Have you ever encountered someone who can read but is unable to answer “Wh” questions coherently? Helping those with such issues is the underlying basis for the use of a reading comprehension app called CSIM – Comprehension Scaffolding Interrogative Method. Through the scaffolding schemata of sentences in captivating stories, this app can improve the comprehension ability of the user to answer “Wh” questions in the app games. Along the way, the user gets to enjoy the interesting stories and learn comprehension skills! All this is made fun and convenient by the appealing technology and illustrations of the stories in the app as well.

CSIM App – https://apps.apple.com/sg/app/csim-game/id165987868

CSIM App 2 – https://apps.apple.com/sg/app/csim-game-2/id6468239803

Let’s go down some rabbit holes to discover more on this topic with the question-and-answer writeup below:

1. Why would someone who can read fail to answer “Wh” questions coherently?
   

    

   Someone who has difficulties answering “Wh” questions coherently can be studied under the concept of a poor comprehender. There can be a variety of factors contributing to suchdifficul ties. In the context of reading, one of these factors can be the inability to decode text. If this is the case, the condition is one of a dyslexia-related comprehension issue. However, when decoding text is not the issue causing the comprehension difficulty, then dyslexia in symptoms of having difficulties decoding text for reading comprehension would be ruled out.\

    

   According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA 2006), there is a developmental disorder in which children exhibit precocious printed language decoding abilities with deficits in reading comprehension. This disorder is known as hyperlexia and it is categorized as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Notwithstanding this, ASHA also has a differential diagnosis for hyperlexia as it has been reported among children with developmental disorders other than ASD (ASHA, 2006).

    

   While the term disorder implies that the language ability of hyperlexics is below the norm, children with hyperlexia have a spontaneous and precocious mastery of print. Their talent and obsession for decoding from an early age have been pointed out as the attributing factors for the development of their word recognition skills well ahead of their peers. Paradoxically, they have an under-developed cognitive system for comprehending what they read; hence the difficulties with “Wh” questions.

 

2. Do such comprehension issues indicate a talent or a disorder?

    

   Though the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA, 2006) has classified hyperlexia as a developmental disorder in which children exhibit precocious printed language decoding abilities with deficits in reading comprehension, the children’s talent in word recognition is suggestive of an advanced development in a specific brain function that generates the advantage in learning. This unusual ability is sometimes referred to as a splinter skill or savant idiosyncrasy (Treffert, 2010) by its historical reputation.

    

   In the paper “Hyperlexia: Disability or superability?”, Grigorenko, Klin et al. (2003) presented a review of literature and concluded with a rejection of the first definition for hyperlexia. They attributed it to the fact that most of the literature reviewed approached hyperlexia via unexpected single word reading in the context of otherwise suppressed intellectual functioning. In other words, there is greater support for the approach by the superability nature of the condition. The other approach of defining it as a disability through a discrepancy between levels of single word reading and comprehension is not as well-embraced by researchers.

    

 

3. Who can be affected by such comprehension issues?

    

   Comprehension issues in hyperlexia generally allude to developmental hyperlexia in young children, but it is also used to describe those with a similar reading difficulty profile who do not fall under the same age category or etiology. Such is the case of non-developmental hyperlexia, which refers to an acquired rendition of hyperlexia. An example can be found in the case of a 69-year-old woman who had suffered cerebral infarction and in other cases of people suffering from brain dysfunction or lesion (Suzuki, Itoh et al. 2009).

 

4. What is the prevalence of such comprehension issues?

    

   When defined through the discrepancy between single-word reading and comprehension in the general population, the concept of hyperlexia becomes indistinguishable from the concept of reading comprehension disorder. In the United Kingdom (UK), Nation and Norbury (2005) have estimated that 10% of school-aged children would be found to have specific comprehension impairments. They elaborated that children with hyperlexia generally show autistic traits and impairments in reading as well as oral comprehension, together with poor vocabulary, yet their decoding skills are in the normal range. As there has yet to be any study on the prevalence rate of hyperlexia in Singapore, the local statistics is an unknown figure.

 

5. Is there adequate awareness of the existence of such comprehension issues?

    

   Perhaps it is due to this enigmatic nature of the condition that research literature addressing hyperlexia directly as a language disorder is but a small fraction of those addressing dyslexia. From the year 19999 to 2009, published studies on dyslexia constituted a staggering number of 2470, while that of hyperlexia is a mere 22 (Joshi et al, 2010).

   In Singapore, an unpublished study (Chia, 1995) was conducted a study to find out the level of awareness of hyperlexia on the local front. It showed that there is a general lack of awareness of hyperlexia locally. About a third (32%) of those surveyed have never heard of the term hyperlexia. 47% of them thought that hyperlexia is an autistic symptom, while 21% thought that it is a dyslexia-related symptom.

    

   Demographically, those surveyed in the above study are primarily professionals (59%) working in special-needs related fields such as speech and language therapists, psychologists, educational therapists, reading specialists and teachers, while the rest are parents. A few years after this study, a published letter in a local newspaper from a concerned parent Phua (1999) highlighted the plight of children with hyperlexia and their families, urging for the need to raise awareness and support for them. This concern reflected the persistence of an issue of unmet needs in the local community with children suffering from hyperlexia.

