Reasons autistic children use
Autism spectrum disorder: Recent studies have shown that echolalia is a coping mechanism for children with autism to communicate when they cannot produce spontaneous speech. Prizant et al. have reported echolalia as evidence of "gestalt" processing in children with ASD to acquire language.
Echolalia is the use of repetitive words and phrases in communication. It is a natural phase of language development in toddlers. But kids often outgrow it when they reach their third birthday. However, children with autism often fail to outgrow this condition.
Many children on the autism spectrum use echolalia, which means they repeat others' words or sentences. They might repeat the words of familiar people (parents, teachers), or they might repeat sentences from their favourite video. When children repeat words right after they hear them, it's known as immediate echolalia.
The short answer to your question is no. Echolalia is not only associated with Autism, but also with several other conditions, including congenital blindness, intellectual disability, developmental delay, language delay, Tourette's syndrome, schizophrenia and others.
Developmental echolalia typically ends around three years old as your child learns to string words and phrases together on their own to communicate. However, if your child continues repeating words and phrases after the toddler years, it could signify that your child has autism.
Echolalia is often associated with ASD, but some individuals with ADHD may also engage in echolalia. The symptoms of ASD and ADHD are similar, which often makes diagnosis difficult. Additionally, some evidence notes that 50–70% of individuals with ASD also present with ADHD.
Echolalia can be a problem if it continues in children older than 3. It can happen in children with autism spectrum disorders like Asperger's syndrome. They may need extra time to process the world around them and what people say to them. This causes them to copy or repeat the sounds or words they hear.
Many children on the autism spectrum use echolalia (repeating other people's words and sentences) as a way of responding to direction, as well as expressing their wants and needs. Echolalia may be confusing for parents and neurotypical people but it need not be distressing.
People with echolalia "echo" or repeat words, sounds, or phrases. Sometimes the repeated words have no meaning, but they are often used to communicate. Echolalia can be disturbing to listeners because it sounds strange, but in itself, it is not harmful or dangerous.
Many autistic people get very stuck in loops of rumination and uncertainty, and the feeling of going round and round, the anxiety and worry, can be really unbearable. I call this 'loops of concern'.
What causes echolalia? The exact cause of echolalia is not known, however, speech imitation and repetition is a normal part of language development in toddlers younger than three years. After three years, self-regulation of speech and language typically develops.
Echolalia means that your child is repeating what they hear in an automatic way. It is a behavior of children who are presenting as being on the autism spectrum, but it doesn't always mean that your child has Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The phenomenon of echolalia in autism and Asperger's syndrome1 has been well documented. However, few studies have attributed functionality to the structure of echolalia or have investigated the clinical use of this phenomenon in speech therapy for patients fitting this profile.
Because autism spectrum disorder varies in severity with each child, there is no hard and fast rule. It is not uncommon for children with ASD to begin developing speech in the same manner as typical children, as well as to regress in speech and language comprehension around two years old.
Someone with echolalia may only be able to repeat a question rather than answering it, for example if someone asked “do you want to go for a walk?” they may repeat “go for a walk”. Some people can experience this issue only when they are distressed or anxious, others experience it all of the time.
However, by age two you should see them begin using their own utterances as well. You may see them continuing to imitate you or use echolalia when you ask a complex question or when you're giving directions but they should also be using a lot of their own utterances as well.
Echolalia serves a variety of communicative purposes.
Echolalia provides a way for people with autism to affirm, call, request, label, protest, relate information, complete verbal routines and give directives.
Repetitive behaviour
For example, children might: make repetitive noises like grunts, throat-clearing or squealing. do repetitive movements like body-rocking or hand-flapping. do things like flicking a light switch repeatedly.
Winsler conducted the first-ever study which looked at private speech in autistic children, which was published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly. The study found that high-functioning autistic children talk to themselves often and in the same ways that non-autistic children do.