Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsEcholalia in Child DevelopmentEcholalia in AutismTypes of EcholaliaRelated Behaviors and ConditionsEcholalia TreatmentImproving CommunicationFrequently Asked Questions
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Echolalia in Child Development
Echolalia in Autism
Types of Echolalia
Related Behaviors and Conditions
Echolalia Treatment
Improving Communication
Frequently Asked Questions
Echolalia is not always a self-calming tool for autistic kids, like rocking or hand-flapping tend to be (these repetitive behaviors are calledstimming). Echolalia has its own patterns—it might even be how your autistic child first uses speech to try to communicate with you.
While echolalia can be anautism trait, it’s also a point of entry for a parent or speech-language therapist to start working with your child.
This article will go over what echolalia is and how it’s related to child development and conditions like autism. You’ll also learn how to help a child manage echolalia if the behavior is not helpful.
What Does Echolalia Mean?
By the time they are 4 or 5, kids are able to ask and answer questions, carry on conversations, and otherwise use language in their own way to communicate with others.
Autism and Auditory Processing Disorders
Echolalia can also be a common feature of autism. Although a quarter to a third of children with autism are nonverbal or minimally verbal (using fewer than 30 words), many use words, sentences, and very complex “adult” words.With echolalia, these words are, in a sense, not their own.
One of the difficulties in understanding echolalia in autistic children is that the repetitive echolalia speech patterns can be used for different reasons. Those purposes might change over time. It’s also possible for a person to use echolalia for multiple purposes at the same time.
Reasons autistic children use echolalia in speech patterns include:
For many autistic children, echolalia is an important part of developing spoken communication.
For example, if a teacher tells an autistic child to “say thank you,” the child might repeat “say thank you” back to them instead of just saying “thank you.” It may not be the response the teacher was going for, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Is Social Communication Disorder the Same as Autism?
There are different kinds of echolalia. The terms can be a bit confusing because our understanding of echolalia has changed over time. What was once considered a problem to “fix” is now viewed as a possible pathway for speech development.
The different types of echolalia include:
Why Are Conversations Hard for Some Autistic People?
Interactive and Non-Interactive Echolalia
Children speaking in aninteractiveway are trying to communicate with another person and are using memorized phrases for a real purpose—the challenge is figuring out the meaning.
Another example: A child might say “back off, lieutenant!” when angry, because they heard an angry character say that in a movie. The child has connected the words with the emotion of anger and is using the phrase to indicate that they’re mad.
As the listener, it can be confusing at first. You’ll need to try to understand how the child has “wired” these words to their ideas.
It’s much the same way that idioms—descriptive turns of phrase— get lost between languages. No one literally means that “it’s raining cats and dogs”—but we know what is meant when it’s said.
Understanding Nonverbal Autism
Innon-interactive echolalia, the child isn’t trying to speak to anyone else. They might be repeating words or phrases to themselves for their own purposes—for example, to “practice” an idea or as a calming mechanism.
The repetition could be stimming, but it may have no meaning at all. It’s not always clear if the child is choosing intentional words or repeating words they don’t understand.
Either way, what’s important is that an autistic child is borrowing the words of others and still needs help finding their own. Tapping into these echolalia patterns may offer a window for caregivers and speech pathologists to build on a child’s unique style and work toward original language use.
That’s especially true ofmitigated echolalia,in which the child makes small changes to the original phrasing.
In this example, they might eventually drop the “oh, oh” and just echo the word “Oreo” to make their preference known.
What Does it Mean if an Autistic Child is Nonverbal?
Immediate and Delayed Echolalia
Sometimes echolalia is immediate and the child is echoing the words they hear.For example, a caregiver asks the child, “Do you want a drink?” and the child responds with “You want a drink.”
The inability to switch pronouns is common. The child might be responding appropriately and may actually want a drink.However, instead of using an original phrase in the flow of normal conversation (like “yes, please,” or “I’d like lemonade”), the child echoes the precise language.
Echolalia can also be delayed.For example, a child watches an episode of “Sesame Street” and later that day they recite the interactions between Bert and Ernie or sing a line from the theme song.
A child may also use Ernie’s words intentionally, or the words are just repeated sounds. In delayed echolalia, there’s a distance between hearing and using the words.
