The Meaning of Turn Autism Around

Dr. Mary Barbera discusses books on autism with Ann Sheybani.

This week we are following up on the classic rebroadcast on hyperlexia. Community Manager Kelsey General joins me for another installment in our Top 5 Question series. We’re talking all about hyperlexia. Hyperlexia is an extreme focus and obsession with letters, numbers, words, and reading. If your child is young and not yet talking but can read or say letters or numbers, they may be hyperlexic.

There are two types of hyperlexia. Hyperlexia can, at times, be a sign of giftedness if not accompanied by any other developmental delays. But even if your child can read, do math, or know their letters at a very young age, it does not mean there may not be an intellectual disability. If your child has hyperlexia accompanied by other delays such as delayed talking, delayed pointing, not sharing, not showing, no response to name or limited response to the name, not pretending to play when they should be, and not putting words together when they should be, these all together almost always point to autism.

If you enjoyed this video about hyperlexia in children, be sure to subscribe to the channel, like this video and visit my website below. If you have more questions, leave them down in the comments section, and I will do my best to answer you. Thanks for watching today's video on autism in toddlers and let's #turnautismaround together!

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🧩 About Mary Barbera 👩‍⚕️

I'm Dr. Mary Barbera and I fell into the autism world more than two decades ago when my first-born son, Lucas, was diagnosed with autism. Since then, I became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, Host of the Turn Autism Around podcast (with more than 1 million downloads), and best-selling author of two books (including my newest book Turn Autism Around: An Action Guide for Parents of Young Children with Early Signs of Autism).

In addition to free content, I post daily across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. I also offer two online courses for parents and professionals: The Toddler/Preschooler course to help young children ages 1-5 showing signs of autism (with or without a diagnosis) and the Verbal Behavior Bundle course to help kids over the age of 6!
Behavior Analyst BACB CEUs and Early Intervention contact hours are also included for professionals.

Whether you have a toddler showing signs of autism or you're a parent or professional helping an autistic child, I encourage you to subscribe to the Turn Autism Around YT channel and join me for videos almost every day that will help you increase talking, decrease tantrums, and improve eating, sleeping, and potty training!

#ABA

[lisaironside]

Super excited to read your book, Turning Autisim Around! I am currently running a licensed Child Care. My concern for couple of my children enrolled is concerning.

[WorldExplorer_]

Absolutely I cannot agree more…. Sugarcoating something does not make it any better….. Yes there are high functioning autsitic individuals who might do well in thier life but not everyone is going to be Elon Musk…. I think defining austim as some sort of different ability or a boon does a huge disservice to the severely autistic individuals who might be disabled for life…..This also gives a false perception to the public that “hey they are highly gifted individuals so dont need help” which is not the case. Autism is not a gift…. it is what it is….We need to provide them a lot of support and love. No sugarcoating please.