Some of you have read about the upcoming release of my book, Look Me in the Eye. I'm a 50-year-old Aspergian from Massachusetts.
I recorded the audio book to accompany my print book, and I've got a 5-minute sample on my website. If you have a moment, please listen to it and see if you recognize the (my) voice.
I have gotten a number of emails from parents whose autistic children have "recognized" the voice. Is there a distinctive voice pattern to Aspergians? I wonder. If you're Aspergian, please listen and tell me what you think.
Look at
http://jerobison.blogspot.com on the right side of the page, half way down.
Guardian001, the first time my editor talked to Temple Grandin, she said, "You two sound just alike." And when I spoke to her, I agreed. I found it fascinating, the idea that the way I might pause or emphasize words is not something unique to me, but a product of an Aspergian mind.
Guardian001, the first time my editor talked to Temple Grandin, she said, "You two sound just alike." And when I spoke to her, I agreed. I found it fascinating, the idea that the way I might pause or emphasize words is not something unique to me, but a product of an Aspergian mind.
my voice sounds funny when its tape... soft and strange to my ears. i have a very soft voice i have to yell to get my point across sometimes.
that you reading?same kind of funny sound to your voice.
Yes, Guardian, it's me reading. Listen to the spacing of words, the pauses. My theory is that's the Aspergian speech pattern, if it exists. What do you think?
Listen to a recent recording of Temple, and I think you'll hear a similarity.
Is your voice similar? In what ways?
Lucie, that expressiveness really came into my voice in the past 5 years. I'm 50 now. At 22 I sounded much more robotic.
Hello,
Interesting thought; I noticed that many Asperger’s children and adolescences around my age (I do not know any other people with Asperger’s outside of those age groups) sounded alike, either to each other and/or to me. A lot of it was sometimes the way they communicated, i.e. in a highly formal manner (this is well-documented in medical literature), yet I also noticed they often had lisps (I have a lisp) that were often similar in sound to each other. The first person I ever met with Asperger’s sounded just like me, in linguistic structure and tone.
Thinking back to what I have read in my continuing meager study of Autism, I remember a lot of reliable sources mentioned odd speech pattern and tone, yet no source elaborated. I wonder if there are ‘common’ tones among people with Asperger’s Syndrome.
Will
here a link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSwbxNDqIO0
Hello,
Interestingly, when I give presentations to my class some have complimented me specifically on my expressiveness and clear pronunciation (despite the lisp), similar to what several people are saying here. It is the voice I use whenever giving a presentation or reading aloud in school.
Will
Batman, I would say that many texts say that Aspergers is found across the range of intelligence and capabilities.
But I would also say that you may be young, and you may not have learned that some of what you see as deficits may actually be beneficial, because you may not understand how they might help certain activities.
My book speaks quite a lot about this, and a number of reviewers (including Daniel Tammet and Temple Grandin) picked up on it.
When I speak (not read) I can go one of many ways... if I am completely comfortable with my ideas on the topic and they are all thought out already, I can speak very fast and go on and on and people say I 'light up' in a way that is dramatically different. When I am talking about something where my thoughts are still forming, my voice can be jerky and monotone as the words are being translated from my thoughts into communication. I often have a difficult time figuring out the exact words I want to say and put them together in a way that expresses what I'm thinking. (it's usually when I talk with pauses like that that people interrupt me and my thought process gets all screwed up and I get mad, discouraged or confused)
Thank you so much for sharing, I will most likely be reading this book...
I tend to speak much the same way as you, except that at home, my son tells me that my conversations are hard to follow, as I often speak as if the first part of the sentence has already been said ( I probably thought I had ) & will commence another one partway through the first.
My problem with eye contact is too much, I tend to look intensely at people, which of course makes them uncomfortable. I have to force myself to look away on occasion.
I cannot look someone in the eyes if I don't like them.
I will also likely be reading the book .
I'm actually surprised how smooth I sound on that recording as compared to casual taping. But what I was really referring to orignally was emphasis and intonation, things like that. But who knows what it is that people pick up on?
Some of you have read about the upcoming release of my book, Look Me in the Eye. I'm a 50-year-old Aspergian from Massachusetts.
I recorded the audio book to accompany my print book, and I've got a 5-minute sample on my website. If you have a moment, please listen to it and see if you recognize the (my) voice.
I have gotten a number of emails from parents whose autistic children have "recognized" the voice. Is there a distinctive voice pattern to Aspergians? I wonder. If you're Aspergian, please listen and tell me what you think.
Look at
http://jerobison.blogspot.com on the right side of the page, half way down.
This is what I would sound like with an American accent - I would not have said that five years ago, but I have spent the last four years working for a type of helpline, and I get to hear recordings of myself
I wonder if alcohol is a way of self medicating.
I drink far too much and have made a vow to cut down, any support greatfully recieved 