Clearing Something Up.

Right here we have it.............................lol.

A few friends and people have emailed or dropped a message by saying , oh El will talk, let her settle and she's tell you everything and you'll be okay, she'll get there and open up and excitedly tell you everything. Well the truth is it won't happen.

Yes El can talk, she can speak and she can convey her wants and can chat away as if nothing is wrong with her, but the fact is she can't talk from the top of her head. She can't say what she's done, where she's been, how she feels, who she's been with, what she ate. Her language is a learnt repetitive language, phrases she picks up from other people, the tv, songs, daily life things, but nothing, none of what she says is her's and this is my daughters language, this is called Echolalia.

To people on the outside she seems chatty, knowledgeable, grown up, but most of all NORMAL, well question her and see what happens. She can't tell you or explain or elaborate, she can talk about dinosaurs for hours, but you ask her a question and she looks at you vaguely not having a clue what you've said. She's clever, intelligent and a little too quick, she gets away using her language and people think nothing of it, she uses her echolalia in the right context and where she knows certain things/answers have to follow certain questions/words, just wander off the beaten track and what she does know and you confuse her beyond belief.

I can't communicate with my daughter without having to ask her over and over and over again until I know she knows what I mean or I just give up, I can't just ask her a simple question and get an answer. She will never tell me all the things children do, because she just doesn't know how and it kills me to not hear it all. I know in time she will learn and we will get there, but for now I just can't stop thinking about all the things she should be saying and telling me, all the things I should know are going on, her feelings, emotions, her joys and saddnesses.

It's like living in silence and it's deafening at times!!!