Today’s episode provides a critical re-examination of hyperlexia, arguing it should be understood not as a deficit but as a manifestation of Gestalt Language Processing (GLP). Traditionally defined as “precocious decoding with poor comprehension,” the author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, asserts that this comprehension lag is simply a deferred timeline characteristic of the gestalt system, where language is stored whole before meaning is mapped later. Dr. Hoerricks warns that the prevailing analytic models of literacy and systemic testing pressures misinterpret this delay as failure or fraudulence, leading to burnout and structural harm for hyperlexic individuals. She ultimately calls for a shift toward a different literacy ethic that affirms hyperlexia as a valid developmental pathway and emphasises the importance of mentorship and patience to help unlock the archived meaning when the time is right.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/when-the-words-dont-land-hyperlexia

Let me know what you think.

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