I'm nonverbal but I sing

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I'm primarily nonverbal but I sing parts of songs at random, like while riding in a car. They say I have a good singing voice.

Singing is something which is able to hide many verbal "imperfections" like stuttering and accents. There are groups where people speak virtually NO English--but can sound like they're speaking perfect English when they sing.

I suck at singing, by the way LOL.

It seems like it's just easier for some people to sing than to speak.

There's a theory that the first human language was rendered in song, rather than in regular verbal speech.

I'm not nonverbal but I do find that I experience less anxiety singing than I do speaking. When I was in choir when I was younger, I would sing solos at all of the concerts but I couldn't carry on a conversation to save my life.

Maybe I can offer some information that may help (or not). My son is now 5 years old, he said a few words at around 16 months and then stopped. I've only heard a few words since then. None of these words have ever been directed at me or other people, rather they seem to be his own internal speech (thoughts) spoken out loud. For example:

@ 16 Months: waiting at the front door to leave our house - "Go. I go".
@ 3 Years: at daycare he fell backwards onto a toy and hurt himself, the daycare staff said he clearly cried - "Mommy, mommy".
@ 4 years: at the table in front of a birthday cake - "cake".
@ 4-5 years: and a rare occasion when he's upset about something he'll say - "nah, nah, nah", he clearly means "no".

These few times I've heard his voice demonstrates that he has not discovered or developed an understanding that he is a separate person from other people, that we all have individual minds and this is why we communicate to each other. From what I can tell (and have learned thru RDI), he sees me (people) on an instrumental level or as an object - he knows I'm daddy vs. a stranger, but only on a visual level.

A child cannot just start at speech, but rather communication must develop first, and the initial stage is a baby slowly developing this awareness of self from others typical between 6-9 months. As it develops, they first become aware of their parents emotions and are drawn to looking at them for their emotions and often "borrow" them (parents smile, baby smile etc). In RDI this called Emotional-Sharing-Communication and its targeted in therapy first, before speech. It must develop before speech, otherwise a child misses this developmental step and may learn to speak (attain words) but not the ability to communicate so they don't talk to people or their speech is limited to asking for things rather than taking an interest in another person mind/emotions.

After learning this and becoming really aware of it, I'm often consciously thinking about just how much my and other NT minds (I don't have ASD) take in and respond to while people are in conversation with each other. Speech or language is a very small part or end result of all the other things our NT minds subconsciously do.

Another way of trying to explain this - I would not hold a coffee cup in my hand and talk to it/look for emotions from it - why? Because my mind knows there is no other mind to talk to or give emotions in the coffee cup. Although this may sound silly (or even unintentionally offensive to some) this separate mindful awareness is exactly what's in effect with my son, but just in an relationally opposite way as he only sees me like I see the coffee cup, as an object. Our emotional sharing communication isn't there because this separate mindful awareness is absent in my son's mind. This is why my son is unaware/shows no response when I pretend to cry in front of him or after giving him tickles/scratches (which he loves) does not give them to me when I ask him.

When a child's mind doesn't discover the above or their therapy neglects to actively develop this, they go on thru life without all the interactive everyday situations with other people that shapes their mind to have the ability to commutate with other people. This leaves them with altered or atypical neurological development which in turn impedes their ability to communicate. Over a lifetime this can be devastating.

Ezra S, you can sing, but singing is not communicating with other people, and this may be why you can't talk to other people. Or maybe this is not it at all, and yet another ASD therapy is wrong, but this is the best explanation I've come across to explain what I'm experiencing with my son at home and it might help you. Maybe you could try to go thru all the online RDI material on their website, it takes a while (2 years for me!), but it really helped explain ASD at its core. Self-awareness is never a bad thing.

On a personal note, Ezra S, as I became aware of my son and his ASD I read thru many of your post and they gave me a deeper understanding of how ASD impacts a person (your profile seems to match my sons). From what I've read about you and your thoughts and how you can communicate thru this forum, you've given me a lot of positive hope for my son and that one day we too can communicate with each other. Talk/text/gestures doesn't really matter to me, anyway we can do it is good with me. And even if this never happens, my son will always be good with me.

-BB400GUY

I met a LOT of nonverbal autistics who sings. And almost never talk or speak.
Some verbal though who sings a lot(and talks a lot), yet as I observed, they're ones are likely to have flatter tones as they sing. I wonder if that's just me...?


I rarely ever sing.
I used to when I was way young, but not as often. Yet I do admit that singing is easier than speaking. Never once I sing to speak.

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I have seen posts and videos from a lot of nonverbal autistics that sing really well. You should go on America's Got Talent- you'd be better than "Trump" . I wish I could see the auditions, but I would definitely need at the very least noise cancelling headphones because those buzzers are loud even for NT's!

haha its weird eh? singing isnt actually language

i know i usually cant understand the lyrics in songs. haha i dont like singing because people laugh when i say jibberish instead of the words/

^ sorry to hear that.
I just want to wish you well.

That's interesting because I absolutely cannot sing. As in, I am physically incapable of doing it with my vocal problems. It's hard enough for me to speak - sometimes speech doesn't even work these days - and I literally cannot make the noise required to sing. It's a shame, really.