Little Man Has Turned Scottish

Have you ever heard about those with Aspergers being able to change their voice (the way in-which they talk)?

I have, you see, I’ve been living with a child who has suddenly gone from English to Scottish basically over night.

His obsession with WWE and TNA wrestling is the cause. His favourite wrestler is Drew Mclntyre and he happens to be from Scotland.

The Little man started out by just copying his entrance walk into the ring, he then started to paint his face the Scottish flag and now his mastered the accent.

Now, I have nothing against the Scottish people of the world, I have many Scottish friends. However, the little man is not Scottish and although the accent is mastered down to a T, he is actually driving me loony speaking this way.

Yes, of course in the beginning it was a little bit funny (after all he sounds just like him)! But you really can only tolerate so much of it. His even using the voice when it comes to him requesting things etc. I don’t think his doing it at school… Well, I can only hope he isn’t that is!

Over the years Little man has spoken in a number of tones and voices, ones that he hears and then copies. For many years he would switch from his everyday tone of voice to that of a monotone one, as if he was a talking computer. His also had a strong interest in transport and would recreate the train and bus announcements… He always got it spot on. Now with his ever evolving interest in wrestling I was convinced it was just going to be the mimicking of the entrance and the actual matches… But this, this is just bonkers!

However, this type of behaviour isn’t one that is completely unknown with those on the autism spectrum. I decided to look into this more and had a look on google to see what I could find. I actually came across a conversation trend on “Wrong Planet” that was started by a 16 year old British girl with High Functioning Autism. She states that she is a naturally quiet person but when she does speak she speaks with a strong Irish or Scottish accent despite her naturally having a British accent. She states she chooses to speak this way and people now know her to do so.

There is also a section in a book wrote by Tony Attwood on this very subject. I took this quote from the Tony Attwood website … “My mother tells me I was very good at capturing the essence and persona of people. At times I literally copied someone’s looks and their actions. I was uncanny in my ability to copy accents, vocal inflections, facial expressions, hand movements, gaits and tiny gestures. It was as if I became the person I was emulating (p.22).