Language Aquisition and Autism - (Aspergers)

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ive already made some posts about how i learn/process languages and such but ill add a little bit here:

i had no language delays... in fact, i ws an avid reader and actually started teaching myself foreign langues (starting with spanish) at around the age of 10, when i just started reading dictionaries. i can even tell you which dictionary i read a word from... if it was one of the words that i taught to myself in this fashion. that's not to say i'm a fluent speaker... here are my skills ranked: reading>listening>writing>speaking... with a huge gap in between the listening/writing... i just suck at generating words/sentences on my own... for kinda data encryptioning reasons, i think.

first word i read was "pizza" right under a huge pic of a whole pizza off the back of a pizza truck... don't remember what age my mom said i was... nothing out of the ordinary though.

i did use to write in a code so that noone else would spy on my writings. i started doing that in gradeschool and can still fluently read the code w/o having to translate back and forth. it's not too complex of a code, just letter substitution... it was a code i found somewhere that i liked the looks of (especially for my terrible handwriting.... it's still actually neater than when i write in english)

some of the languages i know some of, like romanian, i have no prior written experience with... i have invented my own spelling for... like the languages i know are all romance languages and thus, they have similar spelling and such... so equivalent words are easy to recognize across the different languages (lol and i stare at DNA sequences ALL DAY, so i'm use to picking up small differences in sequences of letters)... i usually start learning a language like i did when i was young, just reading and writing... but i started learning romanian verbally cause i have romanian friends... when i did start trying to read russian/romanian... i found that the spelling was WAY diff, as they have a weird alphabet or something... so i didn't continue that line of research... instead... i have kinda come up with my own creative spelling for romanian words, that i know are spelled incorrectly, but they're the pictures of the words that pop into my head. i'm actually not looking forward to having to relearn what i know of romanian when i actually do have time to sit and look at the written form. i think i was able to do this cause i have good written spelling (yet i was always first person out of spelling-bees... and once PCs became popular, my spelling is a little worse while typing but only cause i dont double check) and was able to use the general spelling rules for romance languages to kinda fill in these visual holes for the funky romanian language.

i've always done pretty average (if not a little below) on standardized tests EXCEPT for written portions.... which i do exceedingly well on. like i took my GREs once (this is like SATs but for gradschool) and got a 5.5 out of 6 pts on the writing portion... yet i got almost the bare minimum acceptible overall score on the other sections (verbal/math)... that's not to say i did poorly in those subjects in school... i just suck at tests

i think most of my language "issues" have come to my attention now that i'm ibn gradschool and work in a lab where i have to communicate with people everyday (plus i TA bio courses... teaching has especially brought my quirks to my attention)... prior to gradschool (ie-gradeschool,highschool, and undergrad)... i was a loner and basically just had to take notes and regurgitate the info for tests... easy. even my notes were weird in highschool/college... i didn't really write too much down, except if i liked a word or a name or something like that, i'd jot it down. but for the most part i doodled. except in math... that i HAD to take notes--boo... but if i look at my doodles (probably even today) and still tell you what my teacher was talking about during that lecture.

umm.... i gotta run now can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

For example, when I was 5, I seemed kind of upset to my teacher and she asked me what was wrong. To this, I replied, "Il est sehr langweilig." The first, il est, means he (this)is, sehr langweilig, very boring. Whatever we were doing was definitely not keeping my interest and I was probably frustrated because I wasn't allowed to do something else. In the broken language of a year old, who didn't really know how to convey such a thing as emotion to her teacher, it made sense to me. Notice I placed the blame of boredom on something else, not myself. I often did this as a child.

Of course, my teacher didn't understand a word I said and would often ask again and again with no result.

Ach, the young years... interesting times. I still use my language when writing blogs and such. My English is often peppered with words from other languages (I just supressed the urge to write Sprache, the German word for languages lol).

Is this what you were looking for? If not, please tell me and I'll try to convey it another way...

Sedaka,

I wish I had that kind of flexibility when I was young. I didn't have much ability to get materials, etc... I guess I should be happy, because berlitz was a big seller, but the accents sound HORRIBLE! I was always preoccupied, but I always wanted to learn german. It is ironic people thought SPANISH would be easier! I didn't want to learn Spanish! German came relatively EASY! I HAVE held conversations with several native german speakers, and used it to springboard my understanding of Danish where I have had moderate success in Danish and Norwegian in talking with natives!

I'm curious, maybe people here that KNOW they're NT can answer. Do you find it far easier to learn something you WANT to learn? I have been trying to tell the stupid "educational industry" that for DECADES, and they don't listen. Not many seem to believe it. Could it be that is only true of AS people and Autistics?

