Département de Psychiatrie et d'Addictologie, Université de Montréal, H3T 1J4 Québec, Canada; Montreal Autism Research Group, CIUSSS du Nord-de-l'île-de-Montréal, 7070 boulevard Perras, Montreal, QC H1E 1A4, Canada.
Montreal Autism Research Group, CIUSSS du Nord-de-l'île-de-Montréal, 7070 boulevard Perras, Montreal, QC H1E 1A4, Canada; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 80 Workman Way, Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada.
Brain Cogn. 2023 Dec;173:106099. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2023.106099. Epub 2023 Oct 13.
Hyperlexia, a strong orientation towards written materials, along with a discrepancy between the precocious acquisition of decoding skills and weaker comprehension abilities, characterizes up to 20% of autistic children. Sometimes perceived as an obstacle to oral language acquisition, hyperlexia may alternatively be the first step in a non-social pathway of language acquisition in autism.
We describe two monozygotic twin brothers, both autistic and hyperlexic, from the ages of 4 to 8 years old. Following an in-depth diagnostic assessment, we investigated cross-sectionally and longitudinally their verbal and non-verbal cognitive abilities, language, reading and writing skills, interests, and strengths.
The twins' features, including their high non-verbal level of intelligence, their special interests, and their skills in various domains, were highly similar. Their language consisted exclusively of letters and numbers until their fourth year. After that, their vocabulary broadened until they developed full sentences, and their perception-related interests expanded and merged over time to serve the development of other skills.
Our results show that hyperlexic skills can be harnessed to favor oral language development. Given the strong concordance between the twins' cognitive and behavioral phenotypes, we discuss the environmental and genetic influence that could explain their abilities.
约 20%的自闭症儿童表现出强烈的书面材料取向和阅读解码能力超前但理解能力较弱的特征，即hyperlexia（超阅读能力）。这种超阅读能力有时被视为口语语言习得的障碍，但也可能是自闭症儿童语言习得的非社交途径的第一步。
我们描述了一对来自同卵双胞胎的自闭症和超阅读能力的兄弟，年龄在 4 到 8 岁之间。在进行深入的诊断评估后，我们从横向和纵向两个方面研究了他们的言语和非言语认知能力、语言、阅读和写作技能、兴趣和优势。
双胞胎的特征，包括他们较高的非言语智力水平、特殊兴趣和各个领域的技能，都非常相似。他们的语言在四岁之前完全由字母和数字组成。之后，他们的词汇量扩大，直到他们能够使用完整的句子，他们与感知相关的兴趣也随着时间的推移而扩大和融合，以促进其他技能的发展。
我们的研究结果表明，超阅读能力可以被用来促进口语语言的发展。鉴于双胞胎在认知和行为表型上的高度一致性，我们讨论了可能解释他们能力的环境和遗传影响。
