My brother is autistic and reading?

Question

My brother is 11, and my mom left town for a conference or something, so he came to stay at my house for the 300 words long, although he understands other when they speak. Although, I found my him looking at my chemistry 20 book, and it seems as though he understood what it said. So, I started showing him othweekend. He is somewhat verbal (he speaks like a 2 year old) he uses short, one or two word sentences, and I believe his vocabulary is only about er forms of text, and he seemed to understand those to (was able to carry out simple, written instructions). Is this normal?

I don't really know much about autism, it's sort nofa taboo subject t my mom's house (terrible I know) and then I moved out, and now it is more so. I don't mean to sound ignorant, but is it normal for an autistic child who barely speaks to be able to read?

Answer 1

My little brother is 11 and is somewhat verbal. He can read though just fine. His comprehension of what he is reading is not the best and his expressive skills are not the best. For instance when showed a picture of a wheelchair he said "Go for ride hospital". He knew what it was used for but not the name.

He is very smart but autistic and so he is locked in his own brain in many ways. My brother talks about like a 4 year old or maybe a 3 year old.

I am sorry it is taboo in your home. It would make a more pleasant home to understand it and help it. If autism is taboo then your brother may feel he is taboo too.

Most of the kids I know with autism are much more intelligent than their families or teachers give them credit for.

Autism is not taboo in my house. My brother knows he has it. He knows something he has makes it difficult for him and makes him different and that difference is ok.

Answer 2

I'm very much not surprised. Lots of autistics can read even when we can't talk. Even those of us who can talk are often more comfortable with text.

If he can read he likely will be able to write/type. If he doesn't have an effective form of communication (and from the sounds of it he doesn't), then that might be *very* useful for him.

Good luck, and I hope you can find a way for your mother to get some sense and listen to the concept. It will suck if he has something he can use but isn't able to because she's unwilling to see reality.

Answer 3

My video on Asperger's (a type of autism) might help you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbgUjmeC-...

Answer 4

Autism can strongly affect a person's verbal skills, yet it does not necessarily impair their intelligence. Also, most autistic people have an extremely strong point that makes them appear to be gifted. Your brother's may be related to understanding complex science and/or equations. Try to teach him to make the best of his talents.

Answer 5

I work with autistic children at my job. Often, children with autism are extreamly intellegent. Their disability mainly lies in communication. It is difficult for them to express verbally what they want or need. Often they are far more advanced than children their own age. So yes this is normal for him. Keep encouraging him to read. He is gifted and talented, and will most likely excel in reading and language!

Answer 6

Do not associate speech with intelligents Just because he does not talk doesn't mean he is not smart. I have a brother with autism and a brother with down syndrome. their speech is a bit behind but they are very smart.  



Yea they can be very surprising my little bro is 8 and he can play very complex video games and is smart but seems unable to have just normal conversations like small talk.

Answer 7

Ok, I'm glad to see you're not burying your head in the sand like your mother, and making an effort to understand: even though you don't know much about what you're observing, at least you're observing and wondering, as opposed to just ignorantly assuming.

The most important differences those on the autistic spectrum (for this issue) have are how they process sensory input and output, including non-verbal communication.  Look up something called "sensory overload" as that's a major factor: when in sensory overload (which can come from internal sources, such as emotions and feeling ill, as well as externally-based stimuli) it's much harder to make sense of what's coming in, and much harder to process correctly what's being put out: you can liken it to the effect of trying to understand someone's speech when the microphone they're using is too close to the speaker, and it goes into a feedback loop, because what you can hear and make sense out of is about as clear.  This, too, applies to the quite complex (definitely when you've got that issue) task of speech, because you simply can't process things to either hear what you're saying properly, or to control how to move the mouth and tongue or sense where things are at properly.  I'm a 36 year-old adult male with Asperger's Syndrome, and I also have an autistic older sister (classic kind, but very verbal) and an autistic nephew (also classic kind, also very verbal) and they both read and write (my sister has the neatest handwriting, and writes a lot: I have the balance to her handwriting, which is encrypted, and... I also write a lot).  I'm also a bit dyslexic, but rarely do others see how many typed mistakes I make, because I catch them really fast :)  (handwriting is a nightmare, even signing my own name correctly:  I HATE writing checks).  By your brother's age, I was doing 2*3 digit number long division and multiplication in my head, and didn't occur to me when I started doing it that others couldn't  readily do it :P  I was also reading at a high school reading level, and the school system got me a tutor from the local university to start teaching me algebra and other higher math before I got out of sixth grade.

So, tell me: if it's a PITA to try to talk to anyone because you can't vocalize in a manner that others can readily understand, wouldn't you find yourself (if possible) reading everything you could get your hands on to keep from going nuts? :)  I'd strongly encourage you to see how well you can get him to write, or use sign language: if he can't process things the way that's required for speech, he needs to have some other viable way to communicate as much as possible.  If he's not already online, you should help him get online, and help him learn to type: it's clear he's going to need to do that, even more than most.  There's probably far more autistic people online than you'd expect, and there are those online that are non-verbal and thus labeled "low-functioning" that are very good writers, and I'll provide a link to a site where you can find a site by autistics for autistics, and not all are verbal.  I think you'd be well-served to read all the stuff there, and be aware that not all is happy reading.