Echolalia

Echolalia refers to persistent and inappropriate repetition or echoing of heard speech, either immediately or after a brief delay. The individual may repeat a single word or a phrase. For example, if someone says, “Let's walk over here,” a child might echo, “here” or “Let's walk over here.” This behavior is usually associated with Tourette's syndrome, schizophrenia, or dementia, but most commonly occurs in children with autism. Echolalia may also be associated with focal brain injury or other developmental or neurological disorders, although this is not typical. While toddlers are notorious for imitating heard speech, this strategy for language acquisition is both purposeful and fleeting. In contrast, echolalia occurs at later stages of development, including adulthood, and may be involuntary. Use of this term indicates that the speaker's facility with language is limited; echolalic speech may be irrelevant to the situation and is often characterized by unusual intonation (e.g., wooden or sing song) and inappropriate effect.

Earlier approaches to language assessment assumed that echolalic speech was random and meaningless. Recent approaches by people who work with autistic children take a different view, which is that interactive echolalic utterances may facilitate naming object, taking turns, or initiating requests; whereas noninteractive echolalia may help the autistic child regulate his or her behavior. Thus, echolalic verbalizations may represent a positive strategy that enables autistic children to communicate verbally despite significant deficits in expressive language.