BTW Germans consider spanish DIFFICULT!

Steve

i guess i should have added that i am self-DX

but i found out about AS ect because i work in a neuroscience lab (though my research is not neuroscience) and i found an article laying about... which started my self-journey. there's also people who study autism here that i consider as work friends, who didn't seem too too surprised when i mentioned my suspicions to them (still not sure how to take that, lol).... i havent discussed this with very many people at work though...

but i have had meetings with a local AS specialist who said i'm probably somewhere in the autism-ballpark... she encouraged me to do further testing blah blah to get an actual answer... which i may do when i can someday but w/e...


languages i can read and pretty much hear when spoken (depends on the speaker and for some reason--how used i am to the way they speak): spanish, french, portuguese, romanian, little italian--reading mainly. i do like german, though have never looked at it.

it just fascinates me cause i do have such variations in my learning methods for languages, when comparing say my inate enlgish vs spanish vs how i learned what i know of romanian. these are the three ones i'm working on analyzing the most... someday, i'll have all the details of the interconnections worked out, for me at least.

i also randomly remember being a translator for my little brother. he's like 3.5 yrs younger than me and was in speech therapy for a while when he was very young. not sure how i got in the middle, but i do remember my parents always asking me to tell them WHAT my brother was saying. i don't remember him ever sounding weird, though. so /shrug

Sedaka,

I'm self-dx also. With ME it is my development, the way I was originally, my OWN internal feelings, quirks, senses, and similarities with people here. An outside observer might say "OH, he's just sensitive, shy, smart, wierd, loner, etc...". Of course, just today I AGAIN acted like an aspie with the rambling about interests! HEY, that IS my job. I guess there are some things I still like about my job.

Someone that knows told you you were DEFINITELY on the spectrum, and should get checked????????? Just the fact that you work where you do, and learned languages like you did, tells me you fit the AS profile THERE! Your other actions, statements, etc... indicate autism, and SHE agrees! So what is to find out? If you don't need a diagnosis, nobody else should. You look AS to me!! !

As for your brother? My uncle once translated what another person was saying for his boss! His boss eventually asked my uncle what language the guy was talking. My uncle told his danish boss(who was fluent in English)....."OH, he's speaking english! He's from texas!"! HEY, I had the SAME problem in Denmark! I mentioned how I had a problem understanding a danish speaker on the TV, but I usually didn't have the problem. My Uncle(Fluent in Danish and English) then told his danish wife "HEY, Steves discerning accents!"! ALSO, a little girl that was perhaps 3 tried speaking to me, and her MOTHER translated!(She was speaking english, but the tone, volume, pronounciation, etc... threw me) The question was something like "Do you have kids?". Upon hearing my answer, her mother said something like it was no wonder I couldn't understand her daughter! C'est la vie! At least you were there!

Steve

This is all great stuff, carry on guys

1. I spoke in very limited ways from about age 1. I did not speak in full sentences, OR to anyone other than my immediate family, until I was 5 or 6. However, I was able to read quite well at about 3.

2. My first word was my older brother's name.

3. I don't think so.

4. 5 or 6.

5. Yes, at about age 9.

6. Understanding when and why people liked or disliked me, hearing and understanding verbal statements as opposed to written ones (no there is nothing wrong with my hearing as I have had my hearing tested and have very good ears), interpreting the meaning of laughter, understanding people's motivations, "reading between the lines", accidentally offending people

7. Understanding people's motivations, reading between the lines, hearing and understanding verbal statements as opposed to writte ones.

Diagnosed AS
1) 5-6 months, full sentences, then I suddenly stopped and didn't speak until 2 yrs old.
2) "I want my bottle now!"
3) I don't really remember having any verbal assumptions, but I was able to read and spell words at 18 months.
4)About 2
5) No, not at all.
6) I had a lisp and echolalia when I was younger, I went to a speech therapist and the lisp is gone.
7) I still have mild echolalia.

1) when did you start speaking? 8 months of age. I do actually remember (Supprisingly) understanding words long before I could speak. We have a photo I remember my parents taking and I remember the words: "Quick! Get the camera! It's so cute!". My parents say it was taken when I was around 6-7 months old.
2) what were your first words? Don't you DARE walk past me without picking me up!
3) were you prone to verbal assumptions if so, what sort of things? (E.G. thinking all dogs are called spot) and how old were you when you got the gist? Not that I know of... You'd have to ask my mother and I doubt you'd want to.
4) at what age were you able to communicate with NT's? I was hypersocial until about 6 years of age when I became very quiet. Technically I communicated best with them when I was younger.
5) did you ever invent your own language instead? My own types of writing. Never my own language.
6) what communicative problems have you experienced in your childhood? Hypersocialization, extreme introversy, social phobia, inability to read body language (To an extent) and just general inability to make myself understood.
7) what communicative problems persist into adulthood? Extreme introversy, social phobia to a mild extent, inability to read body language and generally not being able to make myself understood.

