Are you non-verbal?

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I expressed curiosity in another thread as to whether anyone who frequents this forum is non-verbal. Are you, due to your autism, incapable of speaking vocally in spite of being perfectly fluent in text?

Alternatively, is anyone capable of speaking verbally only in certain settings, such as singing or giving speeches?

I'm not non-verbal, but I struggle to speak in social situations. However, I can do public speaking (and have) on topics which I know a good deal about. I've done topic presentations for schools and universities, radio and television interviews, etc. and I find those rather easy.

I used to be non verbal in really social settings in ( lunchroom, asembleys, etc...). It was during my school years. I could talk in class, usually chose not to. But when i was in those really social settings i wouldent say a word, even when asked a question. A person who i ate lunch with ( not really a friend, just someone else who had no one to sit with) called me it once, outside of lunch. I told him i just didnt have anything to say.

Nowadays i talk somewhat in those same situations. Like Mikomi said, if im well versed in the topic its easyer.

I'm completely non verbal when really stressed out, to the point where I need pen and paper. Even a little stress causes me to be quiet rather than speak gibberish (that leads to more stress).

I'm quite verbal, but have to get it through my mouth and over my shoe sometimes to get the words out...

Growing up I was nonverbal, now Im happy that i can speak verbally, even though sometimes its only echolila its defintely something haha.

Griff, I am the one who is nearly mute. I am a HFA, by Dx, and function well. However, I mostly just write, not speak. In public places, and elsewhere, I write and speak only to those whom I know or if I must, for expediency. I carry paper and pen with me. I am a PhD student (chem - neuroscience) and I only write, if I must communicate, in class, but do speak to my academic advisors, such as in the lab. I am also very shy. I am told my way of being, HFA and functionally mute, is an enigma; the combination is a bit unusual. Many Aspies are outspoken and quite verbal! I have a high genetic propensity to autism (far more than an order of magnitude) and there are mute autistics in my ancestry. Plus, I have no Sylvian Fissure - unsure of specifics of this correlation but there is a correlation/causation.

Hi Age1600 - you & I do have certain commonalities!

Anyway, I did not speak until I was approximately 3.5 yrs old. Often I point/gesture if I need something, such as in the lab. I suppose those with whom I interact, other scientists, just 'know.' They're good to me. In public, I am sometimes thought to be deaf, even blind! I'm neither. I do know a little sign but few others know back, which does not faciliate communication.

I guess I can be hard to understand since I'll sometimes just say numbers, write in math, etc. I forget other's do not know what I am thinking. I have no Theory of Mind.

If you can communicate to a single person; if you can talk now out aloud to no one. If you can say a word, you're verbal.

Nonverbal is just that. Those who cannot put their thoughts to speech at all; those who cannot say a single word. I see some now and again, usually children, they squeal for the most part.

40% of those with autism fail to develop speech at all (it's 18% over here, they say ABA therapy is the reason for such).

By strict definition, one could classify an autistic as either 'verbal' or 'nonverbal.' However, I propose the following since 1) I have/had family members who are 100% mute autistics and 2) Input from various neurologists about my speech lacking.

There in fact are gradation of 'muteness.' Few autistics are truly 100% mute, as Danielismyname stated (ie: 18%). This stat is not descriptive though since there are functionally mute autistics (I may be one, by definition) that do speak but only circumstantially.

By analogy, there are individuals who are legally blind yet still see light/dark, color, shape outlines, etc. They are nevertheless blind. There are few blind individuals who 'see' absolutely nothing but blackness.

For instance, my paternal uncle, who was a true 'nonverbal' mute autistic entirely still would whimper or sigh (like a kitten, sort-of) to 'catch' another's attention if he wished to show something or point.

So, 'nonverbal' is not truly discrete; there are gradations.

I suppose there'd be a distinction between non-communicative and nonverbal; the former is "rare", and is also the most severe form of autism, the latter is common (18% - 40%), but these who're nonverbal can still communicate through typing, sign language, and all can make some sounds (it's not the vocal cords that are the problem). Even those who're non-communicative will make sounds, it just won't "appear" to be a form of communication.

A baby who can make baby noises, but who hasn't uttered their first word is effectively nonverbal.

Those with Asperger's can have selective mutism; speaking adequately to a few people, but not at all to anyone else.

That is not always true, i know a lot of nonverbals, and one girl particularily comes to mind, can say words, maybe only one worders, or puts them together like, "me outside" or "bike now" "you bye bye", she will also bring objects to you like elmo and say "elmo elmo elmo" and says other words as well, and she is still classified as "nonverbal" because she can not communicate her thoughts in complete sentences and because she can not engage in one and one conversations. She also does a lot of echolila. I've met a lot of nonverbals like her, and some who just squeal like Daniel said.

I work in a residential care home, 3 of are residents are autistic. Two of them can say only a limited number of single words such as cheese, morph, computer, bath etc. The third cannot speak in words at all but makes a varity of screams in different pitches. He is the only one who is classified as non-verbal.

You know thats weird, because in the childrens specialized hospital I'm always at, the two who say single words like cheese, and bath would be considered nonverbal. I dont hear any nonverbal children say though morph or computer those are def hard ones for them. I even asked psychologists, psychairitrists, therapists, developmental pediatricians, what makes a child nonverbal and it is when when the child can not engage in back and forth conversation, and can not form complete sentences, or when their is no verbal speech at all. One of the other little boys who was 11, amputee, severely autistic labelled nonverbal speaks minor one words, but mainly spoke peoples name and etc.

So I don't know, but even during the autism carnival every april i help run, the autistic children that come, the ones who even the parents say are nonverbal will speak in some sentences. This one little boy who is 8, nonverbal classified by every doctor including the autism specialist, spoke in some sentences like "dog needs fast walk" and say other sentences like those, but can not engage in any conversations at all, which is why he was classified "nonverbal". So I don't know exactly, but by me, at the hospital I work at, and the events I help run, and the one time I did actually participate in an autismspeaks walk, all of those were considered nonverbal. So maybe its different by you, I don't know.

Non-verbal has a variety of not so formal/official definitions in the world of psychologist, psychiatrists and neurologists.
That's why there are different understanding of the term here too.

I'd say more like "the former is impossible". Even autistic people who use absolutely no words, communicate, it's been studied. I tend to avoid words like non-verbal and non-communicative, the former because it's impossible to gauge whether a person has receptive language (which I would consider a form of "verbal"), the latter because it is a great presumption to make of another person, that none of their actions are communicative in nature.

As far as the original poster's question goes, I used to be intermittently able to speak (with varying degrees of communicativeness to the speech regardless of how elaborate the speech sounded, but it could pass for communicative speech at times even when it wasn't), and now I'm able to repeat things I've heard (and sometimes do) but unable to make conversational speech for communication purposes, and intermittently able to type (but with far more communication to the typing than speech ever had).