Hi could anyone tell me if they think this is typical or if this may be some form of echolalia or gestalt language processing? I have a vague understanding of both but not enough to decipher what’s going on.
for reference my son is 18months and displaying quite a few traits of autism.
so as far as language goes he only has one functional word which is ‘ta’ and he also has no understanding of language/instructions etc. He hand leads to communicate. More recently he has been answering ‘yeah’ when you speak to him but this isn’t in context I believe this is him repeating what I say as when he babbles at me I usually say ‘yeah’ then carry on and say something else.
the more confusing bits are:
when the bluey theme tune comes on he can recite it in time to the music saying ‘mum’ ‘dad’ etc but he only does it as he’s watching, it he doesn’t say it any other time. He also doesn’t use these words any other time.
he can also say ‘ready, steady, go’ and will say this randomly. He sometimes just says ‘go’ but he can also do it I sequence with me like if I say ‘ready, steady’ he knows to then say ‘go’
he can also do this with ‘1,2,3’ but he doesn’t say this unless I’m doing it with him, he just does the sequence with me.
finally, the most recent, he was having a bath and I was playing some music. He actually started copying the sounds at the start. The song what saying ‘yeah, yeah’ and ‘ooooo’ and he copied them! Yet he will not copy any words from me.
is this typical language development or is this some form of echolalia? The fact he only does most of it in time to things/in that moment makes me think it might not be.