Meet Courtney: Regression is not only in speech

I had a huge signing vocabulary. I knew and used about 300 signs until I was around 18 months old. Than One day it was like I just forgot them all. I stopped signing altogether. Autistic children often have a speech regression. We will talk normally until one day we just stop. Mommy knew about speech regression but she did not know that ANY type of communication regression is a very big red flag.

I am not a bad child.

If you bump into me in the store and I am screaming in the cart it is not because I am a bad child. I am not screaming because I did not get something that I want. Being in the store is hard for me. Its loud, the lights are bright and they flicker, there are so many people and everything smells different. My brain works a little differently than yours does. I can't filter out information, so everything comes at me all at once. Its like trying to listen to 10 people talking to you at the same time. I can't make sense of it all. I also get frustrated sometimes because I cant explain everything that I want to explain. I am getting better with talking but it is still pretty uncomfortable for me.
It really is too bad if you meet me and I am in a bad mood because I am a great kid. I am usually very happy and love people. I don't know exactly how to make friends yet, but I am working on it. I have learned that if I bump into you, drop something or fall down you will react to me. So if I do this to you I am not trying to be rude I am trying to be friendly.
It was great to meet you. I hope that by meeting me you will learn a little bit about autism and help to teach others as well.

Pages

Regression is not only in speech