As a speech and language pathologist, it might seem that speech therapy is important for only spoken language (saying the words, making the sounds, putting words together) however, written language is an essential component of language development as well. I’m often asked how children with Autism can read so well, but understand so poorly. Often, children with Autism exhibit reading skills called “Hyperlexia” – fluent decoding and reading but trouble understanding what they’ve just read. It’s not hard to see why this can create a host of challenges for successful participation in school-particularly language arts.