This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Oberschneider, M. S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Oberschneider, M. S. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

A Case of a Four-Year-Old Boy with Hyperlexia: Some Considerations for Diagnosis and Treatment from a Psychodynamic Perspective

Pennsylvania Hospital, USA, msomlk1{at}msn.com

This article examines a case of a four-year-old boy presenting with hyperlexia who was seen in twice-a-week psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy over a nine-month period. Hyperlexia can be defined as a speech-language disorder with significant problems in language learning and social skills, often accompanied by a fascination with letters, patterns, numbers and logos, and precocious reading and writing. Treatment focused primarily on the boy’s psychological conflicts and relationships, rather than on implementing the typical language and education strategies for hyperlexia. Results of this treatment support the hypothesis that hyperlexia can be usefully conceptualized as a symptom arising from biological predisposition and severe emotional stress or trauma. General issues pertaining to the conceptualization, diagnosis and treatment of hyperlexia are also addressed.

Key Words: emotional conflict • hyperlexia • language disorder • precocious reading and spelling • psychodynamic

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 8, No. 2, 205-214 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1359104503008002005


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?