If not echolalia, then what?

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Having been diagnosed as AS about a year ago, I have been reading about it quite a bit. Although I don't know if I believe I am AS (or if AS is just something we'll find out is part of something else 50 years from now) I am wondering about something I read.

In the book "Pretending To Be Normal" by Liane Holliday Willey and Tony Attwood, Liane makes a mention of echolalia where instead of referring to it as the repetition of words she defines it as a mimicry of people she meets, molding herself to talk and act like them when around them.

Does she have it wrong or are all the definitions I have found wrong or at least incomplete?

I find that I have done this all my life. I have always been someone who has found the greatest joy from imitating not only skits and characters from various television shows (monty python, sctv, snl) but have also managed to get imitations of people I know down pat, to the point of fooling others on the phone and having kids beg me to "do the teacher" when I was in k-12. Heck, I've even had experiences where I have turned heads in public places, seeing people smile at the recognition. I may sound like I am boasting, but people consistently tell me this is true. Maybe if I become more familiar/comfortable with this community I'll upload a video or audio file, heh.

What I have found to be true that most people haven't told me (maybe don't see it, maybe do but don't want to address it) but I know to be true is that I have often imitated people's outlooks, moods, and mannerisms when meeting them, just as Liane stated that she did (and apparently still does-her AS daughter yells at her when she sees/hears her mom do it, heh). I will add that perhaps this is some form of insecurity-I had to move a lot as a child and teen and was continously put in situations where I had to make new friends, so go figure.

So has anyone else done this and if not echolalia then what? And after what, is this an AS sympton/characteristic?

Thanks ahead of time.

I think that that is correct. From dictionary.com i found "The immediate and involuntary repetition of words or phrases just spoken by others, often a symptom of autism or some types of schizophrenia. " I recite SNL skits and movies and commercials all the time. I know long stretches of movies and cannot watch them without quoting along. When I lived in a dorm, the other girls would always ask me to do my impressions, which I am very proud of. I can get the voices and the mannerisms. Sometimes when I am drinking I will take on the accent of whoever I am with. Additionally, yes, it is a characteristic of AS. I have seen it mentioned many times in my research.

That's funny. I learned to talk to people (socially) by repeating, or "reflecting back" what they said. So you say you were diagnosed with AS about a year ago, huh.

Is echolalia common in people with Asperger's?

I'm sure that this is something I do although I'm rarely picked up on it. I just find that I can't envisage myself saying a lot of things, if there's something I have to say to someone then I just end up with a mental picture of them saying it. Is that weird? This is probably why I developed a lot of the social skills that I do have by writing and singing my lyrics, because it turned me on to what my voice does actually sound like.

I don't know if I was clear enough. With the definition including, "the immediate and involuntary" is not what I do, so then technically this is not echolalia, right? Let me give two examples, more accurate ones, I think.

My dad is from Hungary. He has always had an accent, and as he is 73, probably always will. Hungarians who speak english tend to make their "th" sound into a "t" sound and their "v" sound into a "w" sound. Every time my dad calls, my roommates know that I am talking to him because I start to do that too. Only because they have pointed it out have I realized that I am doing it.

I work with African American kids in a group home and have worked with African American youth for many years now. I believe that initially I started saying things in "ebonics" intentionally to show them that I picked it up, that I can "be down", but now it is involuntary. I know this because when I get home from work, my roommates and friends often repeat ebonics phrases back to me that I just said, making me realize, "I just said that. That's not the way I would normally say it."

Anyway, this is what I am talking about, and I do it sometimes not only with people that I have known for years but sometimes with people I have just met. So if not echolalia, then what?

There does exist delayed echolalia, also internal echolalia. I have internal echolalia which is not always immediate, and I mostly get it with musical phrases. I know most people get music stuck in their heads at some point, but I always get pieces stuck in my head after listening to them. Always always always. And I always have something in my head, regardless of when I last listened to something. I have to make sure I listen to a favourite piece before going to bed so I have that in my head!

I would probably say you have a form of echolalia. Though obviously I'm not qualified to say; that's just my opinion.

Me too. I copy other people's social behaviour in order to appear socially competent myself. In subtle ways my social behaviour is usually a reflection of that of someone else I know. I call it "acting So-and-so".

I find I do that to everyone. For instance, whenever I am around my step mom I will talk like her. When I tell a joke around her, I'll even deliver it exactly the same way. No one really mentions it to me though. Perhaps it is hard to notice since it kicks in the moment I talk to them. They wouldn't see me any other way, unless they watch me talk to someone else. That wouldn't happen too often, I don't know too many people to have them hang around enough to notice....

Echolalia is no longer considered to be a sign of autism. Echolalia is a normal milestone in infantile language acquisition. People with speech delays simply reach this stage at a later age, and so it seems unusual. Remember it's called a pervasive developmental disorder.