So is this part of ASD? Or something else?

august06mom

DS2 (just turned 3 if you can't see tickers) is HFA. After receiving ST for a speech delay starting at 17 months, he's definitely caught up to where he should be, with some articulation issues. He was discharged from EI speech a few months ago but they're retesting him again this month for the articulation stuff. They're also going to do some social speech testing.

And this is where my question lies. DS HATES talking to people he doesn't know. Instead of talking to them, he will say "moop" or another nonsense word, or he would blow raspberries at them. He can be ridiculously rude, and just tell people to flat-out stop talking. Obviously this isn't acceptable, and his ABA has advised us to try to ignore it or to correct him but not make it a power struggle. "Oh, yes, of course Grandma can talk. What did you want to say Grandma?" when he screams that she can't talk to him.

Anyone else go through this? We went to a special needs social group today for the first time, and they assumed he was non-verbal at first (hadn't had time to review his ISFP). They asked him his name and he said, "Moop. Moop. Moop" and turned away from them. When he later turned to me and said, "I don't like that, Mommy. I don't want to do that." they nearly fell over. He speaks very well to people he's comfortable with, but he either ignores or says nonsense to people he doesn't know.

Is this a speech thing? Or just a behavioral thing? Anyone can relate?

lvisser

My NT five year old does this... He was in speech for two years.... I don't think it's completely at ASD thing, although I'm sure that doesn't help...

typeset

When in doubt, take the language out and just look at the behavior. Avoidance.

typeset

It may be a speech-related thing in that if he's worried about being misunderstood or being "wrong" in front of others he refuses to use his words, but the refusal to engage is still avoidance.

kcisthebombdotcom

Not sure if its related to the asd but dd does this. She speaks in a whisper at school and they often have a tough time understanding her. In our case it seems like its a confidence thing and she is very self aware people have a tough time understanding her--for example when she wants to take a bath she will grab a towel and say bubble bath please.

august06mom

Thanks everyone. After reading your responses, I do think this must be mostly behavior related. Social stories are a great idea. This was the first time we did the play group. He ages out in a few months, but it's just nice to go somewhere together for an hour and not feel the pressure of having to leave if he flips out, like at the library.

august06mom

DC2London said:

DS does this.  He will either refuse to speak to strangers or will do this weird Damien-esque whispery demon voice and say something like, "One Direction," "feller buncher," "Very useful engine."  

Yes, he does this too -- with the growl and everything.

kcisthebombdotcom

-auntie- said:

KC_13 said:

Not sure if its related to the asd but dd does this. She speaks in a whisper at school and they often have a tough time understanding her. In our case it seems like its a confidence thing and she is very self aware people have a tough time understanding her--for example when she wants to take a bath she will grab a towel and say bubble bath please.

Keep an eye on this. Selective mutism often starts like this. Being a young lady, your DD is at considerable risk for this comorbid. If she's a perfectionist, and the brighter ones often are, it might help her to model your own verbal flubs with humor and silliness so they don't loom so large in her mind. 

When can this be diagnosed? The discrepancy between the language she has at school vs home seems to be getting worse instead of better.