Why Children with Autism Use Echolalia and Scripting
“Echolalia is the act of repeating or echoing words or sentences that others have said. These ‘borrowed’ words are generally well articulated and repeated with the same emphasis and vocal quality used by the original speaker. This ability to echo so precisely is confusing because it makes the individual sound so capable and knowledgeable. However, these words and phrases were recorded and stored ‘in chunks’ without analysis for meaning.” (Janzen, 1996 cited from Prizant 1983).
There are two types of echolalia, immediate and delayed. Immediate echolalia is words or sentences repeated immediately after they are heard (e.g., teacher says, “Good morning Alex!” Alex replies, “Good morning Alex!”).
Delayed echolalia may occur hours, days, weeks or months after it is heard.
Parents may become deeply concerned when their child begins to use echolalia or notice an increase in echolalia. Echolalia can be annoying and at some point we do want to decrease echolalia; however, echolalia is a strong prognostic indicator that a child is stimulable for developing functional speech because he is already imitating speech. In other words, we can feel confident that motor speech disorders, such as apraxia, are not severely impacting the child’s expressive language disorder.
Interestingly, Neuro-typically developing children use echolalia too. Typical children go through a period of language development called the echolalic stage (around age 8-12 months). Echolalia is a way of practicing or rehearsing using language. When a child with autism is first learning to communicate I do not discourage the use of echolalia, rather I try to shape the echolalia to make speech more functional, appropriate and improve communication skills.
Children with autism will often repeat lines of a movie or T.V. show over and over. This is similar to delayed echolalia; it is called scripting. Scripting is a self-stimulating behavior. The child’s speech may not sound clear or loud enough for you to understand what he is saying while he is scripting or it maybe articulated clearly. I have found scripting to be extremely distracting to the child, like most self-stimulating behaviors and should be discouraged.
It is important to discuss how to manage self-stimulating behaviors with an Occupational Therapist (OT) who is specially training in sensory integration strategies. OT’s often recommend having some time throughout your child’s day when it is OK to engage in self-stimulating behaviors. Your OT will develop a “sensory diet” to help your child better regulate his sensory system. This in turn helps him feel calm and organized and better able to focus and learn. In my experience, a “sensory diet” creates the foundation upon which all other therapies and learning activities can be built on. It is essential that teachers, aides and other therapists are trained on how to use your child’s sensory diet to enhance his learning.
I have found redirected the child away from scripting to be helpful. For example, if a child is scripting a scene from his favorite movie I would tell him it is not time to talk about movies because we are not watching movies now, ignore the scripting behavior and attempt to engage the child in an activity.
Janzen, J. (1996). Understanding the Nature of Autism. San Antonio, TX: Therapy Skill Builders.
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There are two types of echolalia, immediate and delayed. Immediate echolalia is words or sentences repeated immediately after they are heard (e.g., teacher says, “Good morning Alex!” Alex replies, “Good morning Alex!”).
Delayed echolalia may occur hours, days, weeks or months after it is heard.
Parents may become deeply concerned when their child begins to use echolalia or notice an increase in echolalia. Echolalia can be annoying and at some point we do want to decrease echolalia; however, echolalia is a strong prognostic indicator that a child is stimulable for developing functional speech because he is already imitating speech. In other words, we can feel confident that motor speech disorders, such as apraxia, are not severely impacting the child’s expressive language disorder.
Interestingly, Neuro-typically developing children use echolalia too. Typical children go through a period of language development called the echolalic stage (around age 8-12 months). Echolalia is a way of practicing or rehearsing using language. When a child with autism is first learning to communicate I do not discourage the use of echolalia, rather I try to shape the echolalia to make speech more functional, appropriate and improve communication skills.
Why Children with Autism Use Scripting
Children with autism will often repeat lines of a movie or T.V. show over and over. This is similar to delayed echolalia; it is called scripting. Scripting is a self-stimulating behavior. The child’s speech may not sound clear or loud enough for you to understand what he is saying while he is scripting or it maybe articulated clearly. I have found scripting to be extremely distracting to the child, like most self-stimulating behaviors and should be discouraged.
It is important to discuss how to manage self-stimulating behaviors with an Occupational Therapist (OT) who is specially training in sensory integration strategies. OT’s often recommend having some time throughout your child’s day when it is OK to engage in self-stimulating behaviors. Your OT will develop a “sensory diet” to help your child better regulate his sensory system. This in turn helps him feel calm and organized and better able to focus and learn. In my experience, a “sensory diet” creates the foundation upon which all other therapies and learning activities can be built on. It is essential that teachers, aides and other therapists are trained on how to use your child’s sensory diet to enhance his learning.
I have found redirected the child away from scripting to be helpful. For example, if a child is scripting a scene from his favorite movie I would tell him it is not time to talk about movies because we are not watching movies now, ignore the scripting behavior and attempt to engage the child in an activity.
Reference:
Janzen, J. (1996). Understanding the Nature of Autism. San Antonio, TX: Therapy Skill Builders.
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