Forms of Echolalia

Immediate Echolalia is used when the repetition occurs just after or slightly after being heard. For example, you ask, “Do you want a cookie?” and the student says the exact phrase (or part of the phrase) “want a cookie” right after you. When the exact phrase is repeated, it is often repeated with the question inflection. However, the student usually means he does want a cookie.

Delayed Echolalia is used to refer to those repetitions that occur after a significant amount of time has passed. We overhear students repeating what their parents said that morning or the evening before. Often we hear them repeating parts of their favorite videos, television shows, or even computer programs, mimicking the tone of voice and inflection of the characters or announcers. Delayed echolalia involves retrieving information from long-term memory, whereas immediate echolalia involves short-term recall. With delayed echolalia, it is as if the scene were recorded on video within the child’s mind and he later pressed the “play” button.

Mitigated Echolalia occurs when a child uses a delayed echolalic phrase in the appropriate context. For example, one student said, “Try again,” whenever his response was incorrect on a task. His mother heard him and told staff that the phrase was from a certain computer game, and that it occurred in the game whenever his response was incorrect. Some students take a social sentence and say it in the correct context with a teacher or peer. Mitigated echolalia is a wonderful link to learning spontaneous language.