Misdiagnosis?

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Sorry - I was a little unclear there. I didn't mean he all at once became able to speak, but rather that he'd been able to for quite a while but just didn't speak until he had something to say !

Was she serious, or just joking around? My parents used to refer to my non-crying vocalizations when I was a baby as "talking." Now they refer to this certain noise my dog makes as "talking!" You definitely did *not* have the physical capability to speak at 3 weeks. Aside from the underdeveloped motor skills, your larynx wouldn't even have dropped low enough in your throat to make it possible.

I'm currently reading Tony Attwood's new The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome. My understanding is Attwood is considered a big expert on Asperger's. Interestingly, he talks about exactly this issue in I think chapter 1 or 2 of this book if you want to track it down at a library or something.

He basically brings up a whole bunch of problems with those diagnostic criteria (and says something to the effect that it wouldn't even be possible to diagnose someone with those criteria). I may not be remembering this exactly right, but I think the gist of it is that it makes no difference when you started talking as to having Asperger's, but rather it's how you are NOW that's important, and that there seems to be no difference between people who started out with language delays and then progressed versus people labeled as AS now, and regardless how you deal with it is the same anyway.
He also says something to the effect that the criteria say there can't be a delay...but then the criteria go on to describe a delay.

I'd really track that book down and read the first part if this is bothering you, because what he said makes sense to me.

I wonder-does a language delay mean you can't have spoken at ALL? My mom has always said I didn't really speak until after age 3 (although it sounds like I spoke SOME), but that she knew I understood what was being said. She said I wouldn't talk to the doctor at all, but that he just thought I'd be okay or something. Then she said I started speaking at 3+ in perfect, fully formed complex sentences. She thinks it's because I'm a perfectionist, and was embarrassed by not being able to speak perfectly at first. That may well be. I have no idea if that means I had a language delay or not-probably not, I guess.

I'm totally rambling now, but I kind of remember before I thought in language. I know I just used concepts and images, and that I noticed how much slower I went when I started also thinking in language.

Research has shown that when learning to speak, kids fall into one of two categories: the impulsive talkers, and the more cautious talkers. The impulsive talkers tend to speak earlier, attempting words that their phonological system can't really handle yet, so they make more errors. The more cautious talkers will speak a bit later, or will say less, but they'll have fewer errors in their speech. It could be that AS kids take the cautious talker model to an extreme, waiting years to speak until they've developed an adult phonological system and have worked out the grammar of their native language.

I think a co-morbid like CAPD could cause a language delay. And also there is selective mutism which I apparently had, as did my daughter. I think the "special interests" really define AS more so than the language. It is my understand that the upcoming edition of the DSM will include a change in the language at appropriate age requirement for AS as it doesn't hold true in all cases.