Language and ASD Diagnosis
Published February 13, 2009 @ 02:38PM PT
Another post by me on language---because I've been writing about this novel and its author's use of "pidgin or Hawaii Creole English? because Charlie's been echoing a lot of phrases we've been saying lately, and very clearly (and with a pleased smile on his face)? The mother of a 17-month-old child recently posted this question on a BabyCenter forum:
Can an ASD tot have a huge vocabulary?
My answer is, oh yes, and that even though my own son did not at the time he was diagnosed. (Indeed, for Charlie, it was his lack of language and of any means to communicate that alerted us to his having developmental delays.) As Dora and I wrote on the What is autism? page for this site, one feature of autism is:
Non-standard ways of learning and approaching problem solving. For example, learning "difficult" tasks (e.g. calculus) before "simple" tasks (e.g. addition), difficulty with "executive functions," or being simultaneously gifted at tasks requiring fluid intelligence and intellectually disabled at tasks requiring verbal skills.
An individual might be able to speak with a large vocabulary, but may not yet know all the meanings or functional uses of words. Many of my friends have children on the spectrum who are hyperlexic and can read beyond their age level, but don't seem (yet) able to comprehend all about what they're reading. (And also note Dora's post yesterday on mono-sensing and understanding speech.)
While a young child not developing language---not speaking---is one sign that leads a parent (like Jim and me) to have their child evaluated for autism, it might be said that too many words might be a sign of "something," too. Not that the parent of a child who talks a lot should necessarily be thinking about autism, when it comes to diagnosing autism in a child, there's a lot more to it than language.
Photo from Unikeep.com.
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Comments (9)
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Author
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Kristina is a Classics professor in Jersey City, New Jersey, a blogger (formerly at AutismVox), a translator (of Virgil), and an advocate every day for her son, Charlie.
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Chris is hyperlexic- he loves spelling words. When he's thirsty he starts writing "WATER" on everything. If you want to ask him a simple question it's easiest to type it out and write two possible answers so he can select one. He also had a language delay, and has difficulty with practical language like answering "How are you?" or "What's up?". On his testing for his IEP in some areas he scored very advanced, in others he scored as very delayed.
I think, when I was jumping up and down saying "Mom- I think he's Autistic" her stumbling block was that he did understand concrete facts so well. He knew his colors, numbers, and letters by his second birthday eventhough the majority of the words he said was "I do I do" whenever he wanted something. He learned to talk in phrases- he'd walk up to people and say "Hello, my name is Christopher, what is your name? Do you like my hair cut?". For a while he would walk up to people and say "I smell your feet!"... That went over well!
It was really unbalanced development more than anything.
Posted by Erin Monk on 02/13/2009 @ 03:23PM PT
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It is my understanding that it is not uncommon for Asperger's Autistics to begin speaking early and to also possess a large vocabulary per given age level. I understand that this is not true in every case. And who knows with all of the changes and diagnostic definitions that have yet to be refined. In my case though, my mother says I was speaking fluently by about eighteen months of age.
With my son, who is autistic, it was his language delay that tipped me off to thinking something was definitely up and in need of attention. He is four years old now and hyperlexic, though he often does not use language in expected ways for his age level.
Posted by Elesia Ashkenazy on 02/13/2009 @ 04:31PM PT
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My son also has hyperlexia and boy is it a blessing. It has really helped in getting him to use language. Once we started using PECS cards with words his vocabulary exploded. We still struggle with using his words and have a great deal of scripting. He is four and in a special needs preschool he gets to read to the class @ story time and reads me his bedtime stories. It is really extraordinary. I know he doesn't understand some of the words he reads (like Aspirin @ the pharmacy, lol) but he seems to comprehend a large majority of them.
Posted by Sonya O'Brien on 02/13/2009 @ 04:55PM PT
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It was my understanding to have a Asperger's diagnosis the child must have no language delay and even exemptional language skills as opposed to the rest of the spectrum that typically has fairly severe language delays.
Posted by Sonya O'Brien on 02/13/2009 @ 04:58PM PT
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Supposedly the reason Lois-Ann has not come out with any new works lately is that she is working on a magnum opus written *entirely in Pidgin*! "Eh, you da kine?"
Posted by Mark Romoser on 02/13/2009 @ 05:02PM PT
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All of our children use language in extraordinary ways. Our oldest was "on target" for language development but didn't truly start using functional language until about kindergarten, at the earliest. I probably had my first "real" conversation with him in which I asked a question and he immediately *answered the question* when he was about five or six. Our middle son? Hyper-everything: verbal, lexic, active...all of it, and just a very odd little duck with the linguistic skills. And our youngest? No words at all at age 17 months. Now...pretty verbal, high vocab for his age, can be functional with us but not as well with peers and only recently became functional, but still engages in a lot of echolalic stuff--he's 2.5 years old now. He's been in intensive speech therapy for over a year, and it's helped his verbal communication enormously.
Posted by Emily Willingham on 02/13/2009 @ 07:06PM PT
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I began speaking ridiculously early (and reading and writing, but not ridiculously), but later on I saw it listed as a symptom of dyscalculia, so I wondered if it was related to that. Was always ahead with language related stuff, despite difficulties processing and using language, but it evened out a lot by the time of university. Still better than most there when it came to essays and such.
Posted by Norah vd Stel on 02/13/2009 @ 11:58PM PT
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I think often the distinctions between "speech," "language," and "communication" are lost. Language is not a synonym for speech, nor does language have to be "verbal." ASL is an example of a language that is not speech based and not verbal. Communication likewise is more complex than just "having language" or "having speech." Communication is a send-receive feedback loop. If I'm speaking in a language but with no comprehension or intention of someone else receiving the blah blah, then it's not communication.
Posted by Dora Raymaker on 02/14/2009 @ 12:19PM PT
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Yes, there can be "a lot more to it" than language. But language is very important and lack of language development is a huge warning sign as you acknowledge it was for your son. As it was for mine.
Parents who notice lack of language development in their young children should take it seriously.
Posted by Harold L Doherty on 02/16/2009 @ 02:01AM PT
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