Talking and Learning to Talk

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I spoke my first words when I was just almost four years old. According to my mom, my first words were: "Mine can talk now, Mommy." Just like that. "Mine can talk now."

But I was sucking my fingers when I said it, so she didn't understand me the first time and made me repeat myself -- which I allegedly did with a huge and frustrated sigh.

This is a story my mom tells; I don't have memories from that age, but I guess I'd decided to learn in secret.

I've been verbal ever since, but it took a really long time for my conversational abilities to progress much beyond trying to find the quickest way possible to exit the conversation without getting yelled at. Most of my conversations still go roughly this way, but I've refined my technique to trying to exit the conversation as quickly as possible without being unnecessarily rude. Sometimes, not being rude is impossible and I'm left with the choice of just getting out of there, or letting myself be talked into a meltdown.

Talking is exhausting, and it's almost impossible for me to really understand what someone's saying to me in any setting other than one-on-one in a quiet place. Also, I forget what I was saying when I get interrupted. Almost every time. I really just don't enjoy chitchat.

But that's ok, because I love solitude, so I stay home alone a lot (with my dog Toby); it's better. Toby and I have 500 sq ft all to ourselves here in my apartment. This is much better than the bedroom I used to stay locked up in all day.

That's my story. What's yours?

i talked at ten months. i learned to small talk after age 50. i still say the occasional awkward thing.

I started talking at 3.5 years of age. I can't remember what my first words were, but they were in full sentences with perfect grammar. Had some trouble with enunciation because I was partially deaf, at first, though - before I got ear tubes put in. If someone asked me to repeat something, I'd repeat the entire sentence, rather than just the part they asked me to repeat. I've always been a big talker.


Right now I'd consider myself an introverted extrovert - I can chat up a crowd quite well, but I prefer being alone, and I take a long time to recover after being stuck around other people. Almost... Social butterfly levels? People like me. A lot. They're generally impressed when they meet me, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or what culture they grew up in.

I said one or two words (mum!), but nothing else until I hit about 4, then I spoke in complete sentences (grammatically poor, of course).

I apparently could talk, I just didn't. It needed a stressful situation to get it going though.

I then just lectured on my interest until my middle twenties until a breakdown, which made me talk a lot about "how I feel" to numerous doctors and whatnot.

And there I am. And now I'm an emo fag.

I think I should have stayed at the not talking stage, personally. It would have been easier for everyone.

I just didn't talk much when I was a child and my mother complained that I wouldn't talk to her and didn't have the gift of gab like her.
my parents couldn't understand me when I was little. That's what my mother told me.
But I could understand them. I remember them hovering above me trying to figure out what I was saying or what was wrong.
I remember not responding to my name and my mother would tell people I was shy.
mostly I was in my own little world, staying in my room being uncommunicative.
I had selective mutism in school. I never talked to the other kids in grammar school and high school.
I remember learning to do small talk when I was in my 20's so I could go on a date and know what to talk about.
I'm still very quiet and uncommunicative and don't socialize except with my family.
I go out by myself, I go downtown and walk around and look at things, but I don't talk to people.
Mostly I'm still in my own little world.

I was using single words at age two and then using sentences when I was five but I was so hard to understand. My mom said I started talking at age four. Then at age six I was talking talking talking and could talk for hours but my dad said my mom exaggerates for how long I talked. I also spoke with a stutter and would lose my breath while talking due to not pausing. I also had a speech delay so it took me years to catch up. I did leave off endings of words and beginnings due to not being able to hear the sounds. I also skipped words in sentences.

My mum says I talked fluently and was reading by 3 years of age. I remember through most of my life I have either dominated conversations or withdrawn completely as small talk was not something I learned until around 50 years of age. I was a pedantic and long-winded storyteller and still manage to make my turn in conversation overly long. I have learned to listen and no longer reject someone else's opinion out of hand but have realised not everyone has to agree with me. I also now recognise that people might want space to develop their contribution although with my AS son we manage to have fast and heated conversations!! It has been a long process, more than a few heated arguments and an occasional blood nose....not much fun really! I have come across as a know-it-all and lost jobs and aquaintances because of my lack of skill in conversation!! !

started using single words at ten years old, and echolalic sentances at fifteen.
at thirty am still stuck between being completely non verbal and echolalic in speech,am unable to verbaly speak freely.
have been given EEGs whilst non verbal and told it shows the part of the brain that controls speech is abnormal.
although had used the internet since sixteen had not been able to speak in text more freely,until in twenties,it helps because making posts is scripted in its own right and takes advantage of the echolalic language already stored in head.

My aspie older sister started talking at about 6 months and progressed quickly to sentences.

My mom must have REALLY worried about me, since I was the next kid born and didn't talk for over 3 years.

I spoke at a regular age i think, but had mumbled/incoherent/stutter speech. I went to a lot of elocution lessons.