Scripted language - an interesting insight

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For those of you who have children who "script," I thought this essay offered a lot of information
http://www.brainchildmag.com/2013/06/to ... -a-phrase/

Thanks for that link it was very interesting.

I agree with scripting being a perfectly viable form of communication. When my son was little so much of his speech was delayed echolalia stored up in a database. He plugged in the closest thing that fit, and it worked so well I did not always realize he was doing it.

I am a big believer that any kind of (non-violent) communication is a good thing.

Haven't you ever suddenly quoted a movie when it was appropriate?

I agree. I have shared the author's feelings at times, especially when I see someone else react to one of his statements that I know to be a quote but they obviously think is his original thought. While he is using phrases from something he heard on TV or read in a book, it is still his own in the way he applies it to the current situation.

Reminds me of Mrs Who in A Wrinkle in Time.

Or my very favorite Star Trek episode (which I've mentioned here before,) Darmok

It is mine too as well.

I loved Darmok!

The only issue I ever had with the echolalia was every now and then he will plug in a quote he heard that applies to the situation but means the opposite of what he really wants b/c that is all he has in his database on a subject. It isn't a big deal, b/c I usually catch it and confirm that what he said is(n't) what he wants. He will look at me with shock, say, "no," and get flustered b/c he himself is not necessarily sure how the opposite thing got from brain to mouth.

He is not in echolalia mode as often as he used to be (it is fairly rare) unless he is doing a roleplay script and his database is pretty extensive so this particular happening is even rarer. It happened a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was cute because it reminded me of when he was younger and it was more common.

Right - the problem with scripted language is that it requires a much more extensive database than words do. Plus, DS sometimes just scripts for the fun of it, which isn't a problem except that he doesn't tell anyone (sometimes he will say "I'm just quoting" which helps) and we struggle to figure out what is going on.

Fascinatingly, we didn't even know about scripted language until DS was diagnosed - his database was so extensive that we didn't really know it was happening. Now we see those glitches that you describe for what they are, ASDMommyASDkid, but back in the day we were just flummoxed.

My son does the same, except he says he is, "just playing" and looks confused when I don't figure it out immediately on my own. Most of the time I do figure it out, luckily.

I had no idea that what he was doing was echolalia until I hit these boards. (It did not even come up during diagnosis) I just thought it was part of the whole idiosyncratic language thing and that a lot of the stuff that wasn't, I thought was original speech. Every now and then he would use a very out of place $ 5 sentence, and I would remember where it came from, but did not understand what he was doing.

Once I learned about echolalia, it was like an epiphany, and I really understood what was going on.

We all use movie quotes and references at my house to explain things when we can't think of the right words, but it's usually in the context of "It's like..." and finish with the reference. The youngest, though, he uses extensive quoting. Just plugs things in to fit or mostly fit the situation, and doesn't tell anyone that he's doing it. A lot of times he comes out with some really big phrase or sentence that doesn't quite fit or doesn't fit his normal style of speaking and I end up racking my brain trying to figure out where he's quoting it from. It's never made me feel sad like I am missing out on his own feelings. I didn't really grok the extremely sad tone of the article.

I think the NT parent in the article was trying to express that she didn't understand until later that it was still communication. I can see where, if there is a lot of scripted language that doesn't fit, and you've been told your child has a "communication disorder," you might jump to a very sad (and likely wrong) conclusion.