How does autism affect language?

How does autism affect language?

Firstly, what is autism?
It's a brain disorder and autism begins in early childhood and persists throughout adulthood affecting three crucial areas of development: verbal and nonverbal communication, social interaction, and creative or imaginative play.

How Do Speech and Language Normally Develop?

By 18 months of age most children can say 8 to 10 words and, by age 2, are putting words together in crude sentences such as "more food." During this period children rapidly learn that words symbolize or represent objects, actions, and thoughts. At this age they also engage in representational or pretend play.
 At ages three, four, and five a child's vocabulary rapidly increases, and he or she begins to master the rules of language. These rules include the rules of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics prosody, and pragmatics.
 

The communication problems of autism vary, depending upon the intellectual and social development of the individual. Some may be unable to speak at all, whereas others may have rich vocabularies and are able to talk about topics of interest in great depth.

 Despite this variation, the majority of autistic individuals have little or no problem with pronunciation. Most have difficulty effectively using language. Many also have problems with word and sentence meaning, intonation, and rhythm.

 

 

What Are the Communication Problems of Autism?

Those who can speak often say things that have no content or information. For example, an autistic individual may repeatedly count from one to ten, or repeat the alphabet. Others use echolalia, a repetition of something previously heard.
 One form, immediate echolalia, may occur when the individual repeats the question, "Do you want something to drink?" instead of replying with a "yes" or "no." In another form called delayed echolalia, an individual may say, "Do you want something to drink?" whenever he or she is asking for a drink.
Others may use stock phrases such as, "My name is Tom," to start a conversation, even when speaking with friends or family.
 
The most useful source of information I found was a book called " Autism a guide for parents and professionals" In it I found how autism affects people's language, while on the internet I found mostly what is autism and how to help someone with it.
 
I also have a close relative who has autism and it gave me the chance to understand more about communication and autism in a closer perspective.
Monica Nobrega