Are you non-verbal?

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I don't mind "non-communicative" as a descriptive term, as I've been such before, and I didn't want to communicate with anyone; I wanted the people to get away from me, but I couldn't tell them to, with body language or words.

Before then, I've been genuinely "non-communicative" (<4). I can barely remember such, but I didn't acknowledge the existence of others.

Re. to earlier on in thread [think had forgot to mention this],why is it people often judge a persons ability on everything based on how they write?
the internet gave am a voice closer on a level to anyone else verbally,but it does not help anything else.
saying speaking in text=being able to speak verbally,shows need experience in the speech problems auties especially have as part of autism,though it can affect aspies to-there are many different causes of non verbalism in Auties/Aspies,judging all text writers as being verbally able is as unthought as those who say all Autistics are ret*d and head bangers.


Danielismyname,
have ever tried signing/makaton signing?

People tend to forget that there's a stark difference in putting thoughts to ink/pixels, and thought to verbal words; most adult individuals with autistic disorder/classic autism can type. Most will have trouble talking to people without such an aid.

KingdomOfRats,

I spoke of such with my mother, and if she wasn't around to talk for me, we agreed that I probably would have to learn something to aid in communication; I simply cannot speak for myself adequately other than with written words. My psychiatrist recommended just writing everything out, and conversing via mail rather than in person and on the phone (he knows that I'm not exactly the best person in learning things I'm not interested in, so sign language was out). I don't know if I could learn such without someone setting all of it up for me, i.e., teaching me one on one.

I'm the opposite. I'm a very verbal person, and if I have something to say, it's going to be heard, whether people like it, or not.

No, I know how to speak, thank you for asking.

I'm a verbal person. I learned to speak early, but I didn't speak in sentences earlier than normal.

Delayed speech (when the person says his/her first word later than age 3) is called dyspraxia, and is the most significant difference between HFA and Asperger's. In 50% of all cases there's a slight speech delay in children with Asperger's as well.

Dyspraxia is generally used to refer to trouble with coordination or motor planning in general, it's not generally used to refer to a speech delay.

I've seen the speech issues of autistics occasionally referred to as "dyspraxia of speech."

I did not start talking until I was 3 years old, before then I would point at things I wanted, and if my parents did not get it, I would make sounds to show my frustration.

Today I don't talk when I am around people I do not know. If I am introduced I will say who I am just to be polite, but I do not like talking to strangers. Sometimes I can ge too verbal when I am with people I know, if we talk about something I am interested in, I will ramble on and on. I am pretty sure I have annoyed some people when I did this.

This is a very complex subject! I spoke early and can talk on-and-on in the little professor style. I've never looked into whether my traits overlap with hyperlexia. However, like others have noted, I have definitely had times where I found myself aphasic. I could not speak. These times included such different stresses as asthma (I could still make sounds but no word) and intense personal arguments (same thing, sounds but no words).

I feel sure that human knowledge has not truly described the complexities involved. Terms like non-verbal, non-communicative, aphasic etc are only the roughest stabs at characterizing this issue. I think it much more useful to take the time to actually describe the specifics of the traits. Some of us can never speak, some of us can never get to fluent speech, but I think almost all of us sometimes find that speech has disappeared temporarily. Also, I deeply believe that ALL of us can communicate at least a few things when we really want to (speech or no speech).

I learned "scripts"/"songs" of acceptable, successful, "conversational" style, but when I talk to people honestly, being "real" about what I'm thinking, depending on who I am talking to, my speech either gets slow and monotone, or very fast and, apparently, unintelligible because sentence structure disappears and I only pronounce half of words, as if I were writing shorthand notes. I also completely lose touch with when I should stop or start talking, whereas when I am just following the copied/mimicked social song I have a reasonably good idea of conversational rhythm.

I am definitely not non-verbal but I am aware of how difficult language use can be. I liked what you said, LabPet.

There is more and more academic support for the idea that language is very like an independent organism which has evolved and adapted to survive in "symbiosis" with human brains. Those bits which were difficult for average/"normal" brains to learn, manipulate/use, etc fell out of use/died off.

Language genuinely is not adapted to AS brains. It is like software for a different hardware, or something. So it is very clunky for us to use. Have to switch off lots of other functions in order to be able use it, etc.

Last edited by ouinon on 14 Apr 2008, 2:35 am, edited 4 times in total.

AKA speech apraxia.

I get nervous when talking to new people. I'll stutter and stay quiet.

Once I actually get talking though, it's difficult for me to stop. I ramble on and on about nothing.

I'm quite a bit more fluent in text though than in voice. Probably because I have more time to think about what I'm saying.

I have a definite preference to be non-verbal, and often will take to email to convey something exactly how I like it. My fingers have a better connection to my brain than my mouth does, for whatever reason.

I'm not non-verbal, but I know that there were many of my kindergarten thru 9th grade classmates who had never heard me speak. I began forcing myself to interact with people sometime after I turned 15. I met a senior my freshman year and decided she was a good person to aspire to be like. I literally felt crippled when a "strange" person spoke to me, or someone I thought shouldn't be talking to me (for whatever reason I had in my own head). Even if I'd try to speak, no sounds would come out of my moving mouth, or the sounds wouldn't make sense at all--stutters or bits of words and sentences.

I'm Aspie; I had no speech delay and my parents have said I spoke better and sooner than my siblings and cousins...but not quite conversationally. I'd speak about what I wanted to speak about, with or without others' input, and ignore the rest.

I like email because I can say everything I have to say (WITHOUT SMALL TALK OF PHONES!! !) and no one will interrupt or distract me from the points I need to make. I can get it just right.

I've experienced selective mutism for most of my life, but in recent years, I've learned to make myself talk in most situations that call for it.