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When children with autism speak they sound different from most people. Their speech usually follows one of several characteristic patterns: Some talk in a flat, toneless voice, others in an exaggerated, hyper way that doesn’t match the subject matter.
- How Prosody Works
- Why Autistic People Can Find Prosody Confusing
- Why Prosody Matters
- Resources For Improving Use and Understanding of Prosody
Prosody is an important tool used to communicate meaning. In fact, without an understanding of prosody, it's easy to misunderstand another person's words completely. To better understand how prosody works (and why it's so important), try saying the word "really" five times in a row, changing the meaning each time as follows: 1. How cool is that! 2....
When autistic people use spoken language, they usually use it quite literally. As a result, speech that's used for sarcasm, irony, idiom, metaphor, and simile may go right over their heads, as do subtle differences in meaning. It's easy to understand why this would be the case. Prosody is learned through observation and imitation rather than throug...
Many autistic people with verbal skills have high IQsand huge vocabularies. Therefore, difficulties with prosody and language use aren't always obvious. The outcome of their "hidden" language limitations is that conversational partners may be unintentionally offended or confused, resulting in hurt feelings and negative interactions. For example, th...
There are no full-fledged therapies developed to help autistic people overcome their prosody challenges. Experimental approaches are under investigation. If you are interested in possible directions for improving prosody, you may wish to explore: 1. Music therapyto work on rhythm and pitch 2. Pragmatic speech therapyto expand conversational skills ...
One of the common markers of autism is to speak with what’s known as a “flat affect” which basically means not varying your tone of voice. However, not all autistic people do this and it’s not a requirement for diagnosis.
Sep 25, 2024 · High-pitched or flat intonation: Some autistic children speak in a high-pitched or sing-song voice, or may sound flat and robotic. Recitation: It is not uncommon for autistic children to recite lines from a movie word-for-word, or talk endlessly about a favorite topic that is irrelevant to the larger conversation.
Some may speak in a flat, monotone voice; others may use unusual modulation or stress different words or parts of words in their speech; and some may speak at an increased volume.
Jul 4, 2024 · Autistic individuals, who sometimes speak in a flat tone or with an atypical pitch, may be misunderstood or even shunned when they don’t adhere to expected speech patterns. Research suggests impaired speech patterns like “abnormal” use of prosody could impact social communication, leading to difficulty making and keeping friends.
Sep 5, 2022 · Other people with ASD have been described as having robotic speech. This is the opposite of sing-song speech. With robotic speech, the person on the spectrum speaks with a flat pitch or tone of voice, which may make them sound pedantic or disinterested, even when they’re not.
