Echolalia question

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Registered: 11-15-2006
Echolalia question
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Mon, 02-11-2008 - 1:15am

As some of you

- Christina mom to-

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 02-11-2008 - 6:05pm

Actually Christina, That sounds a bit like Mike's echolalia.

My DH made a crack the other day "I swear that boy doesn't have an original thought in his head". While that is not completely true he has a point. Mike uses movie lines and scripts in his language so much that often it blends in and we don't even catch the lines anymore.

He can have your basic conversations "hi, how was your day? What did you do?" etc but anything stressful (or if he is being a jokester) he turns to his movie lines. He is getting better about it than he was before but they are there. If he is having just a regular conversation he tends to almost stutter a bit. Not stutter in the true sense but his speech is not fluent.

But you can bet when Mike comes up with this really fluent wonderful statement 9 times out of 10 there is some movie influence in the background.

Some examples:
When Mike was 2 and you would ask him if he wanted lunch, to play, etc he would always answer "That's a great idea, Thanks!" doing this one hand motion and with a certain inflection. We thought it was cute and clever until we borrowed this one Mother Goose movie from the sitter and heard it there. That was the first time we realized he was doing it.

When he was 8 I was taking him for a hearing test and we went for a tour of the place before to prep him. He said nearly nothing the entire time (other than growling) until it was time to leave, then he turned to the lady and said "Leaving is my Speciality!"

It is harder to catch now and he will tell me if I ask him what movie it is. He gets this sly smile and tells me. I think the kid honestly learned how to have conversations from that dang box.

So in that way they are using it for language, just on a higher level then what is usually thought of as echolalia.

Mike also uses Echolalia as a stim. He may say a line or a sound over and over. This he does particularly when he is overstimulated.

When you go for the eval tell the doc exactly what you told us and that you think it may be some sort of echolalia. No harm in that.

Renee

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 02-11-2008 - 6:06pm

Hi Christina!

I am a regular lurker but thought maybe I could help on this. The definition of echolalia is:

Echolalia - involuntary repetition of words or phrases just spoken by someone else. Also known as echologia, echophasia, echophrasia, echo speech and mimic speech.

Typically a child with echolalia repeats things so that their brain has time to process what was said to him/her. My son, who has ASD will repeat the last two or three words for example.

Me: You are acting pretty crazy today son.
Him: pretty crazy today...pretty crazy today... and so on...

Stress echolalia is something else that he experiences.

Me: I need you to clean your room.
Him: clean your room...clean your ROOM...(insert full meltdown) CLEAN YOUR ROOM??!!!!

We have to break it down into smaller steps for him because the concept of cleaning his room in itself is too overwhelming for him to process. (ie..pick up the legos. When that task is complete we move to the next one.)

I think what you're describing does fit in nicely under the AS umbrella because they tend to memorize exceptionally well. Usually it's something that they are hyperfocusing on. For example, my son loved Buzz Lightyear. It was Buzz all the time. He memorized Toy Story and would say the words along with the movie and then repeat full sections all day long. They typically only focus like this on one or two things at a time, but not always. This doesn't usually fall under 'echolalia' though like the above do.

I hope that helps a little!

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Registered: 11-28-2006
Mon, 02-11-2008 - 10:36pm

My boys quote tv shows, commercials, cartoons and movie lines all the time.

Avatar for chowderheadmom
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Registered: 03-30-2003
Tue, 02-12-2008 - 1:06am

I never realized there was a name for it! Bug's got this, too. She's got a near photographic memory and has often told me she "thinks in pictures."

She was listening to the Grease soundtrack once and said, "That's when Danny pops up on the screen. That's when Rizzo is there." She had only seen the movie once at that point (and we weren't even sure she was watching it). I double checked and I'll be damned if she wasn't right! Hers usually revolves around music, which is how many kids learn best.

The funny part is she uses music to learn her AWANA verses. (AWANA is like Girl Scouts, but church related versus earn "jewels" in a crown pin instead of badges like Girl Scouts. And they don't have to sell those evil, evil cookies! LOL!)



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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 02-12-2008 - 6:43am

Well memorizing movies or songs really isn't the echolalia part, it is more the repetition of lines, words, etc.

There are 2 kinds of echolalia though the actual proper names escape me (as it is 3am and my dog woke me up) but they basically are immediate and delayed. Immediate is the kind where when you say something and the child repeats what you said. So "what is your name" is answered with "what is your name". Another good example is what the poster above said.

Delayed is when they will use the lines later. It may be in conversation or not. Many kids who have a hard time with conversations will use echolalic phrases to make up for the impairment. Cait and Mike both did some immediate echolalia when they were little.

Now when they are older Cait does not use it at all, and Mike's is getting more rare. It used to be all the time but now his speech is much more spontaneous. I was listening tonight to be sure. At one point I was asking him something and he just kept repeating "Why Must I" in one of his odd cadences. I thought for sure it was a line so when he finally calmed a bit I asked and it wasn't. Made it up himself he says. He will used delayed echolalia as a stim as well. Saying one word or phrase over and over to no one really but himself because it just sounds really cool to him and he is stimmy at the time.

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Registered: 04-03-2006
Tue, 02-12-2008 - 7:38am
Rece has a form of echolalia also. He does some repeating of other people also and he likes to hear other people repeat him. but lately he has started with the movie lines. That is his form of "pretend" play. I almost got so excited b/c he was playing that he was going to go slay a dragon. Anyone know what kids' movie that is from? Yeah, Shrek. He was using this orange bucket as his armor helmet and saying he was going to go see about a dragon. It took me a couple times to realize that it was not original thoughts going on.


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Avatar for betz67
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 02-12-2008 - 1:22pm

Weston uses both the immediate and the delayed. We thought it was so cool when he started talking and used full sentences, but realized later that he was just repeating lines that fit the situation-- at first it was mostly lines from "Toy Story" or Thomas the Tank Engine.

He still does both, when stressed at school he'll repeat the last thing the teacher said over and over and over but he still uses the delayed when he needs to talk to people. He doesn't remember which movies the lines are from or can't articulate them at the time, but later he can repeat movies word for word. He still doesn't have a lot of original conversation w/ peers, but often they don't realize he's using the script.

Betsy

Betsy

Avatar for chowderheadmom
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Registered: 03-30-2003
Tue, 02-12-2008 - 1:50pm

Thanks for clarifying. She hates when other people repeat her because she thinks they're making fun of her and "stop copying me! Stop making fun of me!" :sigh:

Funny part is she does repeat things to herself as a calming method/self-stim thing, and the music thing like the Grease and pictures in her head happen often, with hearing things only once. Weird. (I have to admit that sometimes it's kind of neat. She's like Monk in some ways - without the germophobia.)



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Registered: 02-24-2004
Tue, 02-12-2008 - 3:08pm

Funny you should mention "Monk"!!

Avatar for chowderheadmom
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Registered: 03-30-2003
Tue, 02-12-2008 - 3:13pm

How about the talking incessantly?

Bug talks so much (and so constantly) that she actually talks in her sleep, too. I swear this child will have TMJ problems from "overuse." LOL!



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