    

6. How can people with such comprehension issues be supported?

    

   Grigorenko, Klin et al. (2003) have mentioned in their paper “Hyperlexia: Disability or superability?” that multifaceted and multi-methodological approaches defined within the research framework of understanding single word reading for the study of hyperlexia are warranted and encouraged. However, there is no official body representing the hyperlexia community locally. On the other hand, those with dyslexia-related comprehension issues can find support at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS).

    

   It might be said that the unmet needs of the hyperlexia community might have been perceived as less noteworthy because of the talent in word recognition. The precocious reading ability can mask a child’s comprehension deficit when it is assumed that the intelligence that afforded the advanced word recognition ability would likewise support his/her comprehension. Locally, all children are screened for deficits in literacy skills when they transition from preschool to primary school (Ministry of Education, 2008). However, this universal screening generally targets word recognition skills. Children with hyperlexia would breeze past this screening while their dyslexic counterparts struggling to decipher print are picked up for early intervention. Consequently, their comprehension deficits might go unnoticed until the later years when the children transit from the reading stage of decoding print to one of reading for comprehension (See Chall, 1983).

    

   The concern regarding this transition is that the academic performance of children with hyperlexia would likely nosedive and likewise, their self-esteem. The sudden reversal from being successful with reading might also trigger secondary internalising symptoms such as feeling depressed or externalising behaviours. Exacerbating factors might include parents and teachers attributing the comprehension difficulties to the child’s temperaments.

    

   Support in the form of the identification of hyperlexia can also be challenging as classifying hyperlexia as a disorder in autism can be stigmatising – families might not want to refer their children to bodies related to autism. Besides, a report by Treffert (2011) has pointed out that hyperlexia can masquerade as an autistic disorder due to the autistic-like” traits and behaviours, and this might also apply to children who speak late or are blind. Hence, the report warned that a diagnosis of autism can be erroneously and prematurely applied to children when there is a failure to make that critical distinction. The concern is that this diagnosis may lead to unnecessary worry and distress for parents or other caregivers.

    

   Therefore, it is only through raising awareness in early intervention that these children can be identified early for their comprehension impairment and given remediation with what works for them. This remediation can help in providing them with a head start for a smoother transition of decoding words to the stage of reading for comprehension (See Chall, 1983). That way, the socio-emotional issues that develop secondarily from the root or primary problem of comprehension impairment can also be reduced.

    

 

7. How does the CSIM app work to overcome such comprehension issues?

    

   According to Healy (1982a), hyperlexics may have the ability to comprehend text literally word for word, but their comprehension breaks down when abstract or organisational strategies are required for comprehension. For their deficiency in the formation of organisational schemata, Healy (1982b) has recommended remediation by scaffolding supports.

    

   Scaffolding for reading comprehension is thus developed based on this recommendation with the use of a reading comprehension app called CSIM – Comprehension Scaffolding Interrogative Method. The CSIM works on the premise that the underlying organisation of text in relation to these interrogatives is unrecognisable to those with hyperlexia. By externalising the schemata with the scaffolding matrix, the CSIM aligns to Healy (1982b) recommendation to provide scaffolding for the deficiency in the formation and organisation of schemata.

    

   The above-mentioned scaffolding method has been shown to be effective in various research papers (e.g. Chia, 2002 ; Chia & Kee, 2013; Ng, 2014, Ng & Chia, 2014). Besides, the content developer of this app has published a comprehension book (Ng & Chia, 2013) for the scaffolding interrogatives used in the mentioned research papers (e.g., Ng, 2014, Ng & Chia, 2014). The comprehension passages in the app are thereby adapted from the book as a research-based content for the technologically upgraded practice. Adding to the appeal is that the stories in the reading passages come in a variety of genres and are well illustrated.

    

   By the proven methodology of scaffolding the schemata of sentences and user-friendly illustrated game practices, the CSIM app can enhance the ability of the user to answer “wh” questions. The advantage of using the CSIM app goes beyond the effectiveness of the methodology in that the technology of the app makes repeated practice much more convenient and appealing than the original pen and paper practices for users.

    

   With the dawn of the post-pandemic era of COVID-19 and children growing up as digital natives, this app will enable children to learn in ways that are radically different from how the generations before did. Therefore, the CSIM app can be a convenient reading and learning companion not just for the hyperlexic or poor comprehenders, but for the general population as well when it comes to understanding “wh” questions through reading comprehension.

    

8. What is the prognosis for people with such comprehension issues?

    

   Various researchers (e.g., Huttenlocher & Huttenlocher, 1973; Mehegan , Fritz, & Dreifuss, 1972; Burd, Fisher, Knowlton, & Kerbeshian , 1987; Treffert , 2011) concur that the prognosis for hyperlexia is better than one without the phenomenal reading ability as reading is a tool for acquiring knowledge. For the children with atypical development, researchers (Huttenlocher & Huttenlocher, 1973; Mehegan, Fritz, & Dreifuss, 1972) have reported a better lifelong outcome for them as compared to those without hyperlexia. A few studies (Burd, Fisher, Knowlton, & Kerbeshian, 1987; Burd, Kerbeshian, & Fisher, 1985) even reported markedly increased IQs for their samples of children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) and hyperlexia. According to Treffert (2011), the neurotypical group with their advanced reading at a very early age inevitably draws attention. Eventually their classmates catch up in reading skills, but these children, usually very bright, go on to have very typical, successful lives. He also noted that the autistic-like abnormalities in hyperlexia can be remediated through occupational and behavioural therapy.

Written by:
Patricia Mui Hoon Ng
Part-time Lecturer
RETA Fellow

Article published on 31 Oct 2023