Echolalia

Echolalia (eco-lay-li-ah) is possibly an unfamiliar term to you. It's not a term widely used in general discourse. It's a term specific to language development and is quite common among children with autism.

Source: here

Echolalia refers to a way of learning language and involves the automatic and involuntary 'echoing' and repetition of words and sounds. It is normal and typical in language development of toddlers up until the age of around 30mths. You might notice that babies repeat sounds they hear and toddlers repeat what their parents say without an understanding of what it means or what the correct context for the word is. Or if you ask them a question they might repeat the same question (or part of the question) back to you. For example, 'What are you building?' The child says 'Building.' Or 'It's time for bed.' The child says 'Time for bed'.
These are examples of immediate echolalia, where the repetition occurs immediately.

If echolalia persists beyond the toddler years, then it can be a sign of autism or other developmental concerns (it is unlikely your child has autism should this be the ONLY characteristic they display).

Why do children mimic language?
There are a number of reasons why children might mimic language. Firstly, children with ASD can have incredible difficulty with language development particularly understanding the context of language. If they do not understand context, then their comprehension is significantly impaired. When children mimic language, they are showing they can hear properly and produce correct speech sounds but not actually comprehend the full meaning of the words and their context. Repetition of language helps the child begin to process the spoken language but it may be a very long time until the child fully comprehends what is being said. Immediate echolalia can be an attempt at conversation ( in a very stoic way) or the repetition can be calming agent in reducing anxiety as it is predictable.

When E was younger, driving in the car was a nightmare. He used to notice any truck or bus that went by and we would go through this speech routine.
E: Mummy, its a truck, a truck, a truck, a truck. (high pitched, horrible tone)
Me: Yes, E, it's a truck.
E: Yes, E, it's a truck.
E: Mummy, it's a bus, a bus, a bus.
Me: Yes, E, it's a bus.
E: Yes, E, it's a bus.

If I didn't repeat what he said, he would say the same words over and over again, getting louder and louder and more agitated. The call and response was a complete circuit and he could not cope if we didn't complete the cycle. When you are driving you see lots of trucks, buses and trains, so it got rather tiring and distracting and made it virtually impossible to have a conversation with anyone else in the car. E however, liked the interaction this way.It gave him predictability and comfort but it did nothing for developing his language and comprehension.

Source: here

 

There is a second type of echolalia called delayed echolalia. This is when words or phrases are repeated later than the immediate context. For example, I had warned E's younger brother away from the hot tap in the bathroom by saying 'Judah, hot.' For a long time after this, E would point to the hot tap and say 'Judah, hot.' Once, E wanted a box of toys from a top shelf and I pointed and said, 'Oh, you want this?' For a long time afterwards, E called that particular box of toys 'this'. He did not comprehend the original context of these words but was able to remember the words. Thus, he associated the word or phrase with the object.

Children with delayed echolalia will often learn language in 'chunks'. Learning whole sentences or phrases but not understanding the meaning of the separate words or even that the words can be separated!!

For example, in a matching game we would play, this conversation would follow:
Me: Where's the horse? What does the horse say?
E: Neigh
Me: Good boy.

E learnt this conversation and whenever he would play this game by himself, he would repeat both parts of the conversation, word for word. He didn't really understand what was really going on, he had just learnt the whole conversation. It can be a form of self-stimulatory behaviour (behaviours which stimulate the sensory system) and the recitation is purely for the satisfaction of the child.

Echolalic phrases or words can also be quite revealing about a childs' needs or emotions if you pay attention and are able to work out the original context. For children who cannot verbally express themselves otherwise, it can be essential to work this out. For example, a child might say 'the park is closed today', when something disappointing or sad happens. This is because, they identify this emotion with a time they could not go to the park because it was closed. They are not able to say they are sad and might say this in a completely different context like not being able to go to Grandma's house. But it tells you what they are thinking or feeling. Of course, it can be completely bewildering for someone who does not understand this original context.

I will follow this post up with ideas and strategies for working with echolalia and how to help your child move past echolalic language to self generated language. ( I write all of this through what I have learnt as a mum of a child with echolalic tendancies not as a speech therapist).