Echolalia/repeating - how much is normal?

[Confusedandworried321]

DS is 3.6 and his speech/communication is good, has been since he started talking.

He still repeats back a fair amount, though because he talks SO much, it's probably only a small fraction of his overall speech.

He doesn't do the typical "ASD" echolalia that I've read about eg if asked a question "do you want a drink" or a more complex, open ended one eg "what was your favourite thing at the park" he will always answer appropriately. His echolalia is more statements eg if I say it's a lovely day, he'll repeat that. He sometimes changes it up a bit so it's appropriate/in the right context eg if I say it's a lovely day DS name he'll say it's a lovely day mummy. But he doesn't respond how you would expect an adult to eg "yes it is" or just "yes". Or often if I say I'm cold he'll say I'm cold too.

He also does it more so with new (ish) people, so if his little friend is over, and he says let's go outside and play on the trampoline! DS will repeat it.

Is this normal? Does anyone else's child do similar at this age? I haven't noticed other children doing it, really.

Mine does this. He's the same age. I think he likes the way the words are put together; the rhythm they make and the sounds. I'm just guessing it's the way he acquires language.

Oh thank you, that's good to hear. Does your DS have typical speech otherwise? I'd say mine does to be honest, he asks 100000 questions a day, what, why etc, like I know most kids his age do! And has no problem answering questions (although when he's in a mood he'll answer "nothing". Annoying).

My DS definitely enjoys language as he also makes up words / names sometimes eg will call me "mum-dee" and then himself "DS-dee" etc.

My DS is also a copycat with other kids some of the time, I think he does it as a way of engaging eg at the park, he'll copy something a child says to get their attention. Again I don't think I've noticed many other children doing this...!

My daughter repeated alot! It was probably at a slightly younger age to your son, but worse in a sense because sometimes you would ask her a question 'what's your name?' for instance and she would repeat it back to you! I would have been quite worried but I had read that with echolia the person is not as able to start independent conversations and she could.

As you mention with your son, my daughter talks so much and as she got older I realised that repeating was actually helping her commit things to memory. So if I told her a fact, such as Paris is the capital of France, she would either repeat it to herself or say something like 'so Paris is the capital of France?' back to me for confirmation.

She's 8 now and although she still did it for years(not in an obvious way) I think it's more or less stopped now. I actually think it really helped her as its often remarked on that she has a very large vocabulary for her age and her memory is really good (apart from when it comes to remembering where she left her stuff at school🙄)

He's delayed but more due to laziness than anything. I believe that this is because he wanted to play a lot with his cars on his own rather than with us. His vocabulary is phenomenally but just lazy at putting it all together. We are expats and so we have a nanny that looks after his every whim and knows that he needs are without him really speaking. It's been good for him to go to nursery. He copies a lot from Peppa Pig but says a lot of the words and expressions in the correct situation. He's started to make up songs.

Findapenny that's useful thanks as that sort of sounds similar to my DS, although he will always 99.999% of the time answer a question properly, I don't think he ever repeats questions as such, it's more statements. I think it's like you say he's repeating it to himself to remember, almost mulling it over. He's been starting his own conversations for a long time and I have no concerns about his ability to do that or to ask for things etc.

He doesn't repeat from TV at all except for tiny quotes in context eg Octonauts to your stations if he's playing Octonauts.

'mulling it over' is a good way to put it. As far as I remember she didn't copy from TV either, but she had, and still does (to a lesser extent) have brilliant recall for dialogue and songs. It's actually quite at odds to her personality as she can be quite forgetful of events and situations and as I mentioned before she will almost daily forget something at school. But if I ask what someone said, she can often remember almost word for word. I wonder if your little boy will be similar 😊

Yes Findapenny DS has excellent recall for songs! And has done since early on to be honest. He's always been very verbal, it's almost as if everything in his head comes out of his mouth sometimes.

It can be very tiring listening to them.... Many a time I tried to get her involved in no talking competitions..... She never ever lasted more than 10 seconds 🤣