Echolalia
Question:
I work with adults who have severe learning disabilities and in our Home we have a lady aged 40 who displays echolalia. She has a set pattern of phrases that she’s learnt from stories and TV and phrases that people she knows repeat frequently. Most of the time she uses these phrases in an appropriate setting – for example, if the wind blows her phrase is ‘A cold wind blew in the boy’s face’ obviously taken from a story but repeated in context. Occasionally she will come up with phrases in the wrong setting, possibly as she thinks its funny to embarrass whoever she’s with. For instance, in the middle of a bank queue she will say at the top of her voice ‘Don’t pinch’, a phrase occassionally said to her when she’s holding on too tight. However, she will learn new words such as people’s names and repeat them when she sees that person. However, she won’t say everybody’s name and she NEVER says her own name. She will interact with people using the stock phrases evryone says – when people ask how she is, she says ‘Alright’. When people ask for example ‘Did you enjoy the show?’, she says ‘Yes’. Since coming to live in our Home two years ago, she has begun to string more words together when she’s not just repeating things – for example, ‘Yes, please’. She can follow quite complex sets of instructions, though this varies from day to day and depends on whether she’ll stop talking long enough to listen. She has followed ‘Go to Peter, pick up the cup and bring it to the hatch’. We’ve never had any training on how to help her develop her language skills and would like to hear from anyone with advice. Thanks in anticipation. Heather Alblas In article <3249CDDC.4…@metz.une.edu.au>, Linda Foskey <lfos…@metz.une.edu.au> writes – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->Annette, >Echolalia is NOT a disease. It is a language difficulty characterised by the >child repeating words >or phrases they hear. It is thought of as a comprehension disorder as the >imitation carries little >meaning for the child. It is sometimes a characteristic of autism. >Echolalia is often present in normally developing language skills but disappears >by the age of 3. >A therapy approach would be to work on language comprehension, beginning with >very simple >language tasks such as naming objects or carrying out simple (1-2 word) >instructions. The child’s >therapists & teachers should be able to tell you what the child can comprehend >and what they >can say with meaning. >Linda >Speech-Language Pathologist >Australia >(Note: school aged LD is my speciality, not preschool so ask your local SLP for >a more accurate >idea of echolalia)
Response:
Peter Zgeb wrote: > I would like to find out as much as possible about echolalia. I work at a > pre-school and one of the children attending has this disability. Please > email me if you know anything about the disease or where I can get more > info. > Thank-you > Annette Zgeb > pa…@sympatico.ca
Annette: from what I’ve been able to gather, echolalia is a symptom of Tourette’s Syndrome. Here’s a URL pointing to the MentalHealth site with a good description and covers current treatment options. hope this helps, Peg in ottawa
Response:
Annette, Echolalia is NOT a disease. It is a language difficulty characterised by the child repeating words or phrases they hear. It is thought of as a comprehension disorder as the imitation carries little meaning for the child. It is sometimes a characteristic of autism. Echolalia is often present in normally developing language skills but disappears by the age of 3. A therapy approach would be to work on language comprehension, beginning with very simple language tasks such as naming objects or carrying out simple (1-2 word) instructions. The child’s therapists & teachers should be able to tell you what the child can comprehend and what they can say with meaning. Linda Speech-Language Pathologist Australia (Note: school aged LD is my speciality, not preschool so ask your local SLP for a more accurate idea of echolalia)
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Peg Duncan wrote: > Peter Zgeb wrote: > > I would like to find out as much as possible about echolalia. I work at a > > pre-school and one of the children attending has this disability. Please > > email me if you know anything about the disease or where I can get more > > info. > > Thank-you > > Annette Zgeb > > pa…@sympatico.ca > Annette: > from what I’ve been able to gather, echolalia is a symptom of Tourette’s > Syndrome. Here’s a URL pointing to the MentalHealth site with a good > description and covers current treatment options. > hope this helps, > Peg in ottawa
Oops – forgot the URL! Guide to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Tourette Syndrome http://www.mentalhealth.com/book/p40-gtor.html
Response:
I would like to find out as much as possible about echolalia. I work at a pre-school and one of the children attending has this disability. Please email me if you know anything about the disease or where I can get more info. Thank-you Annette Zgeb pa…@sympatico.ca
Response:
My son echoes. It can be a sign of many things, such as autism, pragmatic language disorder (which my son has). Basically, it suggests that the child does not understand what people are saying so he simply repeats it back. It is a very difficult form of language disorder and should be addressed immediately, while he’s still young. My son is in a special Pre-K designed for language impaired kids. There are things that can be done and my son shows steady improvement thanks to early intervention. I suggest you read up on the topic, find a psychologist who specializes in autism and language disorders and call him/her with your suspicions. Have the specialsit give you the name of someone who can test the child (if the specialist is unavailable). Then, have a meeting with the child’s parents. Do not casually bring this up because you don’t want to send the parents into outer space. Give the parents the name of the specialist and urge them to set up an appointment. Any literature you can gather would be helpful, too. Hope this helps. I wish someone had presented this to me in the manner I’ve described. I spent last summer crying every other day as I waited 2 months for an appointment with an autism specialist after a well-meaning relative announced that my son was definitely autistic! Jennifer in Grosse Pointe
