Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 8/12/2009

Question
Hi Valerie,

I have a question regarding my 2 and a half year old son.  I have been concerned about his speech for the past 6 months.  At 2 years old he had hundreds of individual words but struggled to put them together.  Since then he has come on a lot and easily puts 3-5 words together now (sometimes more).  However they are most often just statements rather than conversation.  He will answer what, where, who questions appropriately, but not how, why, when questions (although I appreciate that these concepts are probably still a bit hard for a child of his age).

My worry at the moment is he seems to have developed a lot of delayed echolalia - mainly scripting from favourite TV shows that he has seen a lot (I have "banned" the TV for a few days since realising this!).  Not huge long scripts, just the odd sentance (mainly from one show that he loves).  Often it is a sentance appropriate to the situation but sometimes it is totally random.

My question is...at this age is echolalia - delayed or otherwise - only a sign of autism, or can it be a normal part of language development for a late speaking toddler?

In all other ways he seems to me to be a normally developing little boy. He does have a tendancy to play on his own rather than with other children - with the exception of his twin sister who he plays with very well.  He "gets" humour much better than most other toddlers I know.. he can read facial expressions very well also.  He also can be quite clever with his language - for instance, his favourite book is "The Gruffalo" and there is a part of the story where the mouse says "his favourite food is scrambled snake" and yesterday when he was being a bit cheeky he looked at me and said "MY favourite food is scrambled ... Mummy!"

He can appear to "zone out" sometimes but this is usually when he is engrossed in something else.

His eating habits are fine, he has no sensory issues, he sleeps very well, is affectionate and he is fairly placid - no big tantrums.

So I guess my main concerns stem from the delayed echolalia!

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thank you in advance

Michelle


Answer
Hi Michelle

I would say that we have to differentiate between immediate echolalia and delayed echolalia. Immediate echolalia is not necessary a sign of autism, but a sign of a language processing issue. In other words, he doesn't process something and then just repeats it. Now, delayed echolalia, with the recitation of movies, commercials, and TV, videos, things he has heard from others-that really is a different story. And when you add to the fact that he has disordered language skills, this behavior could be quite related to autism as are some of the other behaviors that you described ie: playing on his own, zoning out (called hyperfocusing) when he is engaged in something.

That said, I wouldn't get to worried about it as he appears to be a very smart little boy. He may work through many of these issues and then everything will be fine. Many children who exhibit some characteristics of autism at a young age, but appear to be mild, often work through the issues with therapy.

He does need to work on the language skills. I would recommend that you expose him to Computer-Based training for this. I would start with working with programs that are specifically geared towards improving the language processing skills. I am teaching a web-based class today on this subject and we talk about echolalia and how to deal with it. I know with the time difference, it would be a little late (10:30PM your time), but if you are a night owl, you may want to tune in on your computer. I think it will be well worth your time. If, however, that is not possible, I will provide a link here to some computer programs for you to think about.

Feel free to write back if you have any other questions.

Link to tonight's class:
http://www.valerieherskowitz.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=119

Link to computer programs for your son: (all of these programs are 1/2 price to you as a family member)
http://www.valerieherskowitz.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=51

http://www.valerieherskowitz.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=57

http://www.valerieherskowitz.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=31

http://www.valerieherskowitz.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=52

http://www.valerieherskowitz.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=53

http://www.valerieherskowitz.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=54