Bird Talk
April 21, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Via Living the Scientific Life is a story about how a parrot taught a 4-year-old autistic boy, Dylan Hargreaves, to talk. Dylan had never talked until the three-year-old blue-and-gold macaw,Barney, became part of the household:
After being tutored by Barney the parrot, Dylan says “Night, night”, “Dad”, “Mum”, “Ta”, “Hello” and “Bye”.
“Barney has changed our lives. Before he arrived, Dylan would try to speak, but the sound came out as a noise,” said Dylan’s mother, Michelle.
“The we got Barney and, a few months later, Dylan began to talk. It was only the odd word, but I could clearly understand what he said.
“Every time I gave the bird something to say, Dylan started trying to say the same thing. I think it’s because the bird says things slower than me, which helps Dylan understand.”
The story might sound a bit absurd, but it makes sense to me. I’m no ornithologist but my (very limited) knowledge of what a talking parrot sounds like is that a bird says the same words in the same way and not for the purposes of (for instance) conversation; this would make it easier for my son Charlie to understand a parrot’s language, and perhaps more easily than a human’s.
But no, we’re not getting a bird! Yet.
My son picks up language from people too, but he seems to have an easier time understanding what his talking toys say. He thinks it’s hilarious when the toys “speak” or move. He loves repeating entire sentences from those talking stuffed animals, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he did the same thing with a parrot.
My son is the complete opposite with toys that “talk”. He would get hysterical around them – and we had to keep explaining to relatives to NOT purchase them for presents. He has receptive language issues along with expressive so maybe that was a factor. Funny thing though – he doesn’t mind toys that just make noises but no speaking.
Charlie used to have one of those says 100 thing Barney. That was before he could really talk; he imitated what we taught him — the sounds he did imitate were from machines (garage door) and did not include words.
Ben could do a bowling ball rolling down the alley and striking pins that always made me laugh…
Interestingly, Hikari Oe,the autistic, mostly non-verbal, adult son of Nobel Prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe, is known in Japan for his ability to vocally reproduce birdsongs. I remember reading some years ago in New Yorker magazine about his recordings of birdsongs. He is now a composer & musician, & his father considers him to have been an important influence on his writing. This is all pretty remarkable, considering the mainstream attitudes (not positive) toward autism in Japan.
My son Brendan is an amazing mimic of sounds & vocal intonations. This is one of the reasons we decided to learn to speak Japanese…
Ahh, I have such happy memories of the birds I had growing up, especially our little parakeet. He talked more than our expensive cockatiels.
Anyone who has had a talking bird can tell you, they do indeed try to communicate with you when they are talking – the words just do not directly translate. For my bird, at least, the words were an expression of his mood or a way to get our attention: when he was feeling lovey-dovey, he would say “pretty bird” over and over, reveling over each syllable (because that is what my mom would coo to him when she was rubbing his cheek); when he was feeling excited and stimulated, he might do a dead-on imitation of our barking dogs (because at our house visitors and chaotic fun = dogs barking).
While I certainly do not think a parrot and a child (autistic or NT) are particularly comparable, there are some interesting lessons to be learned from owning a talking bird. You learn to listen to the way the words are said and to examiner the bird’s body language to figure out its meaning. And you learn how to examine things from the another’s perspective in order to interpret language, which is always helpful, isn’t it?
Very much so!
Lolasmom, your memories of “birds you’ve known” made me remember the one pet my sister and I had growing up (besides a few goldfish)—-a canary named Johnny Bird. I was very young when we had him and am afraid his demise was early and don’t remember him talking…..
Rose, I’ll have to notice what Charlie is saying after we bowl next time!
Patrick can make the sound of a car starting. I find it particularly amazing because I have zero skills in copying noises. Matthew wants a bird for a pet….I’ll have to consider a talking one.
Very interesting and not something I had read. The story is not at that link posted. My son Nick likes to bird watch and has many books on birds. The Echo Park Lake is famous for bird watching and I might sign him up to go one time with the others, but they are all older adults and I would need to go with him and then there is Matthew.
Howdy Dr. Chew!
I am interested in the problems surrounding autism. I have investigated speech by a talking bird for many years. People do not understand inventive language employed by a bird. I wonder whether there is a link with autism.
Sincerely,
Mike
Florida