Echolalia

[Barmymummy]

My DS does this alot and I am wondering whether it is his way of learning/applying language or something I should be worried about iykwim.

He is 3.10 and is waiting for a referral to see a paed just to make sure he has no autism.

He didn's say his forst words until just after turned 2 and was 3 before he was properly making decent sentences so whilst he was definately slow in talking I do feel he has caught up well. Playschool have no trouble understanding him and he has a good vocab. It still doesn't flow naturally yet though and you can see he still has to think about what he wants to say iykwim. However! Alot of it is copied phrases from TV, books etc. To be fair to him I would say that 99% of it is approriate so for example yesterday he saw a huge tree and said "that is a biiiiig treeeee". Sounds fine to you but I know he has copied this straight off 'Super Why' and when asked "who says that?" he will say Super Why. If he says sorry for something he does it 'Robbie Rotten style' from LazyTown. If he sees his reflection in a mirror he will say "I can do a silly dance" whilst dancing, again copied from The Wiggles. The list goes on and on and he does that ALOT. He applies it to play and non play and uses alot of what he has heard in his 'imaginitive play' even though he can't actually make up his own situations. He sings alot a particular song off of 'Me Too'.

As I write he has just come up to me and said "mummy my tummy is all rumbly" (Peppa Pig quote) "Lets go and get something to eat" (Super Why). Do you see what I mean lol??!!

I have concerned that he shows awkwardness around peers his own age and quirky behaviour and put together with this echolalia it makes me more worried.

Just wondered if anyone else's little one does this? Thanks for reading,x

Widemouth, where do you get ear defenders from? they might help. Lots of planning used here as well, definitely helps.

OK am starting to understand the importance of visuals now. Do you make them? Sorry for sounding thick!

Type Peltor kids in a your search engine - they are flourescent, but my DS loves them - he wears them in the playground in school and the school dining hall aswell. I got mine from ebay as they were the cheaper.www.peltorkid.co.uk

You can get obsessed making visuals. Clip art and a laminator. Hours of fun .
They can take all different forms - sequences, flashcards, etc. Very hard to describe, but no hard and fast rules. We have green, amber and red cards to count DS down when an activity is ending for example.

So with the daily planner do you write or put pictures in the morn & aftn? Or am I getting the wrong end of the stick?! DS likes very much to talk at bedtime what is happening the next day so could really see this helping.

crikey yes we forgot sensory issues!

Barmy, you could start your visuals this weekend by putting a camera in your handbag. Take photos of all new places and people, find a suitable wall, buy a photo-holder (got mine from cleverlittleideas.com I think), print off photos half a dozen or so at a time, stick'em on the wall and see how he responds..... we have found our older child (6) enjoys pointing out the destinations to his little brother. Your daughter might enjoy using visuals with her little brother too as it must make her sad when he doesn't understand her. You could train her to always show him something when asking him questions/explaining something. eg bring the raspberries with her to show him instead of just calling out "do you want raspberries". As Ragged said, the visuals help even with words/concepts they know.

Nyrrem - am loving the "oops" cards. That rocks!

I use both as DS is just starting to be able to read. So a symbol and one word. For younger children I would just use a symbol. e.g. football means we are going to the park. trunks for swimming, star for a special event like Easter. car means we are going away for the weekend.

Before we had this we would have repeated conversations at bedtime about what was going to happen the next day too. Now he checks it on the fridge door each morning, and will often add events of his own, like comic relief at school.

i'm a bit lazy so i bought this now next later board from ebay. i made one for nursery, but they haven't needed to use it as i think the one we use at home prepared him for a more structured day at nursery.

you can get free pictures at this site and also at this site. it helps if you have a laminator and lots of sticky backed velcro. you could become addicted!

oh dear... i got caught up in the sites while posting that message and widemouth frog beat me to it... laminating obsessions and all!

You did the links though ragged - I was too lazy
Don't start me on laminating

This is absolutely fascinating reading, it really is. Will def get my camera out this weekend and take pics of regular places we go and start from there.

Will have some fun with the visuals, that sounds great lol at hours of fun comment!!

So if you put your plan up for the day and find that you aren't going somewhere after all, is that when you would use the oops card? Also what happens if you need to add something in unexpectedly?

If you are going to the park but you are going to a different park that they are not so familiar with do you just put up the park visual as usual or explain its a different park?

Gawd, how do you cope when you go on hols??!! Thats hard to plan in advance!!

If I need to change the planner, we do it together. Remove one symbol and add another, with explanation. But DS is old enough to understand if you have a reason for doing this.

If we weren't going to our usual park I would use a different symbol - a general activity symbol. For any new place/activity, it is useful if you can pull up the places you are visiting on the internet and then talk about what will happen.

Holidays - brochures, pictures, websites. If I can get a leaflet, eg from tourist information, then I will give this to DS the evening before, again so we can share what will happen tomorrow. TBH holidays are very difficult, and you have to be prepared and flexible, and not overload your little one. We have an unwritten rule - one activity a day only,and be prepared to withdraw if DS is getting stressed. We do not take the planner away from home.

Brilliant links Ragged thanks.

Widemouth, thanks also for ear defender info.

