Saturday, 07 November 2009

• What’s In a Word or a Phrase?

  I think most of us who are autistic, live/work with someone with autism or just have a passion for autism would agree that language barriers are key issues for all those on the spectrum. We know that everyone with autism is unique and the spectrum is wide! However, we would probably all agree that to varying degrees of need or severity, even those who are high functioning have difficulties with language. For some, their difficulty with processing language is very severe and pervasive. Thankfully many, especially those who are non verbal and/or those who think in pictures, are able to communicate using pictures. What’s the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  And we do tend to use too many words sometimes!

  I often think it must be like learning a second language and always having to translate. I remember the wonderful feeling when I no longer had to do the translating but was able to think and respond immediately in French. It was hard work and I think I would have become terribly frustrated, perhaps given up, if I had to translate everything twice, in my head, to be able to communicate. Imagine having to do that every day forever! Do we wonder why it might take someone with autism so long to reply verbally? Are they translating what we say to a visual memory, formulating their answer to reply, and then trying to translate that to a verbal reply? As we wait for the reply, how many of us will repeat what we said, but of course not exactly the same words or in the same order? Now the person we are trying to communicate with is going to be searching for a different visual memory! How many of us have observed the tremendous frustration that results? Is it any wonder? 
  

  Even for those who have some communication skills there is another problem. As you all know I’m sure, those with autism often if not always take everything very literally. Perhaps they associate the word with a visual memory that covers one meaning of the word. We know how many meanings one word can have in English. Then there are all the idioms we use, the colloquialisms and slang expressions! I am sure you all have memories of the confusion, frustrations and sometimes smiles that resulted when the latter examples were an issue. Of course some common examples would be:

  ·         raining cats and dogs (a 23 year old woman, puzzled all her life by this one, finally asked me what it meant)

  ·         you hit the nail on the head

  ·         a little birdie told me

  ·         he got away with murder

  These are some of the hundreds of idioms we use all the time. Like these;

  ·         The teacher trying to get her students’ attention said, “Okay boys and girls, all eyes up here on the board.” One boy, who was autistic, became very upset and said,” Teacher, my mom would not let me put my eyes on the board”

  ·         A friend sent a get well note to a child with autism who had been sick and said, “I hope you are feeling better and have your feet on the ground soon.” The child stated that they always had their feet on the ground.

  Do you have a personal experience you could tell us about?

   

   

   

   

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