ABSTRACT
The autistic use of language—copying and imitation—implies not speaking and not using words to think and communicate, but, rather, to produce sensations with the tongue and mouth, sensations that sustain the illusion of non-differentiation, no separation. The differentiation between psychotic, neurotic, or autistic functioning depends in part on whether or not it is possible to develop a contact barrier. Some autistic children are echolalic, so their verbal productions seem very limited and bizarre. The behavior of autistic children becomes automatic and mechanical. Autistic children seem to skip weaning—they maintain the illusion that mouth, tongue and breast are one—and they skip all the steps of growing up that imply weaning as a differentiation process. Infants that develop autistic tendencies do not tend to explore their own bodies, or the vocalization of sounds they produce. There is a difference between the transitional objects and playing with sounds and the use, including the imitative use of autistic objects of sensation.
