Articulate

[Violette88]

I don't even know how to clearly articulate this thread so please don't be offended by my generalisations or anything, but some aspies/auties have such a large vocabulary and a very fluent way of speaking. Others find it much more difficult to articulate their thoughts into words. I was wondering what you have done to improve your communication? If you have felt the need to.
I know I have valid things to say but it rarely comes out properly. I think this has gotten worse since i changed schools. I would like to know how other people have learnt to improve this skill.

 

[DanR]

I find myself sometimes on one, sometimes on the other side of that fence. When I am blessed with equanimity, my language comes easily and fluidly. I teach highly technical topics to adults for a living, and so this works well for me. However, when my mind is not at rest, or when there’s conflict, or when somebody discusses emotional things, or somebody discusses things emotionally, or if there’s TV or music playing, I find it difficult to maintain concentration. Just as those outside intrusions are uncontrollable, so is my reaction to them. It’s not a voluntary reaction; I just get tongue-tied.

As far as being able to articulate, I think I have an easier time than many (including NTs) because I found reading the dictionary interesting as a kid. Without intention, I increased my vocabulary. My parents bought “Hardy Boys” novels for me, but I’d always head for the Miriam-Webster. I loved finding a word new to me, and especially so when the definition was full of words I didn’t know. I still remember when I stumbled on “epicalyx” - I was in heaven!

“epicalyx: an involucre resembling the calyx but consisting of a whorl of bracts that is exterior to the calyx or results from the union of the sepal appendages.”

Wow! After I read the definition, I didn’t know a thing more than I did before I read it, except that I had a list!

Another thing that has helped is my choice in authors of my reading material. C.S. Lewis and Ravi Zacharias are my two favorite authors. They both create full sentences, the way Americans just don’t any more. Sentences with full thoughts – sentences that go on for a paragraph because that’s what’s required to convey such complex thoughts. And not run-on sentences either! Did you ever read the first sentence of the American Declaration of Independence? Seventy-one words – now that’s a thought!

Anyway, that’s what’s helped me, I think: equanimity, the dictionary, and being mindful of the mind that wrote what I’m reading.

 

[Guppyfry]

I've always loved to read and being a voracious reader has helped increase my vocabulary and improve my communication skills. I don't know if it's an Aspie thing, or just a Guppyfry me thing, but when I was seven years old and starting 2nd grade, we spent a year in the US for my father's work. I didn't speak a word of English at the time, but within 2 or 3 three months, I was given special permission to sign out books from the section that was reserved for the 6th graders, my reading comprehension was so advanced within just a few months of learning English - my 3rd language (Hungarian and French were the other two languages I grew up with.)

In my 20's I practiced verbal/communication skills by watching TV and practicing the scenes on my own. Soaps were very useful for this, though the shows were idiotic, the exaggerated drama and usual over-acting made it easier to notice and pick-up on the subtleties of language and reproduce them.

 

[4gottenLoreKali]

Please don't take this as me coming off as arrogant, but people have always told me I have a way with words. They mainly say I a huge vocabulary and a lot of creativity with describing things using sensory detail (as in word pictures). I've also been told that I make creative metaphors. I've more-or-less always had a passion for writing, my head is often drowning in ideas for fictional universes and the characters that populate them. It should be little surprise that I'm an English major.

I attribute this affinity for language mainly due to my dad's side of the family being the more literate and artsy one and the fact that I spent the earliest years of my childhood playing in my grandmother's real estate office. She was always on the phone and used a lot of complex words on a regular basis in conversations with her agents and prospective tenants. Also, in elementary school the special ed people had me see a speech therapist. I thought most of the stuff she made me do was tedious and unnecessary, however she had a deck of flashcards about idioms (sayings such as "throw in the towel" and "at the drop of a hat"), which she taught me because before I took them literally and was lost on their meaning. In hindsight I really appreciated the lessons involving the idiom cards, I found them really useful.

In general find I have a lot more ease communicating with written language than speech. I know that if anyone ever wanted to do an interview with me (if I became a musician or something like that) I'd insist that it be done via email as opposed to over the phone or in-person. This is because when you're typing or writing you have the space to really flesh out your thoughts and tweak your wordage before submitting a response, whereas when you speak aloud you have to worry about things like staying in turn, enunciating each word, not saying "ummm" every other syllable, and so on. I hate being put on the spot.