Emerging Language
When he was three years old, my friend Tyler communicated his dissatisfaction with life in general by making loud sounds and throwing items. Over the next fourteen years, he moved through the phases of language development, sometimes getting stuck in one phase for four or five years. Although the process has been very slow, his language has gradually emerged, allowing him to communicate with people around him.
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When he started early childhood classes in public school at age three, Tyler did not speak any words, but he expressed his frustration or anger very clearly by throwing items and making loud sounds. He did not acknowledge people, but he was often fascinated with objects. He was intolerant of changes in schedules and was obsessed with keeping all the doors in the room closed. His teacher, Sue Kribbs, had an exceptional gift of connecting with young children and patiently teaching them skills they would need for the rest of their lives. This was before the days of communication devices and before teachers had so many resources for students with autism. We worked together to interpret his actions and to teach him to express his frustration more appropriately.
When Tyler started kindergarten, and then moved through elementary school, he began making some babbling sounds and listening to sounds around him. He particularly clued into music, and enjoyed playing repetitive chord progressions on piano or guitar. He seemed to view adults as electronic music machines or food servers rather than people. He particularly enjoyed playing chord progressions on piano and guitar. Because his shouting and throwing diminished, it seemed as if Tyler was less agitated and more content. Over the years, he began to make some purposeful sounds and repeat a few words.
When he was about ten or eleven, Tyler began to echo many words, especially the last few words of sentences spoken by his teachers and family members. During those years, he spoke few purposeful words, but his echolalia was persistent.
After many years of interaction with patient teachers, family members, and therapists, Tyler finally started initiating words to complete sentences. For example, if an adult asked, “What do you want for lunch?” he would simply repeat the question. But if the adult said, “Tyler, tell me what you want for lunch. I want….” Tyler would often respond by completing the sentence e.g. “I want sandwich.”
Tyler began a new phase of communication in his teens as his reading skills emerged. At this point, he started saying rote phrases and rehearsed sentences at the appropriate time. For example, if a school bell rang, he said, “Time for p.e.” or “Time to ride bus.” Or if someone asked, “What song do you want to play?” he would eventually name a song and begin to play. For whatever reason, he would occasionally talk about a topic repetitively, or he would “clam up” and refuse to converse with people.
As you will be able to tell by listening to Tyler talk on tomorrow’s podcast, he is entering a new phase of communication. In the past year, he has started initiating conversations about diverse topics, to answer open-ended questions to some extent, and to express himself fairly clearly. Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow and “Listen to Tyler Talk.”
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