‘I do find because of Carter’s autism diagnosis straight away people assume things’

The mother of a young boy from Kilmessan who could count to 100 by the age of two and taught himself to read by the age of two-and-a-half is raising awareness of hyperlexia and hypernumeracy and says a lot of people have never heard of the conditions.

Carter Masson, who recently turned seven, is a first class pupil in Kilmessan NS. He has an IQ of 147 and in some areas of maths, his ability is greater than that of an average 16-year-old.

His mum, Amanda Coburn, recalled being amazed that he could count to ten when he was just a 18-months-old and knew all the letters of the alphabet by themselves. By the age of two and could do simple addition. By four he could do long division.

Carter has an autism diagnosis and while he doesn't have any sensory or behavioural issues, his mum Amanda explained that he does learn differently to other children.

She said the first thing they noticed was Carter's reading and said it was a shock when they realised he had taught himself to read at such a young age.

He did make eye contact apart from when he wasn't paying attention as he was counting, which Amanda said was a lot of the time.

“At home there wasn't anything new and exciting to look at so he was much better but if you went out anywhere to the shops, he was looking at the signs reading the signs, and counting so I would have to tell him to say hello to someone if they spoke to him.”

While Carter didn't have a speech delay, he did have a communication delay.

“He could read and count, but he'd never ask me for a drink or food until I wrote it down. So I wrote down little scripts like do you want juice, and as soon it was written down that was it, he knew it and he would ask.

“It is kind of like if it is written down, it's real, if you're just saying it, it's not. Where other kids would learn from you talking to them and them talking back, his way was writing it down.”

Amanda explained that they worked with a speech therapist who was able to use his hyperlexia and hypernumeracy skills to help him overcome his communication issues and now he has no problem asking for things.

There were none of the typical flags for autism and Amanda recalled that he was able to make eye contact and didn't have and sensory or behavioural issues so she didn't think he had autism. After some research she then discovered hyperlexia.

She explained that it is not an official diagnosis and a lot of the time is dismissed as a splinter skill of autism but they very lucky to work with a speech therapist, occupational therapist and psychologist who were on board with it.

Amanda explained that it is not an official diagnosis and is more or a learning style that explains those children learn differently than most others.

“I know a lot of kids with autism love the alphabet and numbers but it was where they were learning things off by heart, they didn't understand what it meant.”

However, with hyperlexia, they actually understand what they are reading or the maths they doing. Their reading is self taught- they figure out the phonics themselves and Carter understood that the words meant.

For Carter and a lot of children with hyperlexia, boredom can be a problem at school. They are learning things that they know from a young age.

However, Amanda said Carter's school has been very supportive and he has loved all his teachers. He can move forward at his own pace with the app they use at school and while he does the same work as everyone else, Amanda says it is important he learns the right methods to work things out even if he can do it in his head. Then his mum sets him his homework so he isn't do the same thing again at home.

Amanda feels a lot of people make assumptions when they hear a child has autism and that there can be a lot of negativity around autism. She wants to highlight how while autism can be very challenging for some children, in other cases like Carter it can be something positive.

“I do find because of his autism diagnosis straight away a lot of people assume things and there is still a lot of negative stuff about autism. I know a lot of kids with autism struggle but I think straight away people assume oh they have autism, they can do this, they can't do that and I still find it now, it happens a lot.”

Amanda said a lot of parents homeschool because their child is bored at school and find it difficult to sit down and stay still because they are not being challenged.

She feels that while there are a lot of resources for children who are struggling to keep up at school and this is very important, there is very little for children who need to be challenged more and it something the Department of Education should look at.