As some of you may know, some kids on the spectrum are non verbal, meaning they typically have no words, they usually use sounds and communicate with talkers.
Some have limited language skills. They have one word they can use for things, to communicate and get their needs met and some have, I guess you could say, full language. They are able to have conversations, use full sentences, none or little communication issues.
As I may have mentioned before, both boys started off with limited language, Cole grew to have full language and communication skills and Ryan has quite a lot now. He can have a conversation with you but doesn’t quite answer questions the way a “typical” kid would.
When you ask him something like, “Do you want pizza for supper?” He will say either “No pizza” if he doesn’t want it or he will say “pizza for supper” instead of yes.
He can say yes but only really uses it if he is told to say yes or no.
If you say, “Is Ryan having a good day?” he will say “good day”. So he does a lot of repeating the question to answer. It still works and he gets his point across but we are trying to work on being able to just answer yes.
His communication has come a long way, even just this year at school they have noticed how much more he can communicate on his own. Using full sentences to request things, and talking to staff with more words instead of just one. We notice it at home too which we are very happy with. He still will say things sometimes that we are surprised with and we love how much he has grown.
When he was little, he used to say things and we had no idea what he meant. We would have to decipher it and do some investigation to figure out what it was he wanted or was talking about.
There are still some words we have no idea where they came from or what they meant. He used to point to his Aveeno baby shampoo and say “That’s Wildaface” (saying it like Wil-da-face) We still to this day have no idea why or what that meant.
One thing we did figure out what he meant was, he would say, and still says, “Scribe TV off” when he wanted you to turn off the tv. It took us awhile but we finally realized he picked it up from watching YouTube. At the end of a video it would say something like “If you like what you are seeing subscribe to my channel” or “Subscribe here to kids tv” so we figured he took the subscribe to mean all done.
This happens a lot in our house and also working with kids on the spectrum. There are many times they are trying to get something or upset about something and you don’t know what it is they want. Usually you end up figuring it out because they will find a way to let you know. Sometimes there is a lot of pointing or taking your hand and leading you to the item or place.
Lately there has been a lot of repeating in our house. Ryan likes to know what he is doing each day and will say, even the night before, “First sleep, breakfast then..” waiting for you to say what we will be doing for the day. Now the First/Then language is used in school a lot for kids who like schedules, like to know what they are doing or for when they are not wanting to do a certain activity.
You would say “First math then we can have a break, First bathroom then we will go outside” etc. It really helps and with Ryan we can tell it helps him understand what we are doing but also it seems to calm him when he is upset. You might have to say it over and over and yes it does get frustrating but if it helps ease something in their mind I have to try to remember it’s
not that big of a deal to keep saying it for him.
So we wake up and it’s first breakfast then play then lunch then nanny’s pool and he’s happy since he knows he gets to go swimming. But we also have to tell him days before something is happening that he will be doing it so he can prepare mentally.
If he is getting a haircut, going to the dr, etc. We tell him maybe 3 or 4 days before and he will say “In 3 sleeps, haircut” He always wants to know what is going on. I guess it could be the same for adults, we use calendars and schedules so it’s his way of knowing his and keeping his brain organized.
One other thing Ryan does sometimes is talk in a song, like he is singing the words he’s saying. It happens both when he is happy and when he’s upset. Just as I was writing this he said, “Aaalll dooonee iiippppaaaddd” in a long drawn out song tone.
He listens to a lot of music and enjoys it so we think it just makes him happy to do it. Now when he’s upset maybe he’s doing it because it makes him feel better, maybe it’s not even intentional, who knows. But there are a lot of times he’s singing while talking and we like it for the most part. Cole finds it funny.
There are many unique, interesting things kids who are Autistic do with language and communication and it really is amazing how, when you spend enough time with each one, you begin to learn and understand their style.
And if anyone can figure out what “Wildaface” is please let me know!
