Theoretical classic autism question [TW for fictional abuse]

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Kesia
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Joined: 12 Jul 2008
Age: 43
Gender: Female
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29 Jan 2014, 11:45 pm

Looking for a bit of help regarding a story I'm writing with a friend, which just happens to be a MINEFIELD of potential Unfortunate Implications...

So, one of my main characters is a mostly nonverbal autistic teenage girl, whose mother... well, decides she'd be better off undead than autistic. The mom thinks being a vampire will fix her brain, which it doesn't. It does, however, make Kenzie a lot more coordinated.

(Okay, technically clumsiness in autism tends to be neurological, but the point is being turned didn't magically make her NT.)

Kenzie couldn't speak easily in life because the fine muscle movements required were just too difficult, but as a vampire that's not the case. My question: while alive, any idea what her verbal ability would have been like? I'm guessing she would have spoken mostly in memorized (and short) phrases, because then she doesn't have to think about vocabulary and grammar but just on forcing the words out, but I could be totally wrong.

...basically, the reason we want her to speak fairly fluently only after she becomes a vampire is to tell her mother off for always wanting her to be something else. :D

Also, when Kenzie does speak, how realistic is it to say she only has a minor speech impediment? I want her to be easily understood, and I can imagine she went through some LONG years of speech therapy herself. (One thing I don't have to research due to having gone through the same... -shudder-)

Thanks in advance!


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