Types of Autism Speech Patterns

July 8, 2022 EX35 Creative

Did you know that most children with autism can be diagnosed as early as two years old?

Signs of autism and speech development both frequently appear within the first three years of a child's life. During these years, parents observe changes in their child's behavior, speech, and communication.

For parents of children with autism, communication may sound different from neurotypical peers.

Learn more about the common autism speech patterns and how you can help your child find their voice in a big, noisy world.

Common Autism Speech Differences

Impaired communication can be an indicator of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Some children with ASD never develop verbal communication skills. For these children, autism speech therapy emphasizes finding other ways to express needs and emotions.

Speaking children with autism often struggle to grasp the social cues and patterns that come naturally to neurotypical people. Keeping track of your child's development with autism speech apps may help you determine if they need speech therapy. A verbal child with autism may display one or more of the following common speech patterns.

Autism Speech Delay

Most children begin practicing words by six months of age and uttering sentences by two years old. Don't worry if your baby isn't speaking yet; it's not unusual for some children to take a little longer learning words.

Sometimes a lack of communication can be an early sign of autism. Children with autism are usually non-verbal at the time of autism diagnosis. They may also avoid eye contact, have a blank facial expression, or not respond to their name.

Some children with autism begin learning communication skills at an average pace but then seem to regress between 12 and 24 months old. Toddlers with autism may use non-verbal methods to communicate. This could be clapping their hands, shaking their head, or gesturing.

Idiosyncratic Speech

Idiosyncratic speech is a language derived from a child's individual experiences. Autistic children may conflate specific experiences to communicate. Idiosyncratic speech uses ordinary, real words from the child's language, but in a way that may not make sense in context.

For example, an autistic child may love playing outside with the family dog, Sparky. She could mentally conflate Sparky with the backyard and might say "Sparky" to indicate going outdoors, even if she won't be playing with the dog.

Neologisms are also common in children who use idiosyncratic speech. Neologisms are completely made-up words or expressions. Many neurotypical children also create and use neologisms, but they are more common among children with autism.

Idiosyncratic speech takes patience and intuition for caregivers to learn and understand. Although it may not make sense to everyone, the parents of an autistic child will quickly learn that "Sparky" means "I want to go outside."

Cluttering Speech

Cluttering speech is a fluency disorder. Autistic children may struggle to form an appropriate rhythm, speed, and flow of language. A person with cluttering speech may have words come up in their head faster than their mouth can keep up.

Cluttering speech can sound like:

Rapid speaking
Dragging out syllables
Excessive interjections like "um"
Slurring or shrinking words
Skipping words
Mixing word order

People with cluttering speech may also interrupt others, draw out their stories, or lose their train of thought. Stuttering can occur alongside cluttered speech, but the two speech disorders are different. People who stutter are usually aware of their disfluencies, while people with cluttering speech may not notice.

Cluttering speech often coincides with hyperactivity, poor concentration, and poor self-expression. Autistic children with cluttering speech may find it hard to make friends because they are difficult to understand.

Monotonous Speech

Vocal inflections, also called prosody, play a huge role in most people's conversations. When neurotypical people ask a question, they usually raise their pitch at the end of the sentence. When a child with monotonous speech or "flat affect" asks a question, it may sound more like a statement.

In normal speech, emphasizing certain words can also change the sentence's meaning. Observe how the italicized word is drawn out and pitch is raised to change the sentence meaning:

I want to read with Jane [not with someone else]
I want to read with Jane [not read alone]
I want to read with Jane [not do something else]

Because children with autism struggle to pick up these cues, they may unintentionally use flat, monotonous speech. Monotonous speech can sound robotic, emotionless, or sing-songy.

Sometimes monotonous speech can be misinterpreted as a judgmental, angry, or disinterested tone. Because it seems abnormal to neurotypical people, autistic children with monotonous speech may have trouble relating to others and making friends at school.

Echolalia and Repetition

Echolalia is the repetition or "echoing" of words, sounds, or phrases a person has heard. It can be a symptom of some other disorders but is commonly found in children with autism. Echolalia isespecially common in young autistic children but may remain as a speech pattern throughout a person's life.

Autistic children may use echolalia to self-soothe or communicate an emotion or feeling. They may also use helpful words or phrases to motivate themselves through a challenging time. Sometimes, a child may repeat a question as a way of answering.

Pronoun Reversal

Pronoun reversal is when a child with autism may confuse first, second, or third-person pronouns. The child may frequently refer to themselves as "you" or their listener as "I."

Researchers thought autistic children might have had difficulty differentiating between themselves and others, but this is actually a simple speech confusion. When referring to themselves vs. others, autistic children don't always understand which pronoun to use. Instead, they rely on what they have heard others say.

For example, a child might hear Mom say, "you need to put shoes on before school." The next day the child might tell their mom, "you need to put shoes on." The child is not saying Mom needs shoes; they are trying to express, "I need to put shoes on."

Special Interests Topics

Special interests are not a speech pattern, impediment, or disorder. But special interests of autistic children can change the way they communicate with others.

For example, a child may assume that his sibling knows as much about baseball as he does. He might try to make references to baseball without realizing that other people won't understand. Children with autism may also try to steer conversations toward their interests as much as possible.

Parents and caregivers shouldn't discourage a child's special interests. However, children with autism may need extra guidance for conversating well with others. Learning to ask questions and listen when others speak is crucial for developing friendships.

Autism Speech Therapy Can Help

Speech therapy can be very beneficial for all these communication patterns and behaviors. Autism speech needs are unique from those of other children. Even for non-verbal and minimally verbal children, learning how to communicate needs and feelings is an essential step for successfully navigating the world.

Children's Developmental Services of Campbell County is here to help you and your child get a head start in life. We provide developmental screenings and remediation to help children develop language and communication skills.