echolalia(?) when reading?

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My 6yr old son is awaiting diagnosis (appt in November) and he's still at the stage of reading out loud to us the books he's given in school, or even whatever text book or comic takes his fancy instead of reading in his head. I've been noticing him repeating the last word or couple of words from sentences or paragraphs under his breath, every time there's a pause in his reading. I've ever noticed him copying the speech of others, or his own spoken words in other situations, it seems to be limited to reading. Is this a normal 'aspie' thing or just a 'jamie-ism'?

Thanks!

Sounds like a pretty normal aspie thing to me. I was quite prone to echolalia when I was younger, and I still am somewhat. Doesn't matter if it was something I read in a book, or saw on TV, or heard in a song.

I wonder if it might be a "beginning-reader" thing, since that is the only context he does it in. Maybe he's afraid he'll forget, or has a notion that there can't be any silence in the middle? If it's not impacting his ability to communicate or to read, I wouldn't be hugely concerned.

I often catch myself reading my writing aloud, just to make sure it sounds coherent. I have a tendency to write things that don't roll off the tongue that easily, and I try to avoid doing that.

My son did this for a while around age 5, but doesn't seem to anymore. With him too it was only with reading. Later he replaced the "under the breath" thing with different little "tics", like for a while he would make a very soft little grunting noise in the same sorts of places he would have previously said a word... I think for him it was some way of processing "input". He also did the grunt thing when watching TV, which again I connected to him receiving/interpreting "input". At that time I didn't know whether it was AS or tics or both, but I tried not to worry about it since it didn't seem to bother him, and it didn't bother anyone else. Unlike what many people have said about tics, he did these things when he was relaxed and enjoying himself, but actively "processing"....so I don't think it was an anxiety thing.

Thanks Sounds like it might well be an AS thing then, but yeah, I'm not exactly worried about it. It isn't bothering him and his reading is way above expected for his age, so as long as everything keeps ticking along nicely I think I'll leave him to it. Thanks for the responses!