Tuesday, 12 May 2009
-
Talking
"Birds are entangled by their feet and men by their tongues." -Thomas Fuller
Most Asperger children began talking later than their peers. The amazing thing is that when they finally start talking they often use enormous words. My Aspie was getting close to three before he began talking and then he started talking in complete sentences. We knew he had been listening to the adults around him because he used some pretty big words. His pronunciation was clear. Autism greatly effects, not speech, but communication. I see the greatest difference between full blown Autism and Aspergers as communication. When my son was going through child guidance clinics, therapists, counselors and doctors, they would say, He has some autistic qualities but he can't be Autistic because he talks. Now we know that Autism can talk and at that point it becomes Aspergers. While the Aspie can talk, he still can't always communicate. When he can't communicate his needs, it will often come through as defiance or a meltdown. Sometimes there are needs that his brain can't put into words, or maybe even into concrete thoughts. Some times they can't communicate their needs and feelings and even their wants, and other times they can. I haven't discovered yet what makes the difference.
There is also the echolalia, the uncontrollable and immediate repetition of words, spoken by another person, echoing back what was said. This is normal and desirable in an infant that is learning to talk. I've not seen any of that in my girls but I have seen it in more severe Aspergers. You might shake an Aspie's hand and say, "Hi, My name is Jane." And they would shake your hand and say in the same tone of voice, "Hi my name is Jane." And that probably isn't their name.
My two Aspie girls have taken speech throughout their schooling. I used to wonder "why" when their pronunciation was so clear. But a speech therapist explained to me that the girls needed it not so much for pronunciation but to be able to communicate their thoughts better.
RecommendRelated Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to autisable's Autisable Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in autisable's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: mom1945@xanga
- Name: mom1945
- Location: Anderson, Indiana, United States
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 9 Views: 0 3567 Comments: 0 120 View all posts by mom1945@xanga
Comments (8)
i was always pretty ignorant about autism.. i remember when i was a kid and people didnt have a word for it.. just "mentally retarded" or later on.. mentally disabled. i saw a video on you tube of a woman with autism that could speak by typing on computer and the story she relayed was amazing- so much intelligence, focused differently with some other tendencies ( the feelings and sensory occupation with touch etc).. i know very little about this. its interesting.
I'm 47 years old and have been seeing a psychologist for two years for better social interaction. I still have no real friends, hate socializing, but can 'chat up a storm' until I suddenly give out. I've had communications classes in college, it helped me a LOT to see spoken words as related to math 'functions', as in f(x), or 'f of x'. The function of this variable contains such and such, and is irreversible. Communication back and forth adds to each function (human), which is full of variables. I had to backward engineer the reason for talking, because to me, so much social talking is a total waste, it's meaningless. But you can see from my blog, I very much enjoy words and gabbing for their own sake, I enjoy my own head, and I don't worry what's in someone else's head. I like that people are starting to observe the kids now and notice communication problems. I went through many difficulties as a child, and was about as antisocial as it gets in high school, but once I hit college things started making sense, and over time I connected a whole bunch of dots and things got a little easier. I still feel overwhelmed with too much conversation and go into little meltdowns (I close off), but at least now I can put a finger on why it all happens.
@anth0nyc@xanga - Autism is like a hidden uber intelligence that gets stuck like a groove in a record and can't come out sometimes. And you're right, sensory overload is horrendous. I talk a lot about that in my 'aspie' articles on my blog. =)
...we're still waiting for that "aha" moment where short stack will talk in complete sentences and have a dialogue with us.
I've not seen echolalia in my son either, but he loved (and still loves) repeating lines from movies, tv, books, comics... and he can recite those perfectly. It's the everyday-type communication that he struggles with.
My son does the movie quoting thing all the time too, I used to say, "Gooball talks up a storm without actually saying anything." (Once he finally did start talking.)
@aspiemom - One of my close friends has Aspergers. We met in a class I think around 8th grade. He had an amazing vocabulary but would sometimes repeat what I said which at first I thought was his way of making fun of me and so it was annoying. When the room got noisy or chaotic he would sometimes leave for no apparent reason which seemed rather rude. He also seemed to have a hard time with subtle jokes and didn't seem to "get" sarcasm at all. The first week of class my perception was that he was a smarty pants jerk who thought he was better than the rest of us. My brother sat me down and explained what he knew about aspergers. He covered his face and used a monotone to speak to me as a way of making me see things more from an aspies point of view. I know it wasn't much but it was a great help. I had a lot of influence with my peer group at the time and four of us pulled him into our "click" making an effort to understand and accept him the way he is. We included him in everything our group did and he has changed so much through the years. We have been better people for having him in our lives. He is a great friend full of fun, willing to try anything at least once, and always up for a challenge. Watching him overcome so much to now be at the point that very few people even notice anything different about him at all has been amazing. He graduated this month a bit behind the rest of us in doing so but not behind us at all academically he is still very much a part of our group helping most of us with our college papers and now he is on his way to college. He is amazing at debate and politics and it would not surprise me one bit to see him as president someday.
You are such a blessing! How I wish my girls had a friend like you. Friends make all the difference in the world. Aspergers are really neat people when you take the time to get to know them and make the effort to try to understand them. Everything you described about him is so typical Aseprgers. If only more people were like you and could draw those who are often friendless into their circle. Your comment made my day!!!! :)