ABSTRACT
Echolalia is the repetition or echoing of verbal utterances made by another person. There are two types of echolalia: immediate echolalia and delayed echolalia. Most children use echolalia to learn language. The majority of children babble in a rhythmic way, which is actually mimicking the cadence of adult language. Later, they copy sounds, words, and eventually phrases and sentences that they hear adults use in specific, repetitive contexts. Children who use echolalia have not fully made the transfer to an understanding of the component parts of language and so they continue to repeat back the chunks that they have heard and this may or may not be meaningful. The acquisition of language is not a clear-cut changeover from echolalia to spontaneous language but rather is a continuum, which reflects not just the choice of words but also the evolution of the way that the child thinks and looks at the world. Echolalia therefore also appears to be a ‘normal’ step in the child’s language acquisition. Children with autism may use echolalia as a part of their repertoire of communication (see Autism).
