Normal for 2.5/3 yr old?

[mellowjello]

My daughter is about 2 yrs 9 months and has had a really rough go with horrible GI issues (atypical autism) that we have had amazing progress with. and there are a few things that I wonder about but they're probably not anything. I may be hyper-aware. But I just wanted to check them out so I can stop thinking about it. Are these kinds of things normal, or do they relate to high functioning ASD/Asperger's?

She is very verbal and constantly narrates throughout the day. "You have a shirt on. It has short sleeves. You have a ponytail. I have a dress on. It has flowers on it. He is a man. He has a big tummy. " It goes on like this all day long. If I don't respond to her comment in some way, she will either say it again until I say something, or often will ask or demand (upset) that I repeat what she said. A lot of what she says relates to people's (and her) appearance, bodies, clothing.

She also watches people intently and will make side comments to me that show she is interpreting/making sense of the situation. About a boy at the swimming pool..."He's sitting down. He's all wet. He's going to dry off for a little while." I can't quite explain it, but it's like she never just "gets" or "absorbs" what is going on, she mostly "studies" people's behaviors/situations, tells me her interpretation as if she's asking if it's correct or not, and wants my response or confirmation.

She still has sensory issues and phases of not wanting to talk or for anyone to talk to her, but this is much better than it was.

I know this is super minor stuff compared to what many parents on this board wonder about, but I am just curious if anyone has thoughts or suggestions.
Thanks!
Jen

[Smokering]

My DD (who's nearly 2.5) does a similar thing, although she's not that verbal yet. She'll point out things like flowers, babies, buses, colours and shapes: as we go down the street she might emit a steady stream of "Baby, cute baby! Flowers. Yellow flowers. Lady a walking! Bus!" interspersed with "Milkshake later, milkshake later, milkshake later" (which she repeats until I respond, or sometimes even after I've responded half a dozen times).

It doesn't strike me as odd in DD, but then DH and I both have strong strains of autism/Aspergers in our family trees. I think at 2.5-3, everything's still pretty new to kids, and their awareness of things they'd never noticed before (like colours, shapes, gender differences, types of vehicles etc) combined with a pretty new ability to communicate that knowledge can turn them into little monologuers. Sounds like your DD's a bit fascinated with cause and effect-type stuff, which could be an "autistic" interest or just a regular kid one.

In short, I have no idea, but it doesn't sound far off what my surprisingly-normal-so-far-but-statistically-probably-a-tad-Aspie toddler does.

[nayma]

i think i know exactly what you're talking about. my dd (almost four, dx as pdd/likely aspie) has always been a narrator, and still is. it's usually in third person, though - as she goes about her day, she'll recount all her actions as they're happening. "and then the girl set down her bear and gave it a ball. and then she ran to her mom and gave her some paper. the girl felt really hungry, so she picked up an apple." etc. she's not looking for a reaction from me usually - just seems like an unconscious stream of thought that she cannot suppress. i always assumed this was part of spectrumy stuff, but i'm not truly sure.

[featherstory]

I would say it is very normal... my 2 year 10 month old is the exact same way as the previous two posters, and I've done a lot of nannying with kids that age who were the same.

As for the pp, I did an early literacy training with 3-5 year old preschoolers, and I vaguely remember doing something like this myself, except I didn't say it out loud usually, I was just very involved with seeing my world objectively and acting things out in my mind... to me, it sounds like that is what you're daughter is doing... in the early literacy training we helped the kids to make their thoughts...their imaginative/expansive views of the world into stories... either with pictures, words, actions or both... the idea though is to make it tangible, record it... so that once they get out that expression, it can be reread, and they connect to the element of literature/literacy that is ongoing and yet permanent... such as "this happened" and it can't be taken back... hard to explain, but anyway, I really loved this technique and I've used on my own with children with learning/literacy and communication/behavior challenges with great success.

Does she watch a lot of movies or TV, or is watching movies or TV or books new to her, or taking a special interest more than before? That can often fuel this kind of behavior... although I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but it helps to engage with them through some kind of tangible interpretation of it... art, writing with them, theater arts, music, etc.

[alexsam]

My neuro-typical son did this. A lot! All the time. Just continually talking, describing, questions... Non stop.

[PikkuMyy]

I've nannied quite a few neuro-typical kids who did the same thing. It can be exhausting as a parent/nanny because you either have to acknowledge, or practice how to say it once and (for the child to) be OK with not getting a response. Otherwise you hear the same things over and over.'

However, some kids on the spectrum do this as a way of processing what is happening around them and making sure they are understanding it. So it sounds like it's probably a combination of the two.