In the last issue we talked about "social impairment", which is one of the early signs of autism in children. Many children with autism in infancy, early childhood, and adolescence will have many problems due to social disorders, such as not daring to look at people, treating emotional indifference, and confusion in the cognition of relatives.
In this issue, Yang Qingyu tells you about the second typical feature of early childhood signals of autism: language disorders.
In the previous article, we have detailed the problem of language disorders, and we should know that language disorders are a general term for a type of language problem, including language delay, functional dysarthria (large tongue), stuttering and so on.
However, in the autistic group, language disorders mainly refer to communication disorders, which are mainly divided into two categories, one is non-verbal communication disorders, such as children will pull their parents to take a certain purpose without expression; the other is speech communication disorders, such as abnormal language and intonation.
Now that we should have an understanding of the language disorders of autistic groups, let's take a good look at the second stage of the early childhood signals of autism: language disorders.
A different language disorder – exclusive to autism (autism).
Different from the public impression of language disorders such as stuttering and large tongues, the language disorders that occur in autistic groups are actually more of a logical confusion in communication and communication. In simple terms, children with pseudo-autism do not know how to say, do not know how to understand, and do not know how to coordinate pronunciation movements.
In a word, children with autism do not talk like normal people.
Therefore, in many of the online reviews of children with autism, language function is a large proportion of them. However, only these two types of language disorders are the true characteristics of autistic children, and parents should not confuse autism with language delay.
1. Nonverbal communication disorder
Children with autism often cry or scream at home or outside to express their discomfort or need, and slightly older children may take an adult's hand and walk toward what they want.
However, most children with autism lack the corresponding facial expressions, and the expressions are often indifferent, rarely using nods, shake heads, wave hands and other actions to express their wishes.
2. Verbal communication disorders
Language comprehension ability is impaired to varying degrees, for example, some children with autism cannot understand the more complex words in their parents' mouths;
Speech development is delayed or not developed, some children may have expressive speech before the age of 2-3, but as they grow older, their language ability gradually decreases or even disappears completely;
There are abnormalities in the form and content of language, such as some autistic babies who often imitate adults to speak, or rigidly repeat words. Moreover, most children with autism often have wrong grammatical structures and personal pronouns, and there are also abnormalities in intonation, speed, rhythm, and accent;
For example, although some children with autism can recite nursery rhymes and advertising words, they rarely take the initiative to communicate with words, let alone take the initiative to propose topics and maintain topics. More often, they are actually talking in stereotyped and repetitive phrases, often entangled in the same topic.
Language barriers can or have been harmful to children
Since it is a language barrier, the biggest and most far-reaching problem that affects children is naturally the communication, communication, and understanding of language.
According to the report on the language ability of autistic children issued by the Ministry of Health of the Mainland in 2017, the language situation of autistic children in our country is not optimistic, and many children have not received professional intervention until adulthood, so they can hardly communicate with people normally.
A big reason why a mother in Hangzhou abandoned her autistic son in 19 years was that the child could not speak, was stupid every day, and could not do anything well.
In fact, according to international analysis of autistic children, autistic children who lack language skills can only live with the help of their parents, and it is basically impossible to develop towards independence and self-care. They may have to live under the protection of their parents for the rest of their lives.
Therefore, Yang Qingyu here suggests that all qualified autistic families, when the child is diagnosed with autism, do not delay, as soon as possible to go to a professional institution is the appropriate choice.
What's next?
In this issue, we will talk about the second type of early childhood signal of autism, that is, the language disorder, and in the next issue we will tell you about the third early signal of autism: stereotyped repetitive behavior.