Hi everyone, I’m Amythest and welcome to Ask an Autistic.
Scripting is a topic that has been requested by quite a few people and I am excited to tackle it today
But first I need to clear up any confusion, I am going to be addressing two similar but
different behaviours today and I have heard both of them being referred to as scripting.
So I’ll be giving an overview of these two kinds of scripting.
The first kind is what I refer to as echolalial scripting and the second is what I refer to
as social scripting. So two distinct autistic behaviours but I’ve heard the same word
used to describe both of them.
Echolalial scripting is well-known amongst the parents of autistic children and it is
sometimes referred to as “TV talk”. Echolalial scripting is similar to simple echolalia,
but echolalia is usually the repetition of single words or phrases whereas echolalial
scripting is more like the recitation of longer passages of dialogue from books or movies
or audio-media or whatever. Echolalia scripting I think is very misunderstood.
A lot of neurotypical parents don’t like it because it is again, like stimming, one
of those obviously autistic behaviours. I also feel like it is misunderstood in that
a lot of neurotypical people believe that when autistic children or adults are engaging
in echolalial scripting they’re not engaged socially and you know they are “in their
own little world”. For myself and for the autistic children and people that I’ve known,
that’s not really the case. In fact, echolalial scripting, while it is often used for enjoyment,
like stimming, just because it’s fun, it can also be a method of expression and of
social, if not interaction, then at least engagement. You know, I am here, and I am
present with you.
For example, an autistic child who is sitting at the dinner table with their family and
the family is talking about what happened during their day, and, you know, their opinions
on this TV show or this movie or whatever, and if the autistic child keeps interjecting
with scripting, echolalial scripting, saying lines from a movie or a book, the family might
get annoyed or think that that child isn’t paying attention. But the child is actually
engaging with you right now.
While echolalial scripting is fun and enjoyable for autistic people, I myself particularly
enjoy reciting dialogue from Lilo and Stitch when I am in a good mood, it can also be used
as a method of expression. But this method of expression or even communication is often
overlooked or misunderstood by neurotypical people. I have found that, especially in emotionally
charged situations, I find myself repeating dialogue or quotations from a book or a movie
that I feel is somehow applicable to me, to my needs or wants in that moment. And while
in that moment I am unable to direct my thoughts into my own words, so to speak, I am able
to express via familiar and comforting lines of dialogue from movies or books. And I think
later that I WAS communicating, you know, when I was close to meltdown or when I was
very frustrated. What I, what I kept repeating, whatever line or quotation was applicable,
just maybe not in a very linear way. So I think that if you start to think of it as
not only something enjoyable like stimming, but also as a potential form of communication
and expression, then you can start to watch. “In what situations does my daughter do
that script?” or “In what situations does my son use echolalial scripting more?”.
And maybe this certain phrase means that he’s happy and excited.
And so I guess what I want to say is while echolalial scripting is often just for enjoyment,
because it’s fun, it feels good, autistic children will have their favourite scripts
that they say over and over and that’s fine and it’s great and it’s actually good
for them in their development. But echolalial scripting also has the possibility to be a
method of expression and even a way to make needs met. Even if this form of expression
and communication isn’t at first easily decipherable or very “normal”.
The second kind of scripting, I refer to as social scripting. And I feel like this is
more applicable to autistic teenagers and adults, but autistic children will start to
use scripts from a very very young age. For myself, it’s how I learnt how to verbally
communicate. I would speak using phrases and quotations from Disney movies, and eventually
graduating into longer and longer scripts. Then, when I was about 3 or 4, I started to
have needs beyond what I could make met with echolalial scripting from Disney movies. And
so I started to kind of piece together what I heard in movies, conversational dialogue,
and what people were saying around me. And through this cutting and pasting, I graduated
into speaking with what neurotypical people like to call “my own words”. Now I’ve
heard social scripting referred to as insincere and even rude and I want to make it clear
that autistic people, we don’t use social scripts because we don’t like you. If we
greet you the same way every morning, it’s because that is how it’s easiest for us
to communicate. We could spend tons of brain energy every morning coming up with a new
way to say hello, or we could stick to our social script that we have memorised and that
we feel comfortable with. The fact that we are communicating with you at all, making
an effort to verbally communicate and to socialise, it’s something I feel shouldn’t be overlooked.
Neurotypical people use social scripting. You know, somebody who passes you in the hallway,
at church or on the street, they say “how are you doing?”, you say “I’m fine thanks,
how are you?”.
These are ingrained phrases and words that neurotypical people just automatically say,
you know, it’s kind of the socially acceptable response. For autistic people, it’s not
automatic. These social scripts are helpful for us because if we know what to expect,
we can feel confident and secure that we can go through our bank of memorised social scripts,
and we can know what we are going to say next.
I feel like parents also get too hang up on trying to teach their child to speak in their
own words and not to be dependent on social scripts. Many autistic people, when they are
finally comfortable with someone, which can honestly take months or years, they will start
to express themselves in a way that is natural to them. And that could be everything from
non-verbal communication like stimming, or it could be using echolalial scripting to
enjoy a shared experience together. Or it can be just their own
words, so to speak. But chances are that autistic people’s “own words” won’t sound like
what neurotypical people’s “own words” are. The fact is that autistic brains are
different. And so you have to decide. As a parent, do you want your autistic child to
say socially acceptable things, or do you want them to express themselves. Because chances
are, if an autistic child gets to choose how they express themselves, they may greet people
with facts about blue whales, or they may answer “what’s your name?” with a happy
humming sound and then hand-flapping away. Or they can have a memorised bank of social
scripts that they can use, so that when they are asked “what is your name?” they respond
with their name and then “what’s your name?”. This isn’t black and white, you
know, “either or”. I have times when I will just be myself, and I will express myself.
However I feel is natural and good to me.
And yes, that involves a lot of echolalial scripting. There are times when I’m in public
or with people I don’t know when I will use social scripting. And then there’s times
when I will use a mix of both. For these videos, I use social scripting, and I use my method
of cutting and pasting together words and phrases that I’ve heard or read and memorised
to make my own sentences. But if you’re expecting your autistic child to one day suddenly
grow out of their neurotype and be able to spontaneously and easily converse with any
member of the human race they happen to encounter, that probably isn’t going to happen. Social
scripts are very important to autistic people, to help us feel comfortable, confident and
secure enough to even socialise at all. So taking those away really leaves us floundering.
And echolalial scripting is wonderful and it’s fun, and it’s an important part of
an autistic child’s development. So I would say: please do not discourage social scripting.
Please do not discourage echolalial scripting. Yeah, you might find it a little annoying,
you know, the same repeated words or phrases or lines of dialogue. But I mean, you’re
a parent, and what kid isn’t annoying sometimes? And know that if you child is sitting with
you and using echolalial scripting, whether they are allowing you to join in and whether
or not they are outwardly interacting with you, they are verbally expressing themselves
and this could be a way for them to share something that they really love and enjoy
with you. I know that that was the case for me when I was a kid.
This video was just a brief overview of the two kinds of scripting, echolalial scripting,
and social scripting. I will be doing videos in the future that go more in depth on each
of the kinds of scripting. So a video for echolalial scripting and a video for social
scripting. If you have a topic that you would like for me to discuss, or if you have a question
that you would like answering in a video, feel free to post your question in the comment
section below or message it to me. And if you liked this video feel free to “thumbs
up” and subscribe for more “Ask an Autistic”. Thank you for watching!