He knows those words have something to do with bath time, but he doesn’t know what “it’s,” “time,” “for,” “your,” and/or “bath” mean individually, and he can’t use these words in other sentences. These chunks are more grammatically complicated than they could put together themselves, and they don’t understand what the individual words mean.įor example, a child might say “It’s time for your bath” every time he hears his father filling up the bathtub.

Their first attempts at language may be longer “chunks” of language (phrases or sentences), which they are not able to break down into smaller parts. Typically developing children tend to begin learning language by first understanding and using single words, and then they gradually string them together to make phrases and sentences.Ĭhildren on the autism spectrum often follow a different route. Children on the autism spectrum use echolalia because they learn language differently Here are three things you need to know about echolalia. While it might be difficult to figure out what a child is trying to say when he or she uses echolalia, learning a little bit about this type of speech can help you figure out the meaning behind his or her message. For example, a child might enjoy a song his teacher sang at circle time, and then later ask to sing it at home by saying “It’s circle time” instead of saying the name of the song. As a result of the time delay, delayed echolalia may seem very unusual because these sentences are used out of context. When they repeat words at a later time, it’s known as delayed echolalia. When children repeat words right after they hear them, it’s known as immediate echolalia.

They might repeat the words of familiar people (parents, teachers), or they might repeat sentences from their favourite video. Many children on the autism spectrum use echolalia, which means they repeat others’ words or sentences. Hanen Certified SLP and Clinical Staff Writer

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