At 16, a seizure gave her a strange superpower: 16 years later, she still has the bizarre ability science finds difficult to explain

Medical episodes can sometimes affect the brain in unexpected ways, particularly when language and memory are involved. Michal Sklar experienced an unusually lasting change when she was 16. After an unexplained seizure sent her to hospital, she discovered that she could process words backwards. Sixteen years later, the ability is still there and has even become part of a private language she shares with her family.

It started just before her 17th birthday

Sklar was a student in New York in October 2010 and was only a day away from turning 17. She had introduced a speaker at her school's morning assembly and then returned to her seat. Her next memory was waking up in hospital.

Speaking to UNILAD, Sklar recalled the confusion she felt after learning that her classmates had witnessed the episode.


“I remember waking up feeling bewildered and confused, with the biggest headache of my life. Finding out that it had happened in front of the entire student body was also a lot to take in. Everyone had witnessed something that I had no memory of, which made the experience even more overwhelming and surreal.”

Doctors later determined that she had suffered an idiopathic seizure, meaning its cause was unknown. According to FND Hope, such seizures are considered to be of unknown origin.

Sklar told Newsweek that she spent almost a week in hospital and underwent an EEG, MRI and other evaluations.

She suddenly began processing words backwards

Several days into her hospital stay, Sklar noticed that something about language had changed. She could understand doctors and nurses, but the words were being processed backwards in her mind.

“I knew they were backwards. I’m incredibly grateful that I had that awareness because, without it, I think the experience would have freaked me out even more.

She later named the unusual ability “sdrawkcab”, which is “backwards” written backwards. She told Newsweek that even songs can sometimes play backwards in her head. “I often get songs stuck in my head with the lyrics playing backwards,” she said.

The ability never went away

Sklar is now 32 and still experiences the reversal naturally a few times a day, although she prefers processing words normally. She can also write and type sentences backwards.

The skill has become part of family life too. Sklar told Newsweek that she and her husband use backwards words as their own couple language. “Spoons” became “snoops”, “stop” became “pots”, while “doog thgin” means good night.

Her seven-year-old son has called the ability “the coolest thing”.

Science has clues, but no answer for her case

Research shows seizures can disrupt parts of the brain involved in language. The Epilepsy Foundation says seizures affecting the left temporal lobe can cause problems with word retrieval, naming and producing words. MedlinePlus Genetics also notes that seizure activity can be linked to language difficulties in some epilepsy-related conditions.

However, neither explains why Sklar began processing words backwards or why the ability has lasted so long.

She now shares videos of the skill on TikTok, where people often ask her to reverse words rapidly.

What began as a frightening change after an unexplained seizure has since become what Sklar calls “the most useless superpower” and an unusual language shared by her family.