For our age group barmy I don't think you'd attempt to plan out a whole day.

More a kind of "first shops, then home" kind of thing.

will dig out previous threads on this

I agree Lingle - I plan a whole day for a nearly 6 year old. For pre-school I would just do the first, then. There are occasions i still have to do first , then for DS, especially if it a busy day, and DS is struggling to cope.

I didn't mean to mislead, but I was asked what I do for my DS.

I would add another word of caution - there are a lot of strategies and tips on this thread. Just try one thing at a time and take it slowly to see what is working for you, and adapt it as necessary.

Hope you had a good weekend Barmy and others.

How are you doing Barmy? I didn't answer your question about school deferment. Bradford and Leeds operate an unusual policy of allowing summer-borns to defer for a year and "offset" their entire education (ie my son will be educated as if he were 13 days younger than he is). A humane policy that they are now foolishly going to abandon for future years. I could talk about it all day (it has been a campaign of mine) so will leave it at that.

Hi Lingle! Am good thanks, had a hard day with him on Saturday but yesterday and today (so far!) have been good and he has been a pleasure to have around. Fingers crossed he was a good boy at playschool when I pick him up at 3pm

Took him into town on Saturday to buy some new shoes and it didn't go well. He wouldn't go in the shop, jumped around and made his silly noises ALOT while waiting to be served, wouldn't go on the machine to have his feet measured etc etc. In the end he was fine having his feet measured by hand, chose some 'sporticus blue' trainers and were told they didn't have any in his size. We left as he wasn't being the best so decided we would go back tomorrow with big sis in tow so he could watch her. Took them down following day and he was like a different kid. Walked straight into the shop, watched big sis go on the machine, try shoes on, walk around etc and then amazed us by INSISTING he go on the machine, choose a 'robbie rotten red' pair of trainers , put them on, went for a walk, followed all the mans instructions...no problem. Then into M&S we went and he was fine in there too!! Gawd its sooo weird how it seems to come and go. Does anyone find else find this? Wondered if big sis helps by copying her or do ASD traits tend to ebb and flare? Still was doing his echolalia but not as much over the weekend.

Still no hosp appt grrrrr.

Hope you had a lovely weekend Lingle & everyone xxx

yes the traits ebb and flair - another poster calls it "now you see it, now you don't".

This kind of mixed success weekend sounds very familiar. His behaviour sounds very promising - especially as you are clearly determined to step in and figure out all the best ways to guide him.

Our bete noire just now is haircuts. But my MIL informed me that her (NT) brother used to vomit (!) at least once per haircut (and that was at home after they had abandoned the barbers)so maybe a bit lot of screaming isn't so bad.

I know 2 kids that scream the place down at having haircuts so I guess its not that uncommon

My DS is strange because things that I would expect him to hate such as haircuts, having nails cut, bathtime etc he has no problem at all. In fact he sits there loving his hair cut as we use the clippers and I think he likes the sensation .

I don't know, I just can't figure him out. One week I am very down and upset convinced something isn't right and the next I wonder whether I am just being too hard on him & expecting too much from him . Time will tell I guess.

He was apparently 'fine' at playschool today but whether thats their 'fine' or my fine I don't know . While we were waiting to go in, there were 4 boys (inc DS) and one came up to hug DS who stood there no problem and then all 4 of them had a little 'chat' together, appropriate behaviour and personal space from DS...hoorah!! I dropped him off and we went straight off to the play doh table, playing happily with 3 other boys alongside him. He said a fleeting goodbye and looked really happy when I left. So relieved on days like that. See what I mean? Seems perfectly ok....til next time .

Yes, tough one, though also a fortunate situation in many ways. Ultimately I don't think we really need to figure it out completely (especially as the criteria for diagnosing ASD are frankly incoherent but that's another topic). He's obviously a bit on the "very male brain" side what with the late talking and late figuring out of personal space. Yet whatever diagnoses the paed comes up with in 2009, one day it may be him that his sister turns to for advice, support and a sensitive listening ear!

You're keeping an open mind, you're prepared to put your mind to helping him in the areas where he is behind, you're open to learning from parents of kids with ASD but you're rightly not committing to saying he "has" ASD just because of these similarities- you're aware that starting school is something to manage carefully and watch over and most importantly you're appreciating him and taking pleasure in him. So he's getting a good start.

Thanks Lingle, that means alot to me. You are quite right though, I am neither in denial nor diagnosing him just by comparing him to others. Am trying my hardest to help him where he needs it whilst DH is typically in denial and thinks he is fine....

Could you tell me a bit more what you mean by "very male brain" I knew boys could be slower at picking up speech but what else can they be slower to develop?

Thanks for your support, you have been a star along with everyone else,xx

This is a great thread, am marking it as I'd like to get going with some visual timetabling. Treated myself to a laminator in WHSmith last week, they are half price at the moment and I've always wanted one!

I didn't realise how echolaic ds1 (3.7, no dx but possible lang disorder/ HFA) can be until I watched his Peppa Pig dvd with him and realised a lot of vocab and sentences had come from that. He always uses it in context so I hadn't twigged.

Also identify with the now you see it, now you don't nature of it all. Some days ds seems to talk gibberish, others he's quite coherent.