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pekkla
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21 Jan 2012, 1:32 am

I'm worried about my son who is nearly 16. He has an AS diagnosis and takes meds for OCD. But lately he talks out loud to himself--or just blurts out random stuff while sitting at his computer,playing a computer game. Sometimes I listen to him from the next room. In a period of 30 minutes he talks in a Cockney accent, saying "I've got a tiny penis" over and over again, "I like to poop" in a high-pitched voice, then some wild giggling. Then he might be quiet for 20 minutes, and then out of nowhere, he will do a low, growling voice that sounds like he is trying to be a monster. If I walk into his room and ask him if everything is OK, he snaps out of it, and says "I'm just bored."

Then he might go for a whole week without any of this behavior, and it will start again.

He stays in his room most of the time, he is becoming more dependent on me, like he's regressing, and he is losing some cognitive ability at school. He is in an independent study program in high school because he became very anxious last year about school. In fact, he does almost no school work at all anymore--he expects me to do most of it for him. If I try to focus him on it he calls me nasty names, like "c$nt" and "whore."
Is this schizophrenia? I'm so worried, but don't want to over-react either.



emtyeye
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21 Jan 2012, 1:44 pm

I dont know, but I talk aloud to myself frequently, make strange sounds, repeat words aloud to myself and talk in funny accents to myself or my mate. But I don't hear voices that aren't there or have a version of reality that is way off from normal which as far as I know are the signs of schizophrenia.

Now that I know about AS, I have started to wonder if schizophrenia is a sub-type of autism.
But that is off track to your post...

Maybe your son is just coping in his own way with the AS diagnosis. Not overreacting and giving it time would be my thought for you.



CrazyCatLord
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21 Jan 2012, 3:04 pm

I don't think those are schizophrenia symptoms. Contrary to common belief, schizophrenia has nothing to do with multiple personalities and is instead characterized by confused thinking, disorganized speech, flat emotional affect, and occasional episodes of paranoia, delusions (such as conspiracy theories) and hallucinations.

Your son's loss of cognitive abilities and reclusiveness are the only symptoms that would fit the schizophrenia bill imho, but schizophrenia usually sets in between age 18 and 35. Childhood schizophrenia is extremely rare. I think problems in school and social withdrawal can be explained by the fact that puberty is a lot more confusing and difficult for aspies than for neurotypical teenagers.

About the voices, I talk to myself too when I'm alone. Sometimes I imitate different accents and dialects or the voices of movie actors, or I talk in rhymes for a while. It's just something I do to keep myself mentally entertained when I'm cooking, cleaning or doing the dishes. I don't say anything inappropriate, I just consciously voice my thoughts. The things that your son is saying remind me of the coprolalia that some Tourette patients exhibit. Perhaps a comorbid tic disorder?



Apple_in_my_Eye
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21 Jan 2012, 3:15 pm

It sounds more like Tourette's. I admittedly don't know much about SZ, but my impression of from the homeless people around where I used to live who seemed SZ is that they would talk to themselves continuously rather than explosively.



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21 Jan 2012, 3:21 pm

Apple_in_my_Eye wrote:
I admittedly don't know much about SZ, but my impression of from the homeless people around where I used to live who seemed SZ is that they would talk to themselves continuously rather than explosively.


They also talk in their own, normal voice. They might get angry and shout, but I don't think that doing voices and impressions is typical for schizophrenia.



CrazyCatLord
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21 Jan 2012, 3:28 pm

It just occured to me that this could be stimming. I never thought of it like that. A Google search for "verbal stimming" turns up a lot of autism related links:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22verbal%20stimming%22

There is also one thread on this topic here on Wrong Planet: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt185230.html



Bun
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21 Jan 2012, 3:34 pm

I want to suggest another thing, it seems to me like he loves accents, or that particular accent. I'm personally familiar with that.

"He stays in his room most of the time, he is becoming more dependent on me." - I don't understand how does wanting to be alone make him more dependent.


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OddDuckNash99
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22 Jan 2012, 5:52 am

Apple_in_my_Eye wrote:
It sounds more like Tourette's.

I agree that it sounds very tic/Tourette's-like. OCD and Tourette's often go hand in hand. And coprolalia is the technical term for the type of Tourette's tic where the person involuntarily blurts out obscenities. However, Tourette's almost always starts before the age of 7. So, it's definitely something to check out with your doctor.


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