Echolalia

WHAT IS ECHOLALIA?

Echolalia is the repetition or echoing of verbal utterances made by another person. Up to 75% of verbal persons with Autism exhibit echolalia in some form. There are two types of Echolalia: Immediate Echolalia and Delayed Echolalia.

Immediate Echolalia is the repetition of words and phrases that occurs immediately or very soon after the original words. Delayed Echolalia is the repetition of words or phrases that are echoed hours, days, or weeks after they were originally heard. Both may serve a variety of functions for communication for the individual.

Echolalia can include repetition of part of the utterance as well as an identical repetition of the entire spoken utterance, sometimes including an exact replication of the inflectional pattern used by the speaker.

Echolalia occurs in normal language development, yet decreases as the typically developing child gains more spontaneous generative language. In children with Autism, Echolalia occurs with greater frequency and lasts for a longer period of time as the child with Autism typically experiences significant difficulty developing spontaneous, generative language skills

Echolalia is reflective of how the child processes information. The child with Autism processes information as a whole "chunk" without processing the individual words that comprise the utterance. In processing these unanalyzed "chunks" of verbal information, many children with Autism also process part of the context in which these words were stated, including sensory and emotional details. Some common element from this original situation is then triggered in the current situation which elicits the child's echolalic utterance.

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