I can't always speak properly. Am I the only one?

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That is how I feel too - sometimes I have all the words rush at my mouth, and very few make it. As with you, it happens when I am stressed or rushed. If I do get like that, the worst thing anyone can do is start to correct me because I start to talk faster and the words just jump out as best they can. If I am tired, I find I will "thought surf": - i.e. if I am speaking, and don't find that I am getting anywhere, I will jump to the next thought and try to express that.

I have been corrected on the phone many times because I spoke too fast and the words came out all together and landed in a jumble (as far as the listener was concerned) - it wouldn't be a big deal, except for the person on the other end of the phone starts to talk in that "reasoning with a 3-year-old" voice. Not only do I become painfully aware that I have flown at warp speed with what I said and crash landed rather spectacularly, but I also get that embarrassing condescending correction, sigh.

Someone mentioned taking the words slower and speaking deliberately slower - that is great advice and I do try to do that when I can, although sadly I do find that people won't *let me* speak slowly - they walk away because I am taking too long, they take the opportunity to fill in what they think I want to say, or they hijack the whole conversation and take off in a whole new direction (which I find extremely rude). I think they take the pauses in my cadence to be a "break in traffic" where they can get into the conversation. I wish people had more patience in that respect, sigh

I was like that during my latent period (from about six to twelve) but then it went away. I have no idea why or how.

I disagree with your doctor. I think our verbal problems have a lot to do with our AS. Tell him to produce a smooth talking Aspie .

yeah, that happens to me too, but i guess it is because English is not my native language and the order of words in my native language is different. now i use my native language only rarely so as a result i do it even there, because of using English so extensively. funny thing is that now i don't speak any language properly.

When stressed, I will lose my words and start talking gibberish.

i have to think and gather my information before i spaek usually. if i don't i stutter a lot, especially when i'm on the phone. i hate speaking on phones.

I clutter a lot, especially when tired, distracted, or nervous. I'll produce startlingly ungrammatical sentences, sound like I'm drunk or adopt a weird accent while mashing words together. Sometimes it feels hard to physically speak but only rarely. It's frustrating... having a clear idea in my head but not knowing how to translate it.

Happens to me... I also get accused of not speaking and communicating when I thought I did. My grandma is hard at hearing, which is part of the problem. Also I can't repeat everything doctors tell me so that she can hear... My mind doesn't work that way. I can't repeat things on the fly...

Also I get the stuttering when I'm anxious or not sure what to say... I think part of it is a syntex error. I think sometimes try to speak like I type, but in speech, it doesn't work that way... In type I tend to mess up the order of my letters when I type faster than my fingers can strike the keys.

Also another error I get from time to time is saying the wrong word when I mean something else. I don't usually notice this until someone points it out...

Actually, it is directly related to AS. Just check out the information on wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_s ... d_language

I have the same problem. I dont think in words, so when I try to translate what I am thinking into words the conversion process isnt always smooth. Often times I will have an idea, but I wont know the words to express it. So I will stop mid sentence and have to think for a few seconds to find the words I need. Other times I will try to express an idea, but have too many words come in at the same time. For example:

Other person: How is the food?

In my head: The food is good/tasty/wonderful

Out of my mouth: The foods gostaful.

Other person: What?

I can only talk to a couple of people without too much effort (but then, they're the ones who initiate the conversation). I can answer basic questions in a mechanical setting if I don't know the person, but it causes me anxiety as it's hard/painful to talk for me (as well as a million other things that hurt).

Socially, I have nothing.

When I become overwhelmed, I lose my ability to speak for several hours (if I go out to a busy shopping centre for example, that'll do it every time).

The wikipedia link provides the usual list of language problems associated with AS, not so much the original topic of this thread. Pragmatics, literalness, verbosity--I have all of these except the last. I especially have a problem with incoherence, or disorganized speech. But the AS literature rarely describes the kind of problem we're discussing here. It's more a motor problem--the connection between the brain and the mouth is garbled. More often, I've seen this addressed as part of autistic disorder. I wonder if the so-called experts are overlooking a common problem in AS here.

Sometimes I have that problem. It all depends how clear things are in my head. Sometimes to say something to someone I have to rehearse the sentence in my head first, so that it comes out making sense, or I end up saying thing like 'lead dog' instead of 'dog lead'.

Any doctor who says that this isn't possibly linked to your AS must be a bit of a quack. There are two well documented aspects of the condition in some people: Asphasia which causes you to say different things to what you want to (like saying 'I going be going to shops' instead of 'I'm going to the shops'... happened this morning) and the other possibility is that it is part of dyspraxia if you have that as part of your AS. Verbal dyspraxia is well documented and causes 'clumsy speech'. I think I have that too...

I think I am one big neurological symptom... sigh...

"words logjam" is the perfect description for what happens to me...I don't say the words in the wrong order, I just get stuck and all of a sudden NOTHING is coming out. I just stop and regroup and start over when that happens. I am actually a good public speaker, this most often happens in informal speech (when there is give and take with other people...imagine that? )