Published on 12, July, 2020
I never had echolalia during childhood, but I started having echolalia as I got older. What does that mean?
I started to constantly copy cat sounds, as I also like cats, although I try to hide my echolalia, because I am worried that some people might get annoyed by it.
I make cat noises to for some reason, strange...
I feel that I have learnt something new, as I had been previously unaware that Echolalia could affect adults.
When my son was young, I remember his health visitor had picked up on the fact that if I asked him if he wanted a drink and gave him a choice of two types of drink, he would always repeat the last drink, even if it wasn't what he actually wanted. As a result, he was referred to a speech therapist and also a paediatric occupational therapist.
I’ve never heard of the Condition except where it was stated in my autism diagnosis report that I was observed as having no signs of it - I recall now since my diagnosis and reflecting on my childhood experiences in Catholic Rural Ireland, where people simply refused to understand autism in any other terms other than a “bold child” “needing discipline (corporal punishment)” that in the schools I attended including a convent school in Rural Ireland that if one displayed any “unusual” behaviours that you were firmly told to “cop yourself on” accompanied by a good hard “clip across the ear” (corporal punishment) which in the 1970’s in Rural Ireland was seen and regarded as a “cure” for autism and that any other views were dismissed as nonsense that were bawled out and shouted down, where taking bullying was seen as part of growing up, was character building and was seen as an important part of the school and disciplinary process “for your own good, because you don’t understand that you are wrong” - I only mention this here because even today, some people still believe and maintain that the only way to manage autism is via ultra strict discipline, that the person with autism needs to be “taken in hand” and subjected to ultra strict millitary style discipline, should not be permitted to live alone without a live-in carer (in all cases) and constantly told that they are wrong by default on everything and “don’t know anything about anything” and need to be “bullied out” of the condition “for thier own good” - while it might be true that ever more children and adults alike year on year for the past decade alone are being diagnosed with autism and most of the most reliable research on autism has been carried out in Australia, there is still a point blank refusal to understand the condition in children and adults alike and therefore an unwillingness to develop appropriate autism services and support, even in the private sector, the usual (lame) excuses being used being around funding - this is really something that needs to be “called out” as often and as loudly as possible - if we are going to have an ageing population with autism with many of the children of today being autistic, then this is going to be a serious problem in the coming years and the current levels of autism support are totally insufficient and unsustainable
Peter said:like I’m writing on and ticking things off a checklist at the same time.
Oh yes, I recognise that.
Ben
You know I don’t think I’ve ever actually met in person a person who has echolalia. I absolutely understand the notion of talking as a form of stress relief. If I’m stressed I talk to myself excessively, I often narrate my own actions, it helps me focus on the task at hand in stressful situations, like I’m writing on and ticking things off a checklist at the same time. but repeating things other people say no. I have far too much in my own head to bother fixating on repeating others words.
I used to work with a colleague who often had echolalia, usually rather quietly. He tended to repeat the last three or four words said to him. I never heard anyone make comments about it. He was a nice guy who seemed to fit in rather better than I did.
He never actually spoke to me about it, but I guess he was autistic; I don't know if there are any other conditions which cause it.
Thinking back I used to copy anyone or anything I found novel or rewarding..
It appears that in adults, echolaia is typically used when dealing with stress or self soothing:
https://atgtogether.com/echolalia-in-autism-what-it-is-and-how-to-treat-it/
With children a speech therapist is recommended but for an adult I think it most likely to be a case of dealing with the causes of the stress that are leading you to re-use this mechanism to sooth yourself.