echolalia

Post Reply New Topic

Echolalia : the repetition of vocalizations made by another person

Immediate echolalia is when a word or phrase is immediately repeated. In some autistic and Asperger's cases it may be a method of buying time to help process language. In an instance a child with autism is asked, "Do you want dinner?" The child echoes back "Do you want dinner?" followed by a pause and then a response, "Yes. What's for dinner?

Delayed echolalia has been defined as the "echoing of a phrase after some delay or lapse of time".Persons with autism who repeat TV commercials, favourite movie scripts, or parental reprimands are examples used in describing this phenomenon. It may or may not be communicative.

This condition appears to tap into long-term auditory memory, and for this reason, may be a different phenomenon from immediate echolalia. As it can involve the recitation of entire scripts, delayed echolalia is often mistaken as evidence for higher-than-average intellect.

This is what wikipeida's definition is i read about it in an aspergers article
I So do this, i be on the phone and keep repeating phrases or random chorus lines in songs when i start daydreaming

anyone else get this ? Any examples?

Also I sometimes u funny gestures and noises to describe emotions i cant seem to express or a feeling anyone else? (I'm not sure if this is echolalia )

Last edited by wob182 on 26 May 2008, 7:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.

My son has examples of both. Most of his speech runs from what we call "scripts", and if he ever has to make a sentence that he's never said before, it ends up taking him a long time to get out what he's trying to say. He also repeats what he's just heard, such as someone asking him "How are you?" and "How old are you?" he'll just repeat back the same thing, or today when watching Clifford someone said "the ocean" and he just repeated "the ocean" about 10 times before he moved on.

I tend to say a few phrases or lines of songs over an over again. "Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate", "cat, I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance and I dance dance dance" and "who lives in a pineapple under the sea?". Sometimes I just feel the need to whisper these under my breath to get them out, and sometimes I'll repeat them a few times before I'm quiet again.

Good thing my husband is patient to put up with my son and I, it sounds like a crazy-house around here sometimes.

hmmm...maybe in a modified form. Sometimes I get such a confused line of verbiage from some people, I repeat what I thought they said to make sure I got it right...

omg that kittycat song the internet songs are the worse! I can repeat them for days and days when i get them stuck in my head, the llama song and the numa song

I think I get what u mean wen u feel like u have to say them to get them out even though ur aware how crazy or anoying it must seem, even if it is under ur breath

The worst time when I do this is when i'm on the phone to my boyfriend i find the most randomest songs to suddenly start singing a load of times....i swear everytime we talk i have a new random song today it was MC hammer 'Cant touch this " lol

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring Banana Phone!

(memes can hit me hard for some reason)

wots memes? and now thats so stuck in my head!! lol ahh

Slightly off topic, but is this term an existing and officially accepting one?

There is a band called Echobelly which would mean something like "hungry for change/desire for change". I always wondered if that was a made-up term or an actually accepted official word.
This echolalia word sounds very similar.

Well, I've heard it used whilst working for a Learning Disability (UK) service, by all profession's concerned, so I guess it's used in Britain at least.

Alongside:

palilalia - repeating one's own words outside of an appropriate context.

corprolalia - involuntary swearing or foul language, used out of context.

I have AS and I find that I repeat words and sounds in my mind. I also tend to shriek out loud but quietly or when I'm alone.

I don't know if this strictly counts under the definition, but ...

When I was a child, I remember being able to say back precisely what people said - for some reason they didn't like this. What they didn't really like, I suppose, is that usually they were trying to embellish a story, and I made them stick to the truth because I unfortunately was a witness to actual events so I would correct them when they had facts wrong. I also have video evidence of me playing the part of "virgin Mary" in a Christmas play, in which you can see me saying EVERYONE'S lines, right on cue.

I now end up using my internal tape recorder in an official capacity as a transcriptionist. I am constantly repeating words back as the script comes at me . I have been called on (literally) to do a "live" transcription over the phone several times. I find it quite natural to repeat under my breath what the speaker says and can type a lot faster than if I don't repeat. One boss seems to be very comfortable with me muttering phrases back at him, but the other one - it trips him up a bit to hear me muttering while he speaks.

I do repeat what people say just to cement it in my mind anyway, so I wouldn't doubt it if there was a little bit of echolalia involved - again, whether this is the strictest definition or not, I do not know.

I have both echolalia and palalia, though my immediate echolalia now days only shows up regularly while laughing after hearing jokes or seeing a funny scene of a movie or TV show. My delayed echolalia shows up as me repeating sound-bites, catchy advertisement lines and jingles, and songs to myself.

I often find myself repeating advertisments at times. as im a big video game fan and often almost sing theme songs and repeating the lines I hear. I guess people find it kind of weird me saying these things, as once i play through a second time I say all of the lines.(that i did not misinterpret)

echolalia and palilalia are official terms.... whether or not they are diagnostic material is up to your doctor..... I have palilalia fairly badly..... and echolalia to some degree....

I obviously have immediate echolalia--I repeat the punchlines from my own jokes and tend to repeat parts of any stories I tell to others.

I did not know there was a name for it.

When I was a kid I hummed tunes from video games constantly!

The only thing I repeat is things like greetings/goodbyes/how are yous - if someone throws one at me then I will automatically reply (if my mouth is in gear, otherwise I say nothing) with the exact same greeting.