I recently got involved with autistic adults. My question is, is it normal for them to "hear voices"? I understand the aggressive behavior is normal, but he will talk to "thin air" about not doing "bad things". He will state "don't touch me" when no one is around and will literally drawn himself into a ball. I was just wondering if this was normal with autism as I am learning as I go. Thanks for any advice.

-- PJ Krenz (PJKRENZ@aol.com), December 29, 2000

Answers

Hi!

I'm Jeanne. My 14-year old son has high-functioning autism, or "Asperger's Syndrom." No, it's not normal for autistics or Aspies to hear voices, which could be a sign of schizophrenia.

HOWEVER!!!

It could be the person talking to himself, trying to sort things out. As they are unaware of social issues, including acceptable social behavior, this person may have developed a way of tuning into their thoughts by speaking them outloud, NOT KNOWING OTHERS FIND THAT STRANGE. Not a bad idea for someone who has an "overcrowded" brain, full of noises and touch sesations and flashing lights and smells. That is how an autistic/AS views the word, as a crazy, over-crowded, noisy, over-sensed place where it's hard to get a thought in edge-wise before being crowded out with all this other junk, which their brains never learned to tune down.

I hope this helps you some. I am impressed you even wanted to ask! Keep up the learning, and you'll be a great asset to these people!

-- Jeanne Dunn (engineer@ces-1.com), January 11, 2001.