C, a 4 year old child with Autism, was brought to his Developmental Pediatrician for his mid year follow up. The mom gave the doctor an update regarding C's behavior and current concerns.
" Well, doctor, C's off task behavior was lessened according to his therapist. He can now follow more complex commands. However, he recently has this annoying habit of repeating words or phrases spoken by another person. Sometimes, he tends to repeat phrases from TV commercials. He sounded like a parrot when he does that," his mom told the doctor. The doctor smiled and replied in a mirthful tone, " That's a good sign. You should not feel bad about C sounding like a parrot. It is a positive indicator for future language development."
Individuals with Autism often have language difficulties. The lack of spontaneous, generative language skills pushed them to become echolalic. Echolalia is the most common form of unconventional verbal behavior exhibited by about 75 % of verbal persons with Autism. Echolalia is when the child repeats verbal information stated by others[1]. It could be words or phrases heard from actual conversational exchanges, TV commercials, movies; books read aloud and songs. Echolalia is of two types. It can be immediate (repetition of something recently heard) or delayed (repetition of previously heard information which could be after a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years ago) [1].
Echolalia, although not so pleasant to hear, is something which should be taken positively for it can be a good prognostic sign of cognitive and linguistic maturation [2] than not saying or producing any sound as a means of interaction with others. We can utilize echolalia to further help children with Autism learn the meaningful use of these words or phrases to effectively communicate with others. As child interacts with others and becomes more exposed to communication, his vocabulary expands and language skills develop. Soon, the child would gradually loose tendency to repeat what others stated and would rely on self generated language to convey his thoughts or ideas.
There are two purposes why children with ASD use echolalia. They may use echolalia without the real intent to communicate (non-communicative) and the utterances may be in or out of context of the situation, ie. repeating words or phrases heard from a TV commercial, repeating verbal instructions of a routine directed upon himself like washing of hands, putting on clothes. Experts say they resort to meaningless utterances when they are in a situation that bring about auditory information overload making them feel stressed or anxious. This unconventional verbal behavior may be addressed by limiting and simplifying our words as we talk to the child. Sometimes, children under the spectrum resort to echolalia as a way to generate attention. Therapist's advice on this is to ignore the act so as not to encourage the habit.
On the other hand, echolalia may be used for the purpose of having meaningful communication with others. It is said that echolalia is for communicative purposes when the child uses it to help him engage in a conversation since he lack the language skills to respond spontaneously; to request or ask for something; to express his approval of something. When a child uses echolalia to convey certain message, we must take advantage of the imitation by providing appropriate response or direct him on how to properly ask for something, ie. a child may say, "Do you want some cookies?" in imitation of a question previously asked to him when he actually meant he wants some cookies. This is a good chance to demonstrate a more appropriate way to state what he actually wants by saying, " I want some cookies."
Therapists implement numerous methods on how to manage echolalia. However, what works best is on a case to case basis for no Autistic child is exactly the same. Whatever method of managing echolalia one might find to work best for a child, the same golden rule applies:
*Do not try to eliminate echolalia.
Keep in mind the language problem an Autistic child may have. It is a struggle for him to communicate. If at present all he could say were purely out of imitation, then every word he says is a cause to celebrate. After all, echolalia is an indication of " future language development."
Image Credits:
Parrot by Salvatore Vuono
Boy Shouting by Tina Phillips
References:
1. Susan Stokes, Increasing Expressive Skills For Verbal Children with Autism, CESA7,
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
2. Lovaas
Individuals with Autism often have language difficulties. The lack of spontaneous, generative language skills pushed them to become echolalic. Echolalia is the most common form of unconventional verbal behavior exhibited by about 75 % of verbal persons with Autism. Echolalia is when the child repeats verbal information stated by others[1]. It could be words or phrases heard from actual conversational exchanges, TV commercials, movies; books read aloud and songs. Echolalia is of two types. It can be immediate (repetition of something recently heard) or delayed (repetition of previously heard information which could be after a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years ago) [1].Echolalia, although not so pleasant to hear, is something which should be taken positively for it can be a good prognostic sign of cognitive and linguistic maturation [2] than not saying or producing any sound as a means of interaction with others. We can utilize echolalia to further help children with Autism learn the meaningful use of these words or phrases to effectively communicate with others. As child interacts with others and becomes more exposed to communication, his vocabulary expands and language skills develop. Soon, the child would gradually loose tendency to repeat what others stated and would rely on self generated language to convey his thoughts or ideas.
There are two purposes why children with ASD use echolalia. They may use echolalia without the real intent to communicate (non-communicative) and the utterances may be in or out of context of the situation, ie. repeating words or phrases heard from a TV commercial, repeating verbal instructions of a routine directed upon himself like washing of hands, putting on clothes. Experts say they resort to meaningless utterances when they are in a situation that bring about auditory information overload making them feel stressed or anxious. This unconventional verbal behavior may be addressed by limiting and simplifying our words as we talk to the child. Sometimes, children under the spectrum resort to echolalia as a way to generate attention. Therapist's advice on this is to ignore the act so as not to encourage the habit.
On the other hand, echolalia may be used for the purpose of having meaningful communication with others. It is said that echolalia is for communicative purposes when the child uses it to help him engage in a conversation since he lack the language skills to respond spontaneously; to request or ask for something; to express his approval of something. When a child uses echolalia to convey certain message, we must take advantage of the imitation by providing appropriate response or direct him on how to properly ask for something, ie. a child may say, "Do you want some cookies?" in imitation of a question previously asked to him when he actually meant he wants some cookies. This is a good chance to demonstrate a more appropriate way to state what he actually wants by saying, " I want some cookies."
Therapists implement numerous methods on how to manage echolalia. However, what works best is on a case to case basis for no Autistic child is exactly the same. Whatever method of managing echolalia one might find to work best for a child, the same golden rule applies:
*Do not try to eliminate echolalia.
Keep in mind the language problem an Autistic child may have. It is a struggle for him to communicate. If at present all he could say were purely out of imitation, then every word he says is a cause to celebrate. After all, echolalia is an indication of " future language development."
Image Credits:
Parrot by Salvatore Vuono
Boy Shouting by Tina Phillips
References:
1. Susan Stokes, Increasing Expressive Skills For Verbal Children with Autism, CESA7,
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
2. Lovaas
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