How Speech Therapy Helps Autistic Kids
There are some other behaviors and conditions that are similar to echolalia that may occur in autism.
Palilalia
One difference is that in echolalia, the repetition or echoing is focused on other people’s words and is received when the child hears them.
Palilaliaoften involves increasingly rapid speech with the same repeated sounds.
Echolalia and palilalia are not limited to autism; in fact, palilalia tends to be seen more in Tourette’s syndrome,Parkinson’s disease, and seizure disorders. Palilalia can even be a side effect of some drugs.
Is Late Speech Always an Autism Trait?
Echopraxia
Echolalia is sometimes confused with a term that sounds similar—echopraxia.
In echopraxia, a person repeats a movement that they see another person doing. However, they are not doing it intentionally—it’s more like a reflexive action that they may not even be fully conscious of.
For example, they see a person scratch their head and they automatically move to scratch their head, too.
An autistic child may have echopraxia, but it also occurs inTourette’s syndrome.
Scripting
Scripting is another tool many autistic people use. It’s a little like echolalia since they are saying words or phrases that they heard somewhere.
Understanding Autistic Speech Patterns
Much as you may wish to limit your child’s echolalia, especially in public, the reality is that echolalia can serve a valuable function. It can be a very positive behavior in the right circumstances.
Even if your child’s echolalia requires more support than others, it’s a good starting point for interventions like speech therapy. For example, a child might memorize entire segments of a favorite video and recite them repeatedly as a way tocalm themselves down and reduce anxiety.
The recitation may also indicate a real fascination for aspects of the video, just as it does in neurotypical children.
Echolalia that’s purposeful gives you a reason to celebrate—it means that your child has developed a tool for verbally communicating their wants and needs.
They can keep building skills with the help of a speech therapist and will benefit from having caring adults around them who are intentional about words when talking with them.
While it can be difficult to effectively communicate with your child when they’re exhibiting echolalia, there are multiple exercises that speech therapists use that can be directly applied to home practice, interaction, and engagement. Some of these techniques include:
Limiting the “WH” Questions
You may routinely ask “who," “what,” “when," “where,” and “why” questions just as a matter of daily interaction with your child, and this is perfectly normal. Unfortunately, however, they may not understand or internalize the nature of the question and continue to repeat it.
Instead of asking them open questions, such as: “What do you want for a snack?” or “How are you feeling?” give them choice questions, such as “Do you want an orange or cheese?”
Once they are more comfortable with this exercise, you can start gradually working the “WH” questions back in.
This will help your child to learn how to answer your questions and cut down on the potential for repetition.
Communicate Visually
Using visual aids improves vocabulary and comprehension while giving your child a clear and simple choice while building communication skills.
You can also use special intonations to let them know which options are good (foods, books, toys, pets) and which are dangerous (fire, knives, needles, medications, etc.).
Conversational Modeling with Relevant Terms
You can use key terms to help your child improve their communication and understanding of certain items. Try removing the actual question from the dialogue and just focus on the key word itself.
For instance, if you want to know if your child is tired, just repeat the word “tired” or “sleepy” instead of asking them if “they are” tired. This will help to reduce repetition of questions while expanding vocabulary.
Summary
Echolalia is the repetition of words or phrases. It’s a common behavior in autistic people and can have many functions. For many autistic children, the different types of echolalia are steps toward developing their language skills and learning how to communicate.
If you’re not sure how to make sense of your child’s use of echolalia (or even if it is useful to them), it can help to work with a speech therapist. They can help you to understand echolalia and support your child as they learn to communicate with you.
Speech Problems Autistic Kids May Face
Echolalia is a feature of several conditions or disorders rather than being one in and of itself. Echolalia is actually a normal stage of language development in early childhood, but kids typically outgrow it around their third birthday.
In older children and adults, echolalia is a common trait of autism. However, it can also occur in people with aphasia, dementia, traumatic brain injury, and schizophrenia.
Echolalia does not necessarily need to be treated, but many children benefit from speech and play therapy. Talk to your child’s provider about seeing a speech-language pathologist who treats echolalia.
There are three types of echolalia: immediate, delayed, and mitigated. Here are a few examples of each:
Why Your Autistic Child Speaks but Has a Hard Time Communicating
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