Text-based communication is better | Autism PDD
Dear Autismworld,
Are you in the autism spectrum. It sort of sounds like you are trying to tell us you are talking from experience? Are you trying to be contentious, or are you just having difficulties with putting your feelings into words due to your social difficulties.
I think if you are in the spectrum, you might want to explain your background to the members of the forum. I have only been on the site for a few weeks, but the people seem to be concerned and caring, and I think if you try to explain where you are coming from, you will find a more positive reception.
I am not sure of your motivation for this post, but I disagree with you. My son is 13, and his has ASD. He is a visual learner, and he thinks in pictures, not in text. It is my understanding that many people with ASD are visually oriented. Forcing him to conceptualize everything in text is not best for him. Perhaps that is something that worked well for you or someone you know, but that does not mean it is best for every child with ASD. Also, no matter how great technology is, there will come a time when it will get left behind on the school bus, or left at home, or the batteries won’t be charged, and the child will have to try to function without it. Verbal language skills go with you, and can’t be forgotten and left on the school bus. If a child is capable of learning to communicate verbally, even if it requires a lot of work, in my opinion it is worth it.
When in an argument or debate or even in a situation of high stress I start to loose my speeking coharency, I start to studder and often dont make sence and that results in loosing the argument because I cant convey my point across in a way that others can understand. If im angry sometimes ill come home, and type how I feel and bring it to the boss the next day, outlying my points. I have done this once and tho it seemed strange im sure to him, to me it was a success because I could convey my point without messin up.
It makes me even more aggitated because I may have a very solid and educated point to make, and because I screw up my speech in the heat of the moment I sound like a dummy, and so everyone around me thinks that and now I cant convince others that I am right. [QUOTE=SaKa] <P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" ="Msonormal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-no-proof: no">Dear Autismworld,<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><O:P></O:P></SPAN>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" ="Msonormal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-no-proof: no">Are you in the autism spectrum. It sort of sounds like you are trying to tell us you are talking from experience? Are you trying to be contentious, or are you just having difficulties with putting your feelings into words due to your social difficulties.<O:P></O:P></SPAN>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" ="Msonormal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-no-proof: no"><O:P></O:P></SPAN>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" ="Msonormal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-no-proof: no">I think if you are in the spectrum, you might want to explain your background to the members of the forum. I have only been on the site for a few weeks, but the people seem to be concerned and caring, and I think if you try to explain where you are coming from, you will find a more positive reception. <O:P></O:P></SPAN>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" ="Msonormal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-no-proof: no"><O:P></O:P></SPAN>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" ="Msonormal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-no-proof: no">I am not sure of your motivation for this post, but I disagree with you. My son is 13, and his has ASD. He is a visual learner, and he thinks in pictures, not in text. It is my understanding that many people with ASD are visually oriented. Forcing him to conceptualize everything in text is not best for him. Perhaps that is something that worked well for you or someone you know, but that does not mean it is best for every child with ASD. Also, no matter how great technology is, there will come a time when it will get left behind on the school bus, or left at home, or the batteries won’t be charged, and the child will have to try to function without it. Verbal language skills go with you, and can’t be forgotten and left on the school bus. If a child is capable of learning to communicate verbally, even if it requires a lot of work, in my opinion it is worth it. <O:P></O:P></SPAN>[/QUOTE]
Indeed, one thing that should be important is that we should never rely on technology for our very survival. Unfortunatly I think society has already gotton to that point, but in the least communication VIA verbal conveying of information should always be taught over text conveying of info.
This seems off the subject, but I think makes a good point: While in the wilderness, far away from others anc civilization I often go for hikes and whatnot, to get away. I had a friend with me, who wanted me to turn on my GPS and walk far plotting points along the way. I told him that was a bad idea, because that would be placing our very life in that systems hands. If a failure were to occure, and its a complex system so many MANY things can go wrong (batteries die, unit shorts out, military turns off use for civilians) and then we are absolutly lost miles in the wilderness.
I think the use of technology for survival or even communication, while convinent now, can be a serious problem later and we should teach/learn skills that can help us manage even without it.
Yes, these were my thoughts too. My son is very active in scouting, and he sometimes goes hiking and camping (they do not always have access to electricity). I could not imagine him doing these things without language skills. And, I like my GPS, but I like having a campus and topo map too.
indeed, and so when the day comes that technology fails us and society collapses, we will at least be able to speek and no which direction is North, heheheheh
actually my children do not work better with text based resourses
my children are visual learners
i also have AS and i also am a visual learner so not all auties learn your way.
every child is differant
it seems you are trying to make a point of how we has parents should bring our autistic children up and that we should just let our children fester into nothingness though you yourself are still a child.
We teach our children in a way they cope with a way which intrests them
what one autistic child does another will not.
Language is one of the most fundamental parts of life and without it mistakes are made so i do not agree that people on the specteum prefer to type
as for pushing for speech
i will push till i have no stregth till my very being turns to dust.
i will push because i love
and i will push has hard has they can manage every single day
do not judge other parents for your thoughts we all will push or will die trying.
so please be nice
shell mum of 6 four on the spectrum i also have AS
Autismworld,
You mention in prior posts that you have two children on the spectrum, an older daughter and a younger son. Do either of your children use this type of technology? And if so, how are they doing with it?
Many of your posts read like "infomercials" and it's hard for me to discern whether you're trying to advertise here or whether you are speaking as a parent with real world experience with the particular subject that you're posting.
I think it would be helpful to all of us if you put posts like this one in context for us, especially with your own experiences. We can all go out and google away and discover a zillion things that might help our kids. What I'm looking for is insight from actual parents that have used various techniques, with some insight as to what worked, what didn't work and why.
