Blog about lived language development experience
Youth advisor Megan explains her experience as an autistic person with lanaguage development.
Did you experience any delays or differences in learning to talk compared to others?
I have had a language delay since I was a toddler, I couldn’t form simple sentences or say certain words and sounds.
It was much harder in school, especially trying to start a conversation, and even if I tried to communicate with my peers, they would make fun of me, which caused me to have incidents of bullying. It was much harder for the staff to understand me due to my speed of talking as I spoke quite fast.
Do you feel more comfortable communicating through speech , writing , sign language , or another method?
The method I feel the most comfortable with is writing as I found it very easy to put my thoughts on paper or even in an email to get my opinions down. Sometimes I miss out on the important facts while I am talking whereas writing helps me get everything down. Sometimes I use Makaton signing, such as at work when I support young people, or when I’m out in a busy environment like the supermarket.
What strategies or tools ( if any) have helped you with communication?
As a teenager at school, I created a number line on cardboard from 1 to 10 which means number 1, I am speaking slow, and number 10, I am speaking fast, this would help me visualise the speed I was talking at. By the time I got through school I didn’t need to use it as I now listen to music when I do speeches which allows me to slow down before I talk.
What do you wish teachers , parents , or peers had understood about your language development?
In school, I wish my peers knew that they needed to give me time to communicate and not laugh at me because I couldn’t pronounce certain words, and I do have emotions when they laugh at me. I wanted them to understand that I have a voice and even though I get frustrated that I can’t finish a sentence or miss out on key events , I still want to talk, so they should give me time.
I would have liked for teachers to give people time to think before they communicate, and to not rush them as this can make them forget what they want to talk about which can lead to frustration. Give them tools to support them with their language development like a five-minute rule e.g. give them five minutes to think about what they want to say and then give them five minutes to finish their conversation.
If you could change one thing about how people communicate with you, what would it be?
One change in how people communicate with me is to give me time and be patient as it will take me time to say what I want to say due to the processing and language development I have.
Megan is a youth network member who’s taken on the role of Youth Advisor for the Autistic and OK programme. Megan enjoys practising Makaton for her workplace, participating in Youth Network opportunities and writing her blog on social media to advocate for autistic people.