cellogirl42 and nightcry,

Your "first word was a sentence ALSO"? My mother said the same about me! As an example, she said I said "My daddy will come back soon!" You KNOW I HAD to be young! I almost ALWAYS called my father by his first name! Anyway, I thought that was SO odd! The IDEA that someone can somehow figure out abstract items, etc... in language has always amazed me, yet nearly everyone does! For the "first word" to be a personal sentence(one that obviously wasn't just parroted) is amazing.

Steve

Scared the hell out of my Mum. I can tell you that. From that moment on I refused to shut up until I went to school and my twin joined me a year later...
Then I became very quiet.

I had no problems talking, I just didn't talk to anyone besides those I knew very well (mom & dad, babysitter, etc..) I learned to read basic words and books by the age of 2 and could read just about anything by the age of 3, but when it came to speaking to others that didn't exist in my comfort zone, I didn't know what to do.

For instance, dad said when I was about 1 1/2 or 2, he introduced me to a neighbor as we were walking down my street. Instead of smiling or saying hi, I dropped to my knees and started crawling with my head down saying, "Dapa dapa dapa dapa dapa" until I found a small pebble. Then I stood up quickly and handed the rock to the neighbor. I didn't understand how to interact socially with others, so I thought I would give the person a gift (in this case, a pebble) to show I liked them.

When I was scared or nervous, I would either shut down and be really quiet, or repeat jibberish phrases like "Dapa dapa dapa" or "Boorock!" Now when I get embarrassed or flustered, I repeat silly words that my boyfriend and I have made up like "asscabbits".

I do that to this very day.

ummm okay..

1) when did you start speaking? My mom says I was an early talker...like before one

2) what were your first words? I think my first multi-syllable word was energy..which freaked my mom out because she thought I was referring to a ghost that was in the room.

3) were you prone to verbal assumptions if so, what sort of things? (E.G. thinking all dogs are called spot) and how old were you when you got the gist? I thought that cats would understand me if i spoke "meow" to them...while thinking in my head what I wanted to say to them.

4) at what age were you able to communicate with NT's? I guess at the normal age

5) did you ever invent your own language instead? Not really..that I can remember

6) what communicative problems have you experienced in your childhood? I often had a really hard time figuring out what was going on around me...

7) what communicative problems persist into adulthood? I tend to clam up sometimes, while other times I am prone to giving out too much information.

Around the normal age.

Mama, Papa

Not that i'm aware of. Though I did think that water was called 'wa'wa' But i'll go into detail about that downt he line.

Around the normal range of expectation.

Not as a young child but I did use baby talk to comunicate when I was older. Like the wa'wa for water that I still use to this day and I used to called my Grandma "waka" all the way up untill middle school when she told me to call her Grandma. (though I still want to call her waka)

I have had really poor comunication as a child. My intire elementary consistes of me going to speach class atleast 3 times a week. I couldn't speak and comunicate well and i remember getting all frustrated when ever i tried to talk because I couldn't find the right words for what I was thinking. I also couldn't spell and I didn't learn how to read until I was 7. They said that I had mild dyslexia. And I remember confusing the qp and db. But I don't think that was stunting my growth for reading, I believe there might have been some other things going on.

It's still the same on verbel comunications. I can't really explain and tell someone how I feel or what I'm thinking at times. So I become frustrated and I rarely talk any more. And my talking is a bit stilted at times, I can feel it. I still can't spell all that well but In highschool I found out that there's rules to spelling that I never thought they were. I would have loved it if they tought me these rules then I wouldn't have to commit every spelling of every single word to memory!

1) when did you start speaking? - I was about three-and-a-half or four years old.

2) what were your first words? - My first words were "Bee, Freebee!" (Our cat's name was Freebee.)

3) were you prone to verbal assumptions if so, what sort of things? (E.G. thinking all dogs are called spot) and how old were you when you got the gist? - Nope.

4) at what age were you able to communicate with NT's? - At about five or six. Or so.

5) did you ever invent your own language instead? - Before I figured out the whole talking thing, I invented a sign language which I used to communicate to my parents and grandparents.

6) what communicative problems have you experienced in your childhood? - I was put into speech therapy in elementary school, for a handful of various minor reasons (including a slight lisp and an unexplained Eastern European accent).

7) what communicative problems persist into adulthood? - I stutter sometimes. It's not a particularly bad stutter, but it's annoying sometimes.