Echolalia And Autism

According to Kids Health (2014), “children with Autism have difference in the way their brains develop and process information”. For example, “language delay, trouble communicating with their brains, perform certain unusual or repetitive behaviors, or have difficulties learning in school” (p. 1).

A characteristic of autism is echolalia, the repetition of words or phrases. Some therapies aim to discourage echolalia in order to limit the symptoms of autism in the individual. While it is a somewhat controversial issue music therapy generally aims to instead aid in the effective use of echolalia. For many children expressing an idea is more important than using unique language to do so. Music therapy often provides a script for the child, for example, a greeting song provides the words and the cue to greet peers and

“Language Impairments in Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder” from the Journal of population therapeutics and clinical pharmacology

Autistic children also have difficulties with language. Some never learn to speak or develop very limited speech. An autistic child may say "you" when he means "I" and produce incorrectly formed sentences. Autistic children may also demonstrate echolalia, mechanically repeating words or phrases that other people say.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disorder that affects a person’s social interaction and communication. This disorder is mainly characterized by having difficulty with social interaction, communication, and having restricted behaviors. Difficulty with social interaction means someone will struggle to communicate their feelings/emotions, understand how others feel or think, develop peer relationships, and understand nonverbal behaviors (eye gaze, facial expressions, etc). Difficulty with communication will vary among the individual. Some individuals will develop expressive language, while others will not. The speech of those that do develop expressive language will often be repetitive, rote, and lack

Autism is a developmental disability that can affect both verbal and nonverbal communication and social interactions. Evidence of autism is generally seen before the age of 3 but one can also be diagnosed after this age. Some characteristics associated with autism are resistance to environmental change or change in routines, unusual responses to sensory experiences, engaging in repetitive activities, and stereotypical movements. These characteristics will affect a student’s educational performance. Close to 50 percent of children with autism do not speak at all, while others have echolalic speech (Houston-Wilson). Echolalic speech refers to a mimicked response. For example, when given a command the child may repeat the command word for word without comprehending what is being said. This type of communication may not be immediate. A child may recall a song from a movie he or she

With the rate of autism being diagnosed on the rise, the amount of research and interest in the disorder has risen as well. Some research suggests that over the past two decades the occurrence of autism has increased from approximately 2-5 per 10,000 births to about 1-5 per 1,000 births (Acosta & Pearl, 2004; Fatemi et al., 2012). Still others report that the occurrence is as high as 1 in 150 kids (Amaral, Schumann, & Nordhal, 2008). Even though the spectrum of autistic disorders has been studied since 1943, there have still not been any consistent nor persuasive causes or markers, either biological or clinical, identified with autism and its range of disorders (Santangelo & Tsatsanis, 2005). In fact, even with all of the advancements in genetic research technology and the increasing interest in autism, researchers can still only account for approximately 5-15% of autistic cases (Rogers et al., 2013).

Many people who don’t know what autism is would think that it’s a new issue in modern society, but it has become far more predominant today compared to previous years. The term autism comes from the Greek word “autos”, meaning “self”. The word autism was first used in 1908 by a swiss psychiatrist named Eugene Bleuler. He used it to describe a schizophrenic patient who had withdrawn into his own world. However, the innovators into autism research were Hans Asperger and Leo Kanner. While they were not working together, they were both doing studies during the 1940s. Leo Kanner, an American child psychiatrist, started by studying the behaviors of 11 children. What he discovered in their behaviors are both pros and cons. The pros are that they had good intellectual potential and can recollect things relatively well. Nevertheless, the cons are difficulty in socializing, adapting to change, repeating words, just to name a few. Kanner referred to their condition as Kanner’s syndrome, which was later named Early Infantile Autism. Similarly, Hans Asperger also studied a group of children that mimicked Kanner’s descriptions. One thing that’s different from Asperger’s research compared to Kanner’s research is that the children he observed did not have echolalia as a linguistic problem because they spoke like young adults. Additionally, Hans did mention that the children he evaluated were clumsy and had difficulty with fine motor skills. Hans Asperger described the milder form of autism

Nathaniel loves to play games and participate in activities. He enjoys new activities and helping his teachers. When Nathaniel feels that he did not show his group members respect, he will apologize for his actions and become fully engage in the group. In sessions, Nathaniel tends to use echolalia to process a question or new information. Initially, I thought Nathaniel was mocking myself and the other group members. However, as sessions continued, I discovered that Nathaniel uses echolalia to help him with active listening. Also, Nathaniel benefits from small class learning environment and small groups.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines autism as a “developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance” (Heward, 2013, p.236). The IDEA goes on to describe the characteristics commonly associated with this disability: repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to

Another, is repeating parts of a conversation heard in the past (delayed echolalia). May repeat certain sounds over and over again (verbal perseveration) it also may be difficult for a child to convey his or her own needs. Examples are, if the child is hungry or ever in pain. This is one of the most lurid obstacles for a parent to come to realize. It is also very hard to socialize with an autistic child. Frequently autistic children will want to play alone, have no interest in making any friends, cannot make contact into your eyes, and will not show any sign of affection. This is very hard for family, friends, caregivers, and teachers to have to deal with. Most autistic children also have an IQ of under 70, that of an average person. About 20-40% of autistic children that have an IQ of fewer than 50 may start having seizures before adolescence. There are also many variances of autism, sometimes called childhood-onset pervasive development disorder or atypical autism. This may begin later then 12 years old. They start to behave in many bizarre mechanisms. The child may also be diagnosed with tourette’s syndromes, obsessive compulsive disorder, or hyperactivity. It is very difficult for a doctor to diagnose one symptom or disorder from another.

Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

The researchers have seen that pediatricians have played an important role in early recognition and evaluation of autism spectrum disorders but also in further management of these disorders. The goals of treatment of this disorder are to increase the child's functional independence and quality of life by reducing the core autism spectrum disorder characteristics, facilitating development and learning, promoting socialization, reducing maladaptive behaviors, and educating and supporting families. The researchers helped the pediatricians in educating families and guiding the families toward empirically supported interventions for their children, this research tells us the educational strategies and related therapies

Some children with autism may have the ability to speak while others do not. Some children are able to speak clearly but the words they say are disordered which makes it hard for people to understand them. Others can recite or repeat phrases they’ve heard like famous songs, and advertisements heard on TV, but do not have the ability to communicate with others. Lastly, some children say echolalic phrases when they are attempting to communicate with others. Echolalic speech is the repetition of phrases, noises, words, or parts of words. Children with echolalic speech repeat the sentences, noises, words, or parts of words that they hear from others around them or on TV. This condition can often be related to autism and schizophrenia.

The frequency of regression in autism is uncertain. One study reviewed published evidence and reported rates varying between 22% and 50%.Many children with autism have infantile speech, which usually stops in such children, as in developmentally normal children, before age 18 months. In normal children more communicative speech usually overlaps. The failure of this normal communicative speech to develop in children, who have autism, coinciding with the disappearance of infantile vocalizations, may be over interpreted as regression of speech and language. Our figure of 25% with developmental regression, although in accord with other studies, is likely to include many such children and is likely to be an overestimate. Regression was found in