Not Rainman, Nor a Little Professor... What is Echolalia?May 19 '07 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Sport and Outdoor
The Bottom Line Is there an echo in here?
There are some days that are maddening as I ask my son, "What do you want for lunch?" and he immediately responds with "What do you want for lunch?". But, he's not asking me what I want for lunch, he's just repeating everything I tell him. I might say "Alex, put your socks on" and a few seconds later he'll tell himself with the exact tone and inflection that I used "Alex, put your socks on". Is there an echo in here? Yes, there is. Its called Echolalia and its a not uncommon for those on the Autism spectrum to use echolalic speech. They say as much as 75% of those with autism (who are verbal) are use echolalia. My son is verbal, though what is referred to as limited-verbal. Though he is 6 years old he doesn't speak at an age appropriate level, uses mostly short phrases and is echolalic. As a child with serious speech and language delays the sound of my son's voice - echolalic or not, is like music to my ears. Though, at times - the endless scripting and echolalia is maddening. What is Echolalia? And how it affects my child When I share with people who don't know my child about him being the Autism spectrum - many will ask if he is like Rain Man. They remember from the movie how the character played by Dustin Hoffman recited from 'Who's on First' over and over. This is Echolalia. Not everyone with Autism uses echolalic speech. Some do. Some don't. Some don't speak at all. My son speaks and is also echolalic. Here are just a few things that my child does that are part of Echolalia: -Repeating phrases from his video games (especially from Leapster) and other website games that he plays like www.starfall.com and www.pbskids.org. -Television commercials: at one point he knew all the wireless providers commercials buzzlines and when we drove past one of their brick & mortar locations he would call out "Raising the bar!" or "Get more minutes!", etc. -The ability to retain full conversations and scenes from TV shows, commercials, videos or movies regardless of seeing it one time or one hundred times. -Repeating phrases that are said to him, especially questions or commands. -My son recently had a cold with a bad cough. Whenever he would cough he would then launch into reciting text from Dr. Seuss's book, The Lorax. Everytime he coughs now he coughs and says "I am the Lorax"... This comes from when my husband reads the book to him (which is one of his all time favorites) he acts out a part where the Lorax coughs. Echolalia is not always parroting back phrases or scripts word for word. For my son, and many like him, Echolalia can and is a way of communicating. At a very young age my son used to bring my husband a can of soda from the fridge and as he handed it to his father is he would say, "Is that for me?". He knew that when he gave his father the beverage that is what he would respond with and so he came to expect that response. By handing him the soda and saying the phrase himself that was his way of engaging his father. When he started doing this, it was a big deal and a step forward in the language department. My son can't really have a 'typical' conversation with back and forth flow the way you'd expect to have with a child his age. But, he can express himself and his needs with the help of some echolalia. For example, he used to (and sometimes still does) say to us "Do you want some juice?" instead of asking for juice if he is thirsty. Of course, he's also too independent for his own good sometimes and will help himself instead of using words even if it means dragging a chair across to the fridge, opening the fridge lock and getting down the giant warehouse sized jug of juice from the top shelf. It would have/should have been easier just to ask for juice but for him it isn't. And my point is? For me, echolalia can be bittersweet. My son happens to be in a phase right now where he uses a lot of echolalic speech. Sometimes it seems as if he is scripting a lot, repeating everything said to him (whether its something that you say to him or something he hears from the TV, a videogame and even from the GPS navigation console). Other times he comes out with more spontaneous speech all on his very own. More often than not, he uses a mix of echolalia in with his own words. To someone who doesn't know they might not realize that the phrases he is spouting out are exact recitations from another source. Sometimes it is more obvious than others that the words he is using are borrowed script from a video game or a movie. Sometimes the phrase he picks for the moment is used in an appropriate manner, though they often times are not. Welcome to the world of Echolalia...  |
| Read all comments (20)|Write your own comment |
Write an essay on this topic.
