Elements of the Autistic Dialect

Echolalia:

Autistic communication involves repeating back sounds and phrases, which relates to our bottom-up processing and Gestalt language acquisition. For some Autistics, this is a primary form of communication, and for others it may be more subtle. We may have a catch phrase or frequently quote people and characters.

Stimming:

There are many ways we stim with language, but some popular ones are: wordplay, puns, whistling, humming, rhyming, singing, and signature sounds (think: honks, whistles, funny voices).

Mazing:

We don’t often speak in a tidy line, instead we take the scenic route with lots of loops, veers, and u-turns. To us, this isn’t getting side-tracked, rather it’s a form of enhanced information sharing for further understanding. To those who are culturally competent, our language mazes convey a great deal of information and another layer of depth to our communication. 

Gestures:

Autistics physically process thoughts and emotions which results in rich communication through gestures. Hand flapping is a common one that has a lot of detail and nuance, and can convey different meanings with subtle shifts. For instance, we might have one hand flap gesture for when we’re annoyed and another one for when we’re delighted.

(Hand flapping is frequently misunderstood by allistics, which is odd, because they utilize a fairly similar motion of fist pumping that can be used to convey a wide variety of emotions based on context and facial expressions, such as, “I support you,” “You jerks!,” or “Yes, we won!”).

Special interests (SPINs):

For Autistics, interests aren’t a passive thing—they’re often vehicles for understanding, interacting, and regulating. They apply to every part of our lives and become the lenses that help us to see more clearly, and (for those who are looking) it helps others to see us more clearly too. An autistic who SPINs on the Victorian Era, England, may speak with some of the language from Downton Abbey, whereas someone who has an interest in Star Trek might interject in Klingon.

Tone:

Shifts in volume and speed are primarily used to convey tone rather than pitch and rhythm variation. When we’re excited, we may speak so quickly that we forget to breathe and then have to gasp for air before we can keep going. 

Respect Differences:

Many of these elements overlap and interplay to weave a varied, complex, nuanced, and distinct dialect. The Autistic dialect has value and is part of language diversity.  It does not need to be fixed—it needs to be respected.

*And it’s freakin’ delightful!

Learn about Autistic Terms and Vocabulary.