Recall learning words as a child, and how I thought each word, the more complex it was, the more magical/special. Learning long words, more than shorter concise ones, caused me a world of pain from my peers and family. Yet I carried on, carting around my gigantic dictionary, as it was and still is an adventure to learn new words. I know many but don't use them out of fear I suppose, of being called smarty-pants and four eyes as I was called as a child, especially with the online climate as it is, where concise even abbreviated words are the norm.
Aspies and auties learn language differently than others. Hence the epithets. Yet recently, this explanation has unearthed some long held misunderstandings of smarty-pants and little professors:
Verbal Communication:
Unlike people with “classic”
autism, people with Asperger syndrome typically do not appear to have any significant delays in the development of language. Some of us even speak early, but the quality of our speech is different. Language is used in a very atypical way.
Like our social skills, it’s learned by rote. The social quotient is lacking – we don’t fully understand (until taught), the social aspects of language.To us, it begins as a simple means of information exchange, not as a means of connecting with people (for example, the concept and execution of “small talk” can be difficult for someone with Asperger’s).
We may not master the art of using inflection to imbue language with meaning, and so develop a very monotonous or odd manner of speech. We also frequently miss the social cues that tell us what language to use when, and how often – so we may talk too much, too little, use overly formal, or informal language, or use inappropriate language for a specific situation (for example, swearing in front of a boss, or speaking overly familiarly to an authority figure).
Ironically, some children can appear very advanced, because we will pick up very sophisticated “adult” language – either from listening to adults, or from reading books. This can lead to further social ostracization from other kids, who’ll say “How come you talk like a grown up?”
On the other side, seemingly “simple” concepts as pronouns may throw a person with Asperger’s. A child learning to talk may refer to everyone using the same pronoun, or refer to themselves in third person. The concept that a single person can be referred to using several different pronouns, and those pronouns can be used for multiple people, can be a difficult one. In another example, as a child, a person I know observed his
parents referring to each other using their first names, or endearments such as “honey” – and adopted the same manner of address. All attempts during his
childhood to break him of the habit failed. He never used “mama” or “dada”, or later “mom” or “dad” to refer to his parents. Although he now understands how most people address to their parents, in his adulthood, he still refers to his parents by their first names. The habit is ingrained.
The rest of the article here:
What Does It Mean To Have Asperger Syndrome?
Do you use or did you in the past use lots of big words, because you liked to? I've noticed many members on the site, have an extremely good grasp of language.
And yet they refuse to be corrected, insisting the "proof" was in my facial expression. Anyways, that's enough of that tangent!
