Echolalia
Martina Feichter studied biology with an elective subject pharmacy in Innsbruck and also immersed herself in the world of medicinal plants. From there it was not far to other medical topics that still captivate her to this day. She trained as a journalist at the Axel Springer Academy in Hamburg and has been working for since 2007 - first as an editor and since 2012 as a freelance writer.
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Echolalia describes the stereotypical, senseless repeating of words, sentences or noises. This parrot should help young children practice speaking. In addition, echolalia can also show itself in, for example, autism and schizophrenia. Read the essentials about echolalia here.
Echolalia: description
Echolalia is when someone repeats words, sentences, syllables and / or sounds over and over again. Sometimes the choice of words and the order of the sentence are slightly unformed. Echolalia is a normal side effect of language development in small children, but can also occur in various diseases and health disorders.
Echolalia: causes and possible diseases
The main possible causes of echolalia are:
- Normal language development: The so-called physiological echolalia is a phase of natural language development in the toddler phase.
- Autism: In about three quarters of all children with a disorder from the autism spectrum (such as early childhood autism), echolalia occurs beyond the early childhood phase and / or is unusually strong. Children whose spoken language is the least developed are particularly affected. The utterances of others are repeated immediately after hearing them or much later. Accordingly, a distinction is made between immediate and delayed echolalia.
- Tourette's Syndrome and Other Tic Disorders: Tic disorders are involuntary, sudden muscle reactions (motor tics) or vocal expressions (vocal tics) that are often stereotypically repetitive and have no obvious purpose. Tourette syndrome is a complex tic disorder with motor and vocal tics such as echolalia. Echolalia can also occur with other tic disorders (vocal tics).
- Schizophrenia: Sometimes echolalia also occurs in people with schizophrenia. This is understood to mean various mental illnesses that are characterized by symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, ego disorders and other thought disorders as well as disorders of the emotional life and drive.
- Alzheimer's: Severe Alzheimer's disease (stage III) is characterized, among other things, by echolalia and palilalia (repeating one's own words). Sometimes the patients remain completely silent.
- Global aphasia: Echolalia can also occur as part of what is known as global aphasia - damage to both language centers in the brain, for example from a stroke, brain tumor or traumatic brain injury.
Echolalia in the toddler
Physiological echolalia - the typical babbling of what has been heard by small children - is part of normal language development. The small children repeat what they have heard (without understanding the meaning) and practice articulation.
Echolalia: When Should You See a Doctor?
Imitating what others say is not uncommon until the age of two. However, if echolalia persists beyond infancy and / or to an unusually severe extent, you should see a pediatrician. It may be due to early childhood autism.
Other signs of this developmental disorder are, for example, learning to walk before the children speak, as well as a pronounced contact disorder - the children do not smile, do not make eye contact, and isolate themselves.
Echolalia: what does the doctor do?
Autism, schizophrenia, Tourette's syndrome and other diseases or health disorders with echolalia as an accompanying symptom will be treated appropriately as far as possible by the doctor. It is not about a cure, but about improving the patient's situation.
In the case of autism, for example, various therapeutic measures are used to promote the social and communication skills of those affected, for example through role-playing and language training (speech therapy). In other cases, such as schizophrenia and Tourette's syndrome, drugs are used in addition to behavioral therapy measures to alleviate the symptoms of the disease.
Echolalia: You can do that yourself
If echolalia is caused by a more serious disorder, there is a lot you can do to support and nurture your child or loved one. Echolalia can have many different functions. Some use repeating phrases to calm themselves down or to help focus.
Some people with autism are overwhelmed with developing independent sentences that express their wishes and feelings. They therefore repeat phrases in order to communicate, even if they do not fit. Try to find out the need for someone to repeat certain phrases. With a lot of patience and support, an autistic child can acquire a repertoire of sentences that they can use appropriately for the situation at hand. Let a therapist advise you.
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