Echolalia, what is it?
Echolalia is a word you may see pop up often in the autistic community. But what exactly it is?
Echolalia by definition is non-voluntary repetition of another individual’s speech.
Which when you look at the word itself, “echo” meaning “to repeat” and “lalia” meaning “speech” it is exactly what it says it is.
*a side note, that autistic people may also repeat their own words/thoughts/feelings/phrases, not just others
Echolalia is very common in toddlers under 3, this is mostly due to the way the child is learning. When Echolalia continues above age 3, this is when it could be due to something such as ASD. (autism spectrum “disorder”).
However, Autism is not the only neurological condition where echolalia is present.
Other Conditions where echolalia may be present
Head Injury / Trauma
Tourettes Syndrome
Dementia
Alzheimer's
ADHD
OCD
Echolalia can often pose a purpose, it can be used as a way for the person to engage verbally with you. It may be used to ask for things or to start an interaction with you. For example, a child may say something like “ready or not” to initiate a game with you as they heard it said before in a similar situation.
Echolalia can be a way to self-stimulate. Stimming is a behaviour we use to self sooth and regulate ourselves, and echolalia is often used as a stim.
It can also be used in a way to vocalise their stress. For some, verbal communication is not their primary form of communicating with you, and one way autistic people may express stress could be through repeated phrases they have heard others say to communicate something similar, or even echoing facial expressions.
Types Of Echolalia
There are two types of echolalia, delayed and immediate.
Immediate Echolalia
This type of echolalia is repeated immediately after hearing the phrases. There may be a slight delay but is usually within a short window of hearing the phrase/sound.
Some Examples
Hearing a phrases on a show you are watching and repeating it immediately
Repeating something someone said to you, and also in their accent
Hearing a car horn beep and making the sound yourself
Clicking your pen and mimicking the sound of it
Repeating the last word in someones sentence, they would say for example “can you pass me that bowl” and you would repeat “bowl”
Repeating something out loud that you thought of
Delayed Echolalia
This type of echolalia is repeated after hearing the phrases, at any given time, it may be the same day or possibly weeks later.
Some Examples
Repeating one word or line from a song over and over
Using phrases or quotes from movies
Making repetitive mouth sounds to mimic a sound you heard before
Repeating one word someone said to you for days/weeks
Constantly repeating phrases / quotes heard in the day
Repeating a word or phrase you said previously
There is also interactive and non-interactive echolalia. Interactive echolalia is often used as a means of communication, particularly in people who don’t often use verbal communication. For example, repeating the phrase “ready or not” or similar to communicate to you that they want to play or perhaps phrases similar to “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” to indicate that they are hungry. These are phrases that they have heard spoken in similar instances and use echolalia to communicate their needs.
Non-interactive echolalia is the opposite, and is often a self stimulating behaviour.
Times you may have been using echolalia as a stim and not realised;
Echolalia for the most part is involuntary, and often times we may not even realise we are doing it, or realise what we are doing is actually echolalia.
Hearing a dog bark and you start barking
Hearing a car horn and repeating the sound
Mimicking someones accent when speaking to them
Repeating a sound or noise and wondering why, then realising it was in a tv show you may have watched
Hearing the way someone laughs and replaying it over and over in your head or out loud
Repeating words or phrases from your favourite tv show / films
Answering peoples questions with quotes you’d heard elsewhere
Repeating phrases you heard others say in their conversations
Repeating non-word sounds such as tapping, scrubbing, writing, coughing, falling sounds, zippers or animal sounds.
Remember, Echolalia is not a bad thing and it does not need to be “treated” or “dealt with”.
When doing research for this topic, so many articles stated “how to treat echolalia” or “how to get rid of echolalia”
Echolalia is a self-stimulating or communicative behaviour and it does not cause any harm. It can help a person to regulate, ground themselves, communicate or engage with others.
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