Autism/Verbal oddities

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Expert: - 12/13/2007


Question
My 22 month-old son has a strange way of communicating.  He does engage in conversation, but tends to say most things with his mouth completely shut and speaks in the back of his throat.  He does say a few words, Mama, Dadda, Nana, Down, but mostly when I ask him to, not out on his own.  His comprehensive level of commands is great, he can do what I ask him to do- go pick up the ball, go kiss daddy, give Alex a high-five, etc.  He also engages in conversation with us by doing this throat talk.  He does occasionally babble regular open mouth baby babble, but most of the time it is this throat talk.  He does some baby signing, please and more, but again, when I ask, "More?" or say, "Say Please!"

He also is very strong-willed.  If he hears no or don't do that, he throws a tantrum and goes running into another room.  We are having a hard time figuring out of he is having autism-like symptoms, or just severe speech delays.    Have you heard of any other children utilizing this "throat talk?"  I have come across some research that may suggest an early flag to autism.  Thoughts?

-Amanda

Answer
Hi Amanda,

I am not a doctor, and I cannot diagnose your child with anything. Please take your son to a speech and language therapist and get him evaluated so he can get speech therapy soon (if needed). From what you write, it is impossible to tell if your son has autistic traits or not. It doesn't sound like it (he understands language, interacts with you and everything, it's only that his way of speaking is odd), but if you're really worried, you should get him evaluated for autism too.
I have never heard of "throat talk" as an early sign of autism, though.  
Hope this helps,
C.

Autism

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*DISCLAIMER*

Please note I am not a healthcare professional or a doctor.
I cannot provide a diagnosis or give any medical advice.
Therefore I cannot answer questions like "is my child autistic ?" other than by telling you to go and see a specialist
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Please be aware that if you are in the US it will usually take at least 24 hours until I can answer your question, as I'm in Europe and don't have access to my email during the day. I also cannot answer questions concerning the US educational or law system (other than by looking up things on google, but that's probably not the expertise you need), as I'm not in the US.
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Please also be aware that I'm a person with autism. My answers may sometimes be very blunt and direct and I may tell you things you won't like to hear. Diplomacy is certainly not among my talents. I'm never being rude on purpose, and I always try not to hurt or offend people, but it has happened before and may happen again. It's NEVER on purpose. I just want to help.
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What I *can* do for you is gather information on any aspect of autism and therapy of autism you're interested in and give you my personal oppinion about it (if you want to hear it) or, if it applies, tell you about my personal experience. I can answer all questions about what life is like for an autistic person.

I can also answer questions asked in German or French (but will have to answer in English to questions asked in French as my French is a bit rusty).

Ich beantworte gerne auch Fragen auf Deutsch.

Vous pouvez poser des questions en Francais, si cela ne vous dérange pas que je responds en anglais.

Experience


As I'm not doing well right now and am not in the shape of answering questions well - I recieved a few low ratings lately - I'll take a break from AllExperts for the next few weeks/until I'm doing better

I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.

In the past years I have also read a lot about autism and its comorbid conditions and related subjects (as I am experiencing symptoms of most of these or know others who do) , so I have accumulated a lot of layman knowledge in this area (AD(H)D, Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, sleep disorders, allergies, sensory integration dysfunction, learning difficulties, left/right-brain, giftedness, Irlen Syndrome, prism glasses, executive dysfunction (aka. "inertia"), "special" diets).

Education/Credentials
None in the field of autism, apart from being autistic myself !

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