Speech Issues

[Stevie1903]

hello. I am 42 years old and was diagnosed with Aspergers just over a year ago. Throughout my life I have been a quiet talker and mumble rather a lot. The reason for this thread is this.

Over the past few weeks/months I have noticed I am getting worse at forgetting words and names. I am also increasingly use the wrong words in a sentence when speaking. For example today I spoke about a caveman when I meant to say man cave. There are numerous examples, probably better than that but my memory is poor!

Can anyone else relate to this? Is this AS related or likely to be something totally different?

 

[Suzanne]

Hi there, I am 45 and not officially diagnosed and do not intend to be!

I can speak badly when I am under stress or just plain anxious and especially with strangers. Some that I know but do not feel totally comfortable with, I will stutter, go red and forget my words and spit; all of which I could die of embarrassment from.

There was a time actually and that was not so long ago ie about 3 year's ago I suppose, that it was like my words were blanked out and even when I spoke, it felt like it was coming from far away! Thank heavens, that episode has gone and I do wonder if it was related to prozac that I was taking, which I know longer take. And I think 3 year's is wrong; more like 5 lol

My short term memory is dire. My long term memory is almost photographic. I can close my eyes and if I concentrate, I can picture what I need to remember. My husband always says that if he needs to remember a conversation, he would bring me into the room to be his memory. I do take gingko Bilbao though, for bad circulation and it is renowned for improving the memory; but I have always had a great memory, even before I started taking this natural medication.

Oh I always get my words mixed up. And take not so long ago, when I was talking about someone who claims to be evolutionist, I go and say: archeologist and the worst part, was it was in front on not just my husband, which is not so bad, but another man and it was the other man, who picked up on it and started to laugh and I am pretty sure they did not mean to make me feel like an air head, but sadly, that is how I felt and it echoed in my head for the rest of the day and I felt so stupid!

 

[Stevie1903]

Suzanne, thanks.

My short term memory is also dire. My long term is pretty good especially for correcting my wife!
I have noticed recently my words are becoming increasingly mixed up and now to the point it is becoming more obvious. I'm getting increasingly frustrated.

 

[Judge]

As Suzanne mentioned, just the scenario of real-time conversation with people in person can cause me to slur words, or even to occasionally forget my train of thought. That the stress of such a conversation can be problematic in any number of ways where otherwise it might not even be an issue.

Sometimes I do wonder that my life has become much too "compartmentalized". That living in isolation and preferred routine tends to shrink my thought processes at times. Which may impact my memory and frame of reference. That more obscure things may get "misplaced" in my mind if they aren't popping up with any frequency.

Meaning while I have seen any caves recently, I may have inadvertently seen a caveman or two either in a movie or television commercial. So I recollect one rather than the other.

Or perhaps in my case I'm just getting old.

 

[Datura]

I hate to sound alarmist, but I would get that checked out. You are a bit young to be experiencing dementia, but it does occasionally happen to people prematurely, for various reasons.

More likely, given your age, it is stress related.

As for speech issues in general; I used to suffer a severe stutter in my early adolecence. The issue abated somewhat in my later teens, but remained with me until I graduated high school. I still stutter sometimes, especially pending major life changes.

I have also experienced the sensations of losing my nouns. Sometimes a word will simply elude me. Often it is a proper noun, or technical term, but other times it is something completely common place, like "fire hydrant" or "SUV." Again, stress and over-stimulation increase the likelihood of this happening.

 

[On the Inside]

I am in my late forties, and have had problems with slow, stammering speech most of my life. It is worse when I am under some kind of pressure, though it disappears at other times. I'm terrified of the idea of public speaking, but I've been able to work sales jobs related to my interests, been able to speak on informational videos for projects I've worked on, and given presentations on some of my work projects. But challenge me and my thinking and the wheels start to come off.

I have to know a topic upside down and inside out to have the confidence to speak clearly.

I do have some memory/recall issues. Especially if the conversation is about something that I'm not very familiar with. I get stumped on what word I'm wanting to use. I don't seem to have full consciousness of what I'm going to be saying, but I'm aware of what I want to get across. This kind of trips me up and I get flustered.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Dyspraxia, the mixer upper of words and sender of the tongue offline. And likely the causes of the bruises on your shins and forearms. It could also be another processing issue messing with your verbal communication, but I like to blame it on the dyspraxia. Especially when it and anxiety decide to become buddy-buddy. I usually end up swapping the first letters or syllables in words when mine strikes like a hidden snake.

 

[Stevie1903]

I am in my late forties, and have had problems with slow, stammering speech most of my life. It is worse when I am under some kind of pressure, though it disappears at other times. I'm terrified of the idea of public speaking, but I've been able to work sales jobs related to my interests, been able to speak on informational videos for projects I've worked on, and given presentations on some of my work projects. But challenge me and my thinking and the wheels start to come off.

I have to know a topic upside down and inside out to have the confidence to speak clearly.

I do have some memory/recall issues. Especially if the conversation is about something that I'm not very familiar with. I get stumped on what word I'm wanting to use. I don't seem to have full consciousness of what I'm going to be saying, but I'm aware of what I want to get across. This kind of trips me up and I get flustered.

I can relate to so much of your experiences. Thank you.

 

[Progster]

I don't know whether it's related to AS or not, but I also stutter, forget words of sometimes mix them up when anxious or under pressure. I think it's a symptom of (social) anxiety which a lot of people face, not just those with AS, but I think depression can also slow people's thinking up and cause such symptoms.

 

[epath13]

hello. I am 42 years old and was diagnosed with Aspergers just over a year ago. Throughout my life I have been a quiet talker and mumble rather a lot. The reason for this thread is this.

Over the past few weeks/months I have noticed I am getting worse at forgetting words and names. I am also increasingly use the wrong words in a sentence when speaking. For example today I spoke about a caveman when I meant to say man cave. There are numerous examples, probably better than that but my memory is poor!

Can anyone else relate to this? Is this AS related or likely to be something totally different?

I would suggest to see a neurologist, just in case.

I have similar issues (forget words, say words wrong, sometimes I also forget who a person is). I only have it during a migraine , as for the words, I can have issues during a migraine or after sensory overload.

 

[MicroWeiss]

i pretty much always call people the wrong name. but that's because i just don't care what their names are, or my names for them seem better to me.

it could be something else for you though, like stress or anything different in your environment. when i notice abrupt changes in myself i like to do a process of elimination and see what other things in my life have changed. for example when i got a new job once i started getting sick, slowly, over the course of 3 months, until i was feeling seriously ill, but i knew the change had come on gradually, so i looked at environmental factors at my new workplace, and discovered that drinking their unfiltered water in my coffee every day was really bad for me. after that i started bringing my own coffee to work and got back to normal.