Does Anyone Struggle with Words?

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Does anyone else struggle with words verbally and/or in written form? I’ve struggled with this my whole life and still haven’t accomplished the art of chatting or putting in my 2 cents. There are moments when my mind has some clarity but other times when I just literally shut down and can barely say a word.

Occasionally, I forget what I'm saying or can't think of the word I want to use. It's a lot easier to write. There is a poor connection between thought and speech in a way with autism I think. It's like talking on a phone in a tunnel

I only struggle with words when it's a subject that is really emotionally difficult to talk about.

It's really weird but I can write better than I can talk at times. It depends on the topic.

Funny enough, if I really wanna talk to someone I find it harder to speak in fully worded sentences that have the right syntax

Aspies like me are known to be quite the motor-mouths but there have been many, many times when I have become overwhelmed in a situation and was emotionally distraught and I turned completely non-verbal. It's a very Autistic moment and I'm always afraid that people at work will catch on that I'm mentally disabled because I haven't decided whether it's a good idea to tell anyone at work or not.

But that is who I am - I'm either completely silent and clammed right up or I'm motor mouthing and divulging huge amounts of information so it's either one or the other. Those attributes are just two of many things that remind me on a daily basis that I'm Autistic.

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*** High Functioning Autism - Asperger's Syndrome ***

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I struggle with words too. Writing is better for me, I have more time, I can edit my message before sending and sometimes after sending. But sometimes writing some e-mails is for me too difficult.

When I speak, it is for me as translating into other language. I can't fint right words and often I don't know, how tell it, or I dont know, what people want to hear. It is hard for me someone something explain, this is better, when I can show it. When subject is really emotionally, I can't speak.

I really dont know, what do with this.

YES! I spend so much time trying to figure out metaphors because I can't even express things properly. When I say something word for word people get confused. They say I'm hard to follow, but everything I say I plan out before I say it. Its pretty isolating, and I guess it just gets worse over time.

Example: I like studying aquatic animals.
To them it becomes: I like sea food.

Example: I find this piece of art to be (insert weird term here)
Them: What? You don't make any sense! You are stupid and illogical.

Other times I have an incredibly difficult time expressing an emotion. I go days feeling like crap and I can't figure out why or how to express it. I like art because it allows that, but people always start thinking I'm weird. Every time I try to show someone something they find a way to baby it down to something that I didn't want it to be. I know it's really how they interpret it as the viewer (whether it's music, poetry, painting, etc.)

I often look at written words and find I have no idea how they might be pronounced even though I may have heard the words spoken out loud many times. "Panacea" and "hyperbole" are two good examples. I hear them on television and radio all the time but for years I could not make the connection between the spoken word and the written word.

I also have trouble with syntax. I often have to stop mid sentence to marshal my thoughts. Other people then interrupt mid sentence so I lose track of what I was saying. If I try to speak more fluently I find that I often use a word which wasn't the one I intended and I am unable to stop and correct it. I think it is a bit like Nira said in her post above about speaking being like translating into another language.

I am much better at writing than speaking.

Yes. The verbal medium overall isn't exactly reliable to me.
At my best state, it's average at best with a lot of compensation doing the heavy work. I don't have to get overwhelmed or negatively affected in any way or form to work harder with words.

Not only the obvious basic parts, the thought to speech transfer, or near-constant translation of verbal to nonverbal and vise versa, but also my short term and working memory with it in real times whether spoken or written.
Written is only easier for obvious reasons.

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So much!

People can ask me a question and I know how I feel (sorta) but i really struggle to convert that into actual words. Or just in general really, with any kind of conversation topic. I often struggle with remembering the right words to use that will actually either cause me to just not say anything, or if i'm feeling more comfortable with the person I am talking with, I will try to enlist their help in finding the word I want to use. I can be quite stubborn though, and I'd much prefer it if I could remember the word on my own.

I too feel much more comfortable texting or emailing people rather than face to face or on the phone conversations. It gives me the space to think which is something a 'live' conversation cant provide me.

I can relate to a lot of you. Emotions clog my brain. It's part of the flight/fright/freeze, which is my constant state of being to some degree. The stress response turns off the language side.
It gets depressing.
Wanting to talk to someone, I try to think of what to say, how to say it, how to balance it with what I am doing, how to stay calm. Wanting so bad to have one conversation. Then someone else comes along and the person I am with chats away with them like it is all nothing. And that right there is so depressing that I can barely continue with what I am doing, let alone join in. I sink into depression and give up.
But yes, getting caught on words happens if I manage to say any at all. Depending on my anxiety level and general fuzziness for the day, I may say the wrong thing or just strong awkwardly at some point and give up.

I can relate to a lot of you. Emotions clog my brain. It's part of the flight/fright/freeze, which is my constant state of being to some degree. The stress response turns off the language side.
It gets depressing.
Wanting to talk to someone, I try to think of what to say, how to say it, how to balance it with what I am doing, how to stay calm. Wanting so bad to have one conversation. Then someone else comes along and the person I am with chats away with them like it is all nothing. And that right there is so depressing that I can barely continue with what I am doing, let alone join in. I sink into depression and give up.
But yes, getting caught on words happens if I manage to say any at all. Depending on my anxiety level and general fuzziness for the day, I may say the wrong thing or just stop awkwardly at some point and give up. Or i will think one thing in my head but say something easier and more emotionally driven.

I have become slightly better and more at ease with written informal chat language in my native language, but whether it's speech or writing, I often feel incapable to translate my thoughts/emotions to written or spoken. Writing is usually bit easier because there's more time for consideration. In group talk situations I mostly just feel too slow to participate, but I sometimes I enjoy face to face talking especially with other autistic persons, though I am more listener than talker.

I have trouble, often, with "word retrieval" when I'm anxious.

I do okay when I'm clear-headed.

Sometimes, even when I try to offer advice on WP, I have to search for the correct word in the dictionary/thesaurus.

I also write well but struggle with speaking.

I can relate to a number of people above in that I go nearly mute when I'm emotional and I really struggle with finding the correct words when I'm speaking. I also have a hard time figuring out how to effectively communicate something that I'm thinking so I frequently have to restart a sentence several times while I figure it out how to put it into words.

I've gotten better at holding conversations over the years but I still find it almost impossible if I have to go "off script". I tend to go into social situations with prepared answers to expected conversation topics and so things get rough if the conversation goes in an unexpected direction. I have no ability to think on my feet while speaking. It's like my brain is desperately trying to grasp at anything appropriate to say except there's nothing there and so I normally just go quiet and smile.