Aspergers and Speech Difficulties
Approximately 50% of kids with Aspergers have delayed speech. While many kids grow out of this by age five, others go on to experience other language difficulties. These generally fall into one or more of the following three areas of linguistics: 1. Pragmatics— Pragmatics refers to language usage and the way that context relates to meaning. Kids with Aspergers often have difficulty in holding a normal conversation where there is give and take and social interaction. While most people learn these skills by observing others, those with Aspergers may need personal coaching. Problems with pragmatics manifest in the following forms: does not allow the other person to talk does not use people’s names focuses exclusively on topics that interest them gives too much detailed information interrupting others lack of facial expression and eye contact lack of greeting oblivious to boredom in others oblivious to emotional reactions in others 2. Semantics— Semantics is