What Is Echolalia? (Autism And Echolalia)

Hi, so what is echolalia exactly? Why is your child repeating words or phrases? Well echolalia is the repeating words or phrases. But when it comes to autism and echolalia, it is very common with autistic people which I wanted to explore in this video.

I go into exactly what echolalia is, share examples of echolalia, the difference between delayed echolalia and immediate echolalia and why autistic people use echolalia.

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*ABOUT ME*
Hello indie people, I'm Andy and I have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I make videos on autism from the perspective of an autistic adult. Sharing my autism experiences to help other autistic people and autism families to improve their understanding of autism.

This channel is focused on raising autism awareness & acceptance of autism. To try and change attitudes towards autism, to educate people about autism for those who are new to the autism world.

So if you are on the spectrum, know someone with autism, or are working professionally in the autism field and want to learn more about autistic people then consider subscribing and turning on the notification bell to see all future videos.

#autism #indieandy #autistic

[IndieAndy]

What's your favourite quote from the film series I mentioned?

Found this video helpful? Maybe this playlist about stimming might be for you:

[tayzonday]

Yep! It takes effort for me to repress echolalia. That masking can become its own mental health challenge.

[EB]

I'll often repeat sounds over and over to myself because I like the sound, like my recent one is "boop boop" after I watched the videos on YouTube of a talking Raven, and I also repeat the same line of a song over and over, or I do also repeat things people have said back to them because I'm still processing the question they're asking I think?

[markulous]

Echolalia helps me a lot. If I can provide a quote/impression to a response, it always feels satisfying for some reason. Sometimes it's easier to get my point across too. For repeating words right away like "late late late", I usually just say the last part of their sentence back to them. If I have low energy that day or trouble being verbal, it's about all I can muster but it's just me trying to let them know I hear what they're saying (and usually I need a few more moments to fully process it).

[SezFrancis]

I think I went through either echolalia or delayed echolalia stage when I was non-verbal. It’s interesting because I thought it was just stimming (because of global developmental delay) but I would keep repeating words from tv shows and films. I didn’t say my first word on my own until I was five.

Also my favourite film quotes are “Anita Darling” and “may the force be with you”. Lord of the rings is a classic too; you cannot argue with that 😀

[maddies.]

I knew plenty of kids in my classes, who would repeat what the teacher said to them, or what I would say to them. I always thought it was strange, but for some reason I never really questioned it.

[davidroddini]

I don’t know if this counts as the same thing; but many times my conversations go like this:

Friend: “Hey, I’m going to McDonalds do you want anything?”
Me: “McDonalds? No I’m good.”
F: “Do you want me to swing by anywhere else on the way?”
M: “Do I want you to go somewhere else? No. No need to make a special trip for me.”
F: “It wouldn’t be a problem.”
M: “You say it’s not a problem; but I feel like that would be imposing.”
F: “Are you sure?”
M: “Sure I’m sure.”

[modmaker]

Whenever I order something alphabetically without using the computer programme's functions, I saying (not singing) the alphabet song the write down the letters in order because I have to have the letters written down in order due to not I don't know the order without getting the song. I do the same with months of the year to get their order just right too. I presume that's me using delayed echolalia.

As for movie quotes; Star Wars Prequel Trilogy quotes that been turned into memes spring to mind, "Do you know the tragedy of Darth Pragueis the Wise?", "Now this is pod racing", "this is a great mistake", "unlimited power!", "It begun, The Clone War has" and even a behind the scenes quote "It's poetry, it rhymes". I use movie quotes mostly for comedy but that last one is my rule on how to write narratives.

[adamlongyear]

Challenge: take a shot every time he says echolalia.

I counted 29 times, impressive.

[DeborahAnnsuperversatile]

Thank you so much for this video 🙂 I have quite a lot of repeating words/phrases mostly in my head all the time, but sometimes I let them out or do random beats out loud like the vocal stimming. My girl does both immediate and delayed echolalia especially with lines from movies. She probably does it more because she does not suppress as much as I have learned how to. My masking/suppressing stuff wears me out more also.

[karenw]

Now that you've explained it, I realize that I do this a lot. I have always called it my "word association Tourette's", because I have to say certain words out loud when someone else speaks a trigger word! E.g. when someone answers their phone by saying "Yello" instead of "Hello", I have to say "purple"...no matter if I'm a part of that phone call or not! It makes me giggle to learn there's a real name for it. Thanks!

[JuliaSmith]

I‘m autistic and from Switzerland so I speak german. There was a german comedian called Loriot (He died) and I‘m really big fan of him and I‘ve watched pretty much all of his sketches. I noticed that I remember many lines from his sketches because I‘ve watched them so often and I use them in conversation at random times just to confuse people xD. For example: „Auf dem Campingplatz in Bozen liegen die Waschräume separat“ which translates to „At the campsite in Bolzano, the washrooms are separate.“ I think it is very funny (I have a weird sense of humour) because it is so random and people get confused by it xD. Idk whether this is related to this though.

[jennyb]

Thank you so much for these informative videos. I'm a Mum of a 23 year old with non verbal autism and complex needs.
You have helped me understand him better which I am so grateful for. I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie /documentary on the book 'The reason I jump' I read it some years ago and it touched me. Have you read it?
Stay amazing 😁😁

[dbt]

Ah, another thing to add to my "something I didn't know I did this" list! Thanks Andy😀

[breannapiscitelli]

I did not realize that this had a name until recently. I always knew I was a little different, but have recently been diagnosed with autism. I think the name echolalia is very appropriate because a lot of times when someone says some thing that is very catchy to me or that I agree with I will repeat the sentence after. I do it a lot with jokes too, but it is because I enjoy the words they are saying, and it actually makes sense to me. This is in a world where a lot of things don’t make a lot of sense to me. I take things very literal, and somethings just don’t really make sense when you think like that I guess. It’s kind of like somebody telling a joke and being the only person that doesn’t get it. And that’s usually me sometimes I’ll get the joke but it will be way too late or even late days after.😂

[jenm]

My sons echolalia was very strong when he was younger. He mostly quoted his favorite movies all the time or would echo what we'd say if he wasn't understanding. He improved tremendously when he got into public school with speach therapy but then regressed over the summer due to being away from school. He's 6 now and I'm finally able to afford childcare during the summer which is helping him! What a difference it makes when he's around other kids and interacting with the world around him.

P.s. I love lord of the rings too!

[catherinedesrochers]

What you just mentioned about the need to say “Well hello people…”

I remember when I used to work in offices and each morning I would say to people “Bon Matin” as soon as I arrived with the same voice tone, rhythm and body gestures to the point my coworkers noticed it and told me about it 😂

[robinadams]

I love your videos! They're helping me understand myself and others much easier. Would you mind doing a video about palilalia?

[myname-rzzk]

Is this like when I go into meltdown and keep repeating a random word from my thoughts over and over out loud

[AstridEverInHiding]

I screeched when I saw this. People think I am SO WEIRD becuase I use echolalia a TON. People don't realize it's a large part of my communication. It's also literally my largest stim and the only one I don't ever suppress. I usually don't allow myself to stim.