echolalia?

DS is 3 (as of august) and has a speech/language delay. He just transferred to CPSE. He is in a full day center based program. He gets 2x speech, OT and PT.

He has made TREMENDOUS growth in the last 6 months. He is speaking much more and his speech is becoming easier to understand.

But I'm worried about echolalia. If I ask him how old he is, he says, "I'm 3" because he knows the question. Lately we've worked on "What's your name?". Initially, he would repeat, "What's your name?" Then I had him watch DH and I role play and now when I say, "What's your name?" He says, "Aidan!"

Today I asked, "Who are you?" and he just kept repeating it after me. When He would repeat, "Who are you?" I would say, "I'm mommy. Who are you?" and then he would say, "I'm mommy. Who are you?"

I am so scared and worried. Is this the natural progression of speech? Is he doing this because he doesn't understand the question? Is it echolalia?

If you've made it this far, here is one more example. He's newly into Toy Story the original. In case you don't remember, Buzz thinks he's "Real" and not a toy. At one point Woody gets so annoyed and yells, "You are a TOY!" On Sunday, DS dropped his sandwich on the floor and then stepped on it. I said, "Aidan! Don't do that! That's not nice!" He looked me dead in the eye and yelled, "You are a TOY!" I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. DH says that he was trying to change the subject and he was making a connection between me being annoyed and Woody being annoyed in the movie.

Please someone give me some guidance. I feel so lost right now.

ETA: He can say lots of things like, I want macaroni, I want juice, give me Toy Story. It's go outside time....

Message edited 11/8/2010 9:46:39 PM.

Re: echolalia?

You've just described my son! Right down to that exact phrase - you are a TOY!
I wouldn't worry too much - what we found was that echolalia provided a script where his language skills were lacking. As his expressive and receptive language increases you'll see less and less of it.



ps - I'm hoping ktcmblondie will chime in here - she's the expert on this!

Re: echolalia?

Also wanted to add - GREAT JOB modelling between you and your dh. That's the best way for him to learn.

Re: echolalia?

Thanks colesmom....
And great advice, that's exactly what is happening, your son is using the echolalia because he knows that you've either asked a question or made a statement and that a response is required from him. One of two or both problems that may be occuring is that he's not processing what you've just said but knows that there is an expectation to respond and kudos to him for recognizing that he needs to be socially appropriate and/or he is having difficulty formulating a response in real time and so is pulling from scripted dialogue that he has stored in his brain and takes no effort to retrieve. The great thing is that he trying to respond the frustrating thing is that his phrases seem tangential and strange. Do NOT under any circumstances try to squash the scripting because he is using it to communicate. What you can do is slow your rate of speech down to allow more processing time and provide a visual cue (like a visual sign when you ask about age) to cue him into what it is you are asking, this will help. I want to say Bravo to you and your husband for the beautiful model...this is exactly how I would address working on the formulation just continue to provide models. IF he says something that seems tangential like "YOu are not a Toy!" try to tie it back to the event because he was being conveying that he was angry to you albeit not conventionally but definitely angry. So you could say something like, "No I'm not a toy...I'm mommy and I'm mad" You've just acknowledged his attempt at being communicative and labeled the emotions that he maybe could not have in the moment. HTH

Re: echolalia?

So weird you wrote that phrase...when Johnny was 2.5 a little girl yelled at him at the park..he turned to her and screams "YOU ARE A TOY!!!"

My brother and I looked at one another and laughed and on the inside I was upset. I knew he was scripting a bit and it bothered me.

He also had a bit of echolalia here and there combined with spontaneous language.

Good news? It all went away. He acquired language typically (eventually) and could answer/communicate everything he needed to by 3. Echolalia stopped and the occasional scripting stopped. He never ever does it anymore, hasn't for about a year (he just turned 4)

you are doing ALL the right things. We did this as well. We'd talk at the dinner table and ask him questions. If he didn't answer or used echolalia we'd say "You have to say, "My name is Johnny!". It worked and everything came together..

I'm sure it will come along great! Keep up the great work!

Re: echolalia?

Hi Colleen

In my experience we've been at that same point. It was at its peak a few months ago and lasted for what seemed like an eternity. I was constantly stressed about it because all of his EI therapists were putting it in his reports.

He still does it now but it is less than it was for sure. He's learning. You just have to keep being patient and trying to remodel for them like someone said.

He's communicating so much better now although it is still hard to have a conversation with him because he doesn't know how to tell me about something in the past. He can tell me exactly was is going on at that moment in time. He can answer questions about objects, animals, letters, numbers. But can't really socially converse yet. That is where my worries are right now but his teachers tell me it's all a process that he needs to go through.

And in the meantime we'll just worry. And hope to god they're right