Each week we will be sharing a tip from our school psychologist, Mrs. Rollins.

This week we are talking about What is Echolalia?

Echolalia literally means “repeated speech”. This term refers a person repeating back words and/or phrases instead of generating their own speech. Echolalia is part of normal speech development in toddlers, where they repeat back words or phrases they hear. As a child becomes more aware of language structure, they start generating speech using language rules to meet their needs.

When echolalia continues or exists past the age of 3, it can be associated with other conditions like Autism Spectrum Disorder, Tourette’s Syndrome or stroke.

There are two types of echolalia:

Immediate echolalia: repeated directly after or a very brief delay Delayed echolalia: refers to phrases after a significant delay

Echolalia can be an exact repetition of a words or it can be slightly altered. Common examples of echolalia are the following:

Repetition of parent question to try an obtain something- P: “Do you want a snack?” C: “Want a snack?”

The child says “Time to go to the park” every time they want to go outside whether they are going to the park, the backyard or to the store.

The child says random quotes from a cartoon or video game. It could fit the context like saying “That’s all folks” when finishing a task or they could be repeating over and over it while doing something else.

The way to help a child using echolalia is to try and understand the reason behind the speech repetition and then responding in a way that helps the child communicate in a more functional way. Observing, listening and waiting during an interaction can help us understand what the message is behind echolalic speech.

Typically, a speech language pathologist can help guide parents and teachers on further treatment for echolalia, but it often consists of teaching scripts and functional language to meet needs.

Sources: National Institutes of Health, Library of Medicine American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA)

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