Non-Verbal Autistics

[Mumble]

A question that has been bugging me and I can't find the answer to, but I'm sure someone here must know.

 

What is it (mechanically/psychologically/etc.) that makes a non-verbal autistic non-verbal? What is it that stops them speaking? For instance, I've worked with some non-verbal autistics who can fully structure sentences and express what they want using PECS. What is it that stops them verbalising this?

 

I know with myself that when highly anxious or under extreme stress I may speak less or sometimes not at all, but I can speak and the non-speaking has an anxiety basis. With selective mutism, the individual still can speak in certain contexts. However, with non-verbal autistics, they appears not to be able to speak at all (but can still make sounds, sing, etc.) so what actually stops the development and use of speech?

 

[trekster]

ive read somewhere it could be due to acetecholine (sp?) receptors not working properly. Also their brains work too slowly to process and form sounds.

[justine1]

I am not too sure,but I would also think it is because of the lack of interaction,together with something in the brain making it harder for them to learn words and make sentences.

 

I knew a boy who was non-verbal,he would hymm and rock alot,staring at the floor/ground or the ceiling/sky.I think if you look at a classroom generally the seats are facing the teacher you therefore watch the teacher talking and this is part of how we learn not just talking put any info on the subject.So therefore if soemone is not watching a teacher or a parent communicate its hard to see how the words are formed,they may hear it but think they may not pronounce it right.The same boy used to say words under his breath(whisper) over and over for a few minutes go back to hymming and then back to the word he would do this for months then say the word aloud.Almost as if he was doubting himself,which goes back to stress/anxiety.

 

Another example is my youngest is learning to talk,since he was a year he started looking at me when I talk and puts his fingers on my cheeks or lips when I say a word he then moves his mouth the same way,after I say it two/three times he can then say it himself.

 

This is just my observations,I do believe there is a medical reason(in the brain) but not sure what it is.

[Lynden]

I have no idea and often wondered this. L started talking in November age 6 and a half and I always assumed that he would learn to talk like my daughter did, a few words at a time, but it's been amazing - he's obviously been taking it all in for all these years. He'd never been hugely vocal but could make noises. Then one day, in November, he sat and counted his chocolate raisins into a plate, 1-10. We were gobsmacked. You can't hold a full conversation obviously but he has a big vocabulary and initiates speech as well as just copying, and he can form small sentences "where my daddy gone?" etc. I have no clue what brought the change! He is the same as you though, if he's stressed he wont talk, and he wont talk in front of strangers and if he does, he whispers.

 

Lynne x

[call me jaded]

It's neurodevelopmental. Some connectors in the brain are not fully formed. Sometimes it shows on MRI scans, but on my own son's it does not. This does not mean that he doesn't have some kind of difference in his brain, but that the science is not developed enough to know what it is. I have no doubts at all that it's connected to his dyspraxia.

[Kathryn]

I don't know, Mumble, but I'm hugely interested in this too. Not quite the same thing you are describing, but just to share my own experience:

 

My daughter stopped speaking for two separate periods of 6 - 12 weeks. Whether or not anxiety was the trigger, she was often fairly relaxed during this time, and was able to express herself via spelling out words by pointing to letters with her finger. I used to scrawl the alphabet on a piece of paper whenever we went out, so she could use it. She did not seem like someone who was able to speak and just "trying it on" - the extreme effort to do when it was clearly in her best interests to communicate verbally, caused her great distress. Not quite the same thing that you are describing, but still language without speech. The second time around she seemed more comfortable with expressing herself via a keyboard and it's almost as if "giving up" speech enabled her to cope with some of the other challenges in her life.

 

K x

Edited April 23, 2010 by Kathryn

[Mumble]

My daughter stopped speaking for two separate periods of 6 - 12 weeks. Whether or not anxiety was the trigger, she was often fairly relaxed during this time, and was able to express herself via spelling out words by pointing to letters with her finger. I used to scrawl the alphabet on a piece of paper whenever we went out, so she could use it.

That's really interesting, particularly the idea of giving up speech to cope with other things. With me anxiety is the trigger and not having to cope with verbal communication gives me more resources to cope with other things, so it does make sense. Did she appear frustrated when not able to communicate verbally? I remember vividly the frustration I encountered when I had to learn to speak again after an accident left me in ITU, but that feeling is very different to the not speaking through choice (however unchosen that choice is - hmm, try and figure that out... ) which comes with anxiety.

 

I wonder if there is any link between the underlying causes of complete lack of speech in non-verbal autistics and periods of non-speaking in verbal autistics? It would be interesting to know if these are two enactments of the same underlying cause or two different things altogether. With Lynden's son, for instance, does the not talking when stressed/with strangers have the same cause as the previous total non-talking? Does the previous total non-verbal state have the same cause as a non-verbal adult autistic who has never spoken?

 

[Kathryn]

Did she appear frustrated when not able to communicate verbally?

 

Sometimes yes, very much so. Simple conversations about concrete topics and needs were OK, e.g. but when she wanted to express a complex thought or challenge somebody it became difficult. If she wanted to argue with me she would pound the keyboard violently and try to get her thoughts down on paper as quickly as they were forming in her brain.

 

Here's an old thread of mine from the second non- verbal period: you might find some of the observations interesting.

 

I'm still a bit baffled about it all though. I kept a detailed diary during that period - maybe one day someone will be able to analyse what exactly was going on.

 

K x