Suddenly speaking in complete sentences

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Hi everyone, I wanted to ask about something.

I have noticed that my son (ASD, just turned four) never really went through the "baby talk" phase, what I mean is, he never went through the stage where he'd put different words together regardless of grammar.

Up till now he has been what can probably be called non-verbal aside from tons of labelling and some echolalia. Recently he has started to to make more and more of his own sentences and I noticed that they are all grammatically correct for the most part. He is till far from being able to communicate fluently and I still hear tons of jargon but he is improving day by day.

I have heard on this board and others about kids who will be nonverbal and then "suddenly start speaking in complete sentences." Is this what I am experiencing with my son?

I think so. DS didn't quite do this, but he started speaking exceptionally early and he moved to sentences much quicker than other kids, but his Dad (my husband) spoke not a word until he was three, and family lore has his first speech as a perfectly-spoken "I'd like a glass of water with ice, please."

The family blamed the lack of speech on his two brothers, but in retrospect we realize he was probably HFA.

Congratulations! Yay!

My DS did this to some degree too. He was never what I would have described as non-verbal but was just a little on the late side to start talking. WHen he did start, he was much further along the typical language development timeline. Looking back, I think there are 2 explanations (at least). First, the neuropsych we see told us that kids on the spectrum often develop in "fits and starts". He doesn't have a reason for why this happens but it is something he said he has observed as common in his 15+ years of practice. Spectrum kids will often seem to be behind their peers in development then seemingly overnight they have a"growth spurt" and may seem to be on par or ahead of their peers. Secondly, with my DS anyway, I think it is tied to his overall perfectionist streak. He doesn't want to try something new unless or until he thinks he can do it right. I think he may have been holding back on talking until he got it "right". Of course, this is all hindsight for me. We had no idea about his autism until he was 4 so at the time he started talking perfectionism never crossed my mind.

I've been told that I did this.

My daughter went from no words at all to hyper verbal (and in complete eloquent sentences) in about 6 months time. This was around the age of 3.

My son (4 in another month) seems to be going through the same sort of spurt. He makes sense for short spurts and then reverts back to his usual self.

I am going to say this not knowing if it applies, but if the sentences are grammatically perfect it may be a form of delayed echolalia. I say this only because in hindsight I think that is what my son did. He had such a vast array of sentences stored in his brain that we did not even know what he was doing. That and the fact that he was by and large plugging them into the appropriate context. I figured that out much later, especially when his speech started becoming less grammatical. I realized that those were his own attempts at originating his own sentences. I still can't be sure he isn't doing it, sometimes.

It is not a bad thing at all because my understanding, having read about this after the fact, is that spectrum kids will often use echolalia in that way, and it is developmental progress toward original speech. Also it is still communication if they are telling you what they need and answering your questions. It is kind of like the difference between a multiple choice and a fill in the blank test. If the answers are "right" it is still all good, and a step toward "fill in the blank" and eventually essay answers.

While my son always had words, he was speech delayed. In a sence he did this too. He would use sentences from TV shows and appropriately use them in conversation. His speech teacher thought this was great at the time, casue he was using them in conversation at appropriate times. Back then my son had no diagnosis other then speech delay. But looking back, that was an early sign of his ASD.

I'm glad he's doing this. My son tries to put two words together but he still has problems with pronunciation of words with more than 3 phonics. Italian has many "long" words...

I was going to say something, myself - I think (without being sure) that this is the difference between echolalia and "scripting." While sometimes scripting can just be repeating TV or suchlike, DS is a skilled script-er (comes naturally, both parents were such skilled script-ers that we got degrees in acting) that he can have an entire conversation with you without understanding a word. Instead of just parroting, he plugs in bits of language in appropriate circumstances, kind of like the ELIZA DOCTOR program on a bad day - we get in endless conversations with teachers, who don't believe he didn't understand them.

However, it IS real communication, (which I think is the distinguishing factor between scripting and echolalia) and a real jump forwards for most kids on the spectrum, even if it's clumsy sometimes. The sheer volume of scripts DS can hold in his head is astounding. The issue is whether or not he's actually trying to communicate (you can trip him up if he's scripting without actually paying attention, just like DOCTOR.)

I just made DS watch the Star Trek TNG episode, "Darmok," which I think offers an idea of how this type of communication works and why it breaks down sometimes. At the very least, it helped DS think about the steps it takes to address a miscommunication. Gene Roddenberry - what can I say.

<quote>Instead of just parroting, he plugs in bits of language in appropriate circumstances, kind of like the ELIZA DOCTOR program on a bad day - we get in endless conversations with teachers, who don't believe he didn't understand them. </quote>

This


We have that issue at school. My son will be asked about something he did, and he'll respond that it was "inappropriate." They think he understands that what he did was wrong, and why. To him "unacceptable" just means unwanted by the powers that be, for unknown reasons. He can parrot back what they want but it isn't necessarily the same as understanding it, especially with pragmatic speech issues.

Now, again, OP, these are all steps forward. And even with echolalia, you'll be able to see as time goes on what your child is doing and be able to help!

This thought did cross my mind.

I also noticed that his receptive language seems to be coming along...just a few months ago he could not follow simple commands (I am assuming because he did not understand) but he is coming along in this area too.

Sorry to side track this thread but I LOVE this episode! One of my favs from TNG! Now that I have a son with ASD, I watch all the Star Trek episodes with a whole different mindset.

My 3 yo has echolalia, his own jargon and his own words. His own words are about that of a 2 yo. He does not seem to make any giant leaps, but he is improving.

i did this as well, and from what i heared, i skipped several other 'baby steps' as well.
for example, i never rode a bike with sidewheels, i just instantly managed to learn to ride a "big boy bike".
also, i never really learned how to crawl; i went from just sitting/laying where i was put down to walking all around the place, albeit clumsily, even before my peers started crawling...