BeautifulDay
Senior Member
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- 372
A new symptom has popped up in our littlest daughter (now 9 years old). A few months ago,she began repeating what we would be saying. For example, one time I was in the kitchen and started telling her "The hawk has been flying around all day over our neighbor's chickens."
By the time I was saying the word "hawk" she had already finished saying the word "The". She'll continue to repeat several sentences just a hair after the speaker. It's happening now 1 to 2 times a day. At first we were annoyed thinking she was being a "smart ass", but she didn't even realize she was doing it.
It's called Echolalia. Yesterday, she asked me after repeating 4 of my sentences if she had just repeated my words. I said yes. So she is to the point of recognizing it after the fact occassionally.
Echolalia can come on from many things, including autistic spectrum. Since our son is high functioning autistic spectrum, and since autism has been found to be linked to mitochondrial disease there is a good chance this is just another mito symptom.
We now have a signal to let her know she is repeating someone's conversation. We'll scratch our elbow.
When it first started occurring I started researching on the internet and it looked like many people who asked about their children doing this were told to stand up to the child who of course they thought must be doing this on purpose. I want to put that wrongful conclusion to rest. It's real and unknown to our child when she is doing it.
A 1983 report indicated that up to 75% of verbal people with autism have some form of echolalia.
Prizant, B.M. (1983). Echolalia of autistic individuals: Assessment and intervention issues. Seminars in Speech and Language, 4, 63-77. Summarized from Heffner, Gary J. Echolalia and Autism, The Autism Home Page: Echolalia Facts. July 2000. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
http://autism.wikia.com/wiki/Echolalia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echolalia
Just when you think you've seen all the possible different symptoms someone could have from this (from the feeling of a round section of skin being on fire to not sweating on one's face), up pops a new one. Always got to be on one's toes with this.
By the time I was saying the word "hawk" she had already finished saying the word "The". She'll continue to repeat several sentences just a hair after the speaker. It's happening now 1 to 2 times a day. At first we were annoyed thinking she was being a "smart ass", but she didn't even realize she was doing it.
It's called Echolalia. Yesterday, she asked me after repeating 4 of my sentences if she had just repeated my words. I said yes. So she is to the point of recognizing it after the fact occassionally.
Echolalia can come on from many things, including autistic spectrum. Since our son is high functioning autistic spectrum, and since autism has been found to be linked to mitochondrial disease there is a good chance this is just another mito symptom.
We now have a signal to let her know she is repeating someone's conversation. We'll scratch our elbow.
When it first started occurring I started researching on the internet and it looked like many people who asked about their children doing this were told to stand up to the child who of course they thought must be doing this on purpose. I want to put that wrongful conclusion to rest. It's real and unknown to our child when she is doing it.
A 1983 report indicated that up to 75% of verbal people with autism have some form of echolalia.
Prizant, B.M. (1983). Echolalia of autistic individuals: Assessment and intervention issues. Seminars in Speech and Language, 4, 63-77. Summarized from Heffner, Gary J. Echolalia and Autism, The Autism Home Page: Echolalia Facts. July 2000. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
http://autism.wikia.com/wiki/Echolalia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echolalia
Just when you think you've seen all the possible different symptoms someone could have from this (from the feeling of a round section of skin being on fire to not sweating on one's face), up pops a new one. Always got to be on one's toes with this.