Does anyone have a child who says what they expect to hear...

[vixen1]

My DS, Owen, is under investigation and therapy for development delay, Hypotonia and Hypermobility and is starting to talk very strangely.

Recently his vocabulary has improved fantastically but the quality of his speech is concerning.

He sounds very robotic and repetitive and often says what he expects to hear. For example when he wants my attention he say "Mummy yes, Mummy yes, Mummy yes" over and over. If he is going somewhere he'll say "Where's Owen going? Owen, come back!"

I know the repetitiveness is referred to as perseveration but I've not come across a medical term for this type of "saying what you expect to hear".

Does anyone elses LO do something similar? Is it a recognised symptom of anything?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated :-)

xx

I'm not sure. DD1 does, but in a very direct way. She will say something, and then say "say x, mummy..."

For example, she will say "You are stupid"...."you say, 'we don't say that, DD1", mummy", so I say "we don't say that, DD1", then she replies "sorry mummy, I only joking"

I see it as a method of getting reassurance. She is a very anxious child, and likes familiar phrases and responses.

Bless her, she sounds like my nephew (who has Asperger's) Can I ask, does she have a diagnosis or is she NT?

Along a similar vein my DS also "punishes" himself a lot. If I ask him not to do something he says he needs a time out and virtually insists on it - it breaks my heart Your DD sounds a bit self depricating like that...

Ooh, Tribalgoer - I missed your post!

I've not heard of delayed echolalia... I'll wikipedia it now! thanks xx

OMG I've just looked it up and I think that's exactly what it is - thanks Tribunalgoer - I've just had a kind of "eureka" moment!

Bit by bit the puzzles start to come together...

Think I was put off the scent of echolalia because my Portage visitor said he doesn';t do it. Most of the time you can ask him a question and he'll try and answer (even if it usually doesn't make sense!)

Do you know if this is solely an Autistic trait or can it be a symptom of something else? Can it be seen in NT children too?

Thanks for your help xx

She has a brain malformation, although I think she has some ASD traits.

TG - yes, delayed echolalia, except that my little madam likes to be in control so she engineers it