to a room and notice weaknesses, but not to encourage strengths.
Thankfully my parents more than picked up the slack, helping me grow as a book lover.
As an adult, I'm still hyperlexic, and likely still read at a more advanced level than most of my classmates. My abilities aren't as dramatic as they were at 18 months or kindergarten, but the signs are there if you know where to look.
I continue to have a rich vocabulary. I'm also easily confused when someone asks me what a particular word means. For me, understanding written English words is a deep seated instinct. Between the sentence said word is in, and the overall meaning of the passage, how can other people not parse out the mystery word?
That said, I'm not sure how hyperlexia fits in with my second language, Japanese. My vocabulary does not build as quickly or easily as in English. However, I haven't actively studied the language in years, I can still read at roughly a middle school level. Not so long ago, I was reading a cooking manga in the original Japanese. Despite everyone speaking in regional accents rather than textbook language, I had no trouble following the narration or dialogue.
Comments