Aspergers' kids are hyperverbal?

[Anoah]

I just wanted to ask if it is true that kids with aspergers are generally hyper-talkative? If anyone out there has the time to read this and respond I would be really grateful.

My DS age 5 was diagnosed with aspergers. He seems to fit the criteria in every way but I keep hearing that these kids are hyper-talkative when talking about their subjects of interest.

My ds is very quiet. He had single words at 2 and phrases at age 3 but with a lot of echolia. He also uses language very strangly at times, perfect at other times, but always short and sweet. If I ask him about a subject he is not interested in I get a one word answer and he gets annoyed and refuses to communicate anymore.

If I ask him about a game or topic he is really interested in he will come out with 3 or 4 perfect complex sentences but then stop and refuse to say more, so he doesn't finish communicating the idea. I don't think I have ever heard more than 4 sentences at one time from him. He is bright..doing okay in the classroom except for when he has to summarize a book he has read. I know he comprehends what he reads but he can't put the pieces together and give a verbal narrative. The weird thing is that he understands multiplication/division/ fractions and can do mental math really well. He can't make up little stories.

I just wish I had a clue about what is going on with this kid and if it is going to get better.

I think it depends on the child tbh. Ds1 has a dx of HFA (AS?) but didn't really talk until about 3yrs. He can now speak well but it's as though English is his 2nd language IYKWIM. His sentence construction often sounds as though he's translating from another language.

If I ask questions he doesn't want to answer I either get no response or "I don't know."

"Have you brushed your teeth?"
"I don't know"

"Are you hungry?"
"I don't know."

It's only really been in the last few months that he has started to talk non-stop about his current obsession. He is almost 6yrs old.

Ds2 has a dx of AS. At 2yrs he was just starting to use single words. At 3yrs (and with speech therapy) he chatters non-stop about his obsession. His language skills can be so good that people are shocked to hear that he has only just turned 3, but it's strictly on his own terms.

Thank you for your response. My son didn't talk that much until age 3. He turned 5 in August and things seem to be improving in some ways but not others. I understand what you are saying about the english translation thing. But when I hear other kids his age going on and on about school, games, whatever I feel so broken hearted because he seems like a little mystery to me and I don't know what's going on inside his head.

I'm probably in denial actually. Up until recently I just thought one day he would catch up and sound like other kids his age. Of course we love him just as he is anyway! He is perfect to me.

I don't know if you're looking for responses just from parents of children with a diagnosis?

If not, and other experience might help: I have a ds (just 7) whose difficulties (such as he has) are along the lines of those that children with Asperger's have, but he doesn't really have enough problems for it to look like "real" AS. If that makes sense.

Anyway, he is not a chatterbox, which I rather like. If he has something to say, it is always worth listening to - even if (and your ds may be the same) you have to know him really well to work out what, from the missing details and muddled word order, he is on about. He is just like yours in that he simply can't summarise a book - he can't even re-tell something like Little Red Riding Hood - but he can do the most complex sums in his head.

He can now give me an account of something that's happened, but I clearly remember that when he first started school he could not keep his thoughts running for more than a couple of sentences - so that ability must have developed some time while he was five.

He can make up stories now, sort of, but they go all over the place - he can't distinguish between detail and main plot - and generally peter out unfinished.

What we've done to get where we are is practise practise practise - tell him a story is like a sum, it has important bits and you have to put them in the right order; get him to describe things, re-tell events, repeat instructions back - all kinds of things that focus on the sequencing skills that underlie speaking if you're to be understood. We've got a long way to go - but you know, I have a dd (5) who is a non-stop chatterbox and I have to say I find ds's perceptive little remarks (however cryptic) a lot less tiring!

Anoah, my ds has ASD, they say he hasn't got AS though, due to a speech delay. But like coppertop said about her ds, everything is on my ds's own terms, if he wants to responds to you or not. 'dont know' is the usual answer too for my ds.

I think if they are complexed they don't aways fit the classic diagnoisis of AS.

My ds responded to a comment I made, I said 'that names rings a bell' ( watching TV at the time), ds said 'I can't hear a bell ring'. I did laugh, but that is partically AS. Larsxx

My son was diagnosed with Aspergers in May 2005, and it is true that when he is talking about his obsession he does become animated.However he is also a very shy, introverted person and it completely depends on his mood, who he is talking to and hundreds of other aspects.My advice to you is if you belive your child has aspergers go on the net, to the libary any where you can get infomation. If it all sounds familiar, push and push for a referal to get an assesment. You know him best.good luck

DD 10 AS can be hyperverbal at home but has still not spoken to her teacher since September. She is hyperverbal when wants to tell you about something whether you are listening/interested and doesn't judge when she is talking too much. Also she seems unable to have thoughts in her head, she seems to be verbalising her thoughts out loud. Also repeats over and over set phrases she has heard on t.v. etc.
However, she often gives one word answers when communicating with others she is not comfortable with!

Yes, in this house anyway. And adults too, if it is the case that I am AS as we think.

DS1 has a verbal age of ten, emotional age of three and actual age of six. HELP!!!

He talked from a year, fluent.y from day 1 as I remember!!!!

Annoyingly in school they think he is shy and quiet, I had the same thiong- actually it just took me so long to work out if it was my turn to speak / if a reply was expected etc that it was too late before I started.

Wow, thank you guys so much for taking the time to reply. I appreciate the contribution of everyone on here. I am now wondering if my son is someone who has high functioning autism rather than aspergers.

PutaPeachyinyoursimnelcake, I also suspect that I may have AS. I have 3 close male relatives who were diagnosed as adults. At age 5 I was obsessed with american vice presidents and knew the names of all of them in chronological and alphabetical order. I would go on and on about their political careers, vital stats. I memorized every fact I could find about them and never could stop telling people about it. I was also hypersensitive to certain textures and never could say the right thing in a social situation. My parents were very disappointed.

It was mini cars for me

And I HATE having my face touched, routine changed, anything like that.

Bt as an adult can't see the point of battling for a dx

Hi Anoah, my son has a diagnosis of high-functioning autism. He's six (will be seven in the summer).

He's certainly not hyper-talkative! He does talk reasonably fluently now about the things in which he is interested, but it does tend to be very much along the lines of "Mummy, did you know that...? And Mummy, did you know that...etc etc etc?" And he doesn't communicate with me at all about what he does at school, who he played with, that sort of thing. And like yours, if I press him, he gets annoyed and clams up.

He wouldn't be a natural at making up stories, either, but he plays all the time with my four year old DS2, who is, and he is learning a lot from that.

I would say that he has become more talkative (about his subjects of interest, anyway) within the last year.

Yeah I can't either. I think my GP would laugh me out of his office. I think I have settled down a lot as an adult but I still have my weird ways. I'm still socially backward but it's not like they can fix that. Trying to help my kid has really forced me to come out of my shell a lot.

Tbh I am not sure how much turns on whether the diagnosis is HFA or Asperger's. I certainly don't think it makes much difference in terms of extra resources in school etc.