Autism world
I am finding that your posts have a negative effect and feel that often other parents on this board take them as insulting. Please try and word your posts so they are not offensive. For many parents we try every therapy and thing possible that is best for our children.
Some autistic people, many in fact, find typing easier whether they can speak or not.
Some autistic people on the other hand find typing impossible and speech easier.
Some autistic people need other forms of communication.
Many are a combination of these things in different circumstances.
It is never as simple as some kind of formula and never will be.
On the other hand I don't think an outside person can ever entirely know which way is easier for their child. I went years with speech causing me intense pain and nobody including my family was aware, although a speech therapist could see it right away from the way my throat muscles moved with great strain while speaking, among other things. She could also hear remnants of my earlier speech impediment which very few laypeople can hear. Many people who know a person very well can think they know and not know, so I don't think it's accurate to ever say absolutely that you know from someone else what is easier or even how much of what they're saying they actually mean.
On the other hand, it's wrong also (inaccurate, I mean by wrong) to come on somewhere and tell everyone there that there is only one way autistic people find easy to communicate.
gtto,
Well spoken, one size never really fits all. It's a marketting gimmick, Especially so with our kids.
Concernedpa.
[QUOTE=gtto]Since I know that my site is being used to promote this idea, I want to say this --
Some autistic people, many in fact, find typing easier whether they can speak or not.
Some autistic people on the other hand find typing impossible and speech easier.
Some autistic people need other forms of communication.
Many are a combination of these things in different circumstances.
It is never as simple as some kind of formula and never will be.
On the other hand I don't think an outside person can ever entirely know which way is easier for their child. I went years with speech causing me intense pain and nobody including my family was aware, although a speech therapist could see it right away from the way my throat muscles moved with great strain while speaking, among other things. She could also hear remnants of my earlier speech impediment which very few laypeople can hear. Many people who know a person very well can think they know and not know, so I don't think it's accurate to ever say absolutely that you know from someone else what is easier or even how much of what they're saying they actually mean.
On the other hand, it's wrong also (inaccurate, I mean by wrong) to come on somewhere and tell everyone there that there is only one way autistic people find easy to communicate.
[/QUOTE]
Well said Amanda. I'm sorry about my previous post on here. My gripe was that it said all boys need this. Well I have two boys. One who actually has a voice output device for school. Yes he's a boy. My youngest on the other hand has some speech. It's echolic right now, but I hope that eventually his speech will develop into funcional language. If I were to get him a voice output device at this point, I think he might give up on trying to say new words and just let me machine talk for him. Maybe if the first post in this thread had read, "Attention parents of non verbal boys. Voice output devices might be a better way to go than traditional speech therapy." The wording of that original post really made me emotional and I typed without thinking. I'm just saying that the original post was too ambiguous. I'll let it rest now.
The problem is ... that is one of the biggest misconceptions about augmentative communication techniques out there.
All evidence is that they help someone use spoken language, not detract from it.
Unfortunately people believing the opposite end up with missing out on really important opportunities for their children because they believe that it will impair their children's speech.
One thing I do believe though is that if speech is not what is best for someone, and some other method is, then withholding it from them in order to force speech is going to potentially cause harm. That is sort of what was done to me when I stopped speaking as a child, and because of that I grew up learning that there was this painful thing that made my comprehension of the world worse and just in general made my life miserable, but that was required for some reason, which I only sometimes was able to understand because speech took so much effort.
I think children should be provided with a whole range of communication strategies. Children generally want to communicate. Children are more likely to learn what communication is for and to use it appropriately the more strategies are available to them to communicate. I don't think that a preference for one strategy over another should ever be used to force a certain form of communication over others based on other people's preferences. Children generally pick a communication strategy that works the best. And what works the best should be the issue. Not what is the most aesthetically appealing to others.
(I am not saying this is what you think, but when I think of this in my own life, I know there are actually people out there who find it more important that they hear air passing through my vocal cords in a certain way than that I am able to consistently communicate with them and understand the world around me and function better. I have a lot to say to them but very little of it is fit for printing in a public forum, because of what they would want to take away from me in the process.)
Okay one more post on this and then I promise to drop the topic. I am not saying in any way that text based systems are inferior to spoken language. If both of my boys are one day able to have a conversation only with voice output devices, so be it. If the only way my kids will ever be able to tell me I love you is through an instant messenger, I'll take it. I love the fact that the school is starting Brendon off with one already, and it's something I didn't have to fight for. I was ready to if the need arose. I knew that Brendon would be able to communicate his needs better with a device like this. I see your point Amanda. I do want to say that I'm not one of those people who make their child say a word before I give them what they want. If they can express to me in any way, "Hey I want some chips," I give them chips. If it's by bringing me an empty container, or by saying the word, "chip", or by taking me by the hand and leading me to the chip cabinet, I "listen" and I "hear" what they are saying to me. And thanks Amanda, I love to listen to you.If you have a son with autism,give him a keyboard to communicate with. There are lots of autistics online who communicate by typing rather than speaking. The author of the blog at www.ballastexistenz.autistics.org is one such autistic. I recommend reading her blog.
In general, even if an autistic can speak .We still find text-based communication easier, so stop trying to push speech if you have been, and find him a good text-to-speech communicator.Yeah the person on the bellastexistenz site is our GTTO. She's been a member here for a long time. Thanks for that little heads up though...I'm sure most of us don't know our own kids enough to know whether they need a text to speech communicator. Okay...I'm starting to get a little annoyed so I'm going to go ahead and log out now. Just....don't....parents on here have enough to worry about without posts like this one to come along and clog up the day.
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