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Why Do Children with Autism Repeat Everything?

From an early age, children repeat sounds that they hear. As they continue to get older, those sound repetitions will soon turn into word repetitions.

This repetition, known as echolalia1, is a normal part of a child’s development. In most cases, children will stop repeating sounds and words around the time they turn 3 years old as they learn to be able to string different words together to communicate.

Sometimes, though, echolalia continues beyond this age. In fact, many children who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have echolalia2. This is especially true if their speech development is delayed.

But, why do children on the autism spectrum repeat everything? Below, we’ll discuss the various reasons why children with ASD have echolalia, which will help you better understand what can be done to help support them.

Table Of Contents

Self-Stimulating Behavior

Many children on the autism spectrum struggle with sensory issues. Many have heightened senses, which results in them becoming overwhelmed if they hear loud sounds, smell strong odors, touch certain materials, taste certain things or see bright lights.

A common way that children with ASD will try to calm themselves is what’s known as self-stimulation behaviors, or stims. One type of stimming method is echolalia.

This could be why your child with autism repeats everything.

Express Stress or Frustration

Another hallmark characteristic of autism is the struggle with expressing emotions. Children with autism feel all the typical emotions that neurotypical children do — sometimes even at heightened levels.

A main difference, though, is that they may not be able to express their emotions in typical ways. As such, they often either hold in their emotions or they express them in different ways.

Repeating words could be one way that your child is expressing that they are feeling frustrated or stressed.

Help Themselves

In the same vein, children on the autism spectrum might repeat words or phrases to help themselves work through something challenging or difficult. If they are having trouble figuring out how to put on their shoes, for example, they may repeat instructions that they learned from you, their teachers or even saw on television.

In essence, what they are doing is reminding themselves of what needs to be done to properly tie their shoes. They are outwardly expressing this as a way of communicating to themselves and helping themselves through it.

Interact

Because of challenges they face with typical communication, children with autism look for ways to interact with others around them. Repeating speech could be one way that your child is attempting to communicate their ideas with you.

For instance, they might continually repeat words or a phrase that are used in a particular game if that’s the game that they want to play. It could be something like counting down “three, two, one” if they want to start a run a race.

This is a way that children on the autism spectrum might communicate that they want to do something, because they might have trouble saying, “I want to race.”

Make a Request

Similarly, children with autism might repeat what you say, how you say it, when they want something. This could be seen as the reverse of what typical requests would sound like.

For instance, instead of asking, “Can I have a sandwich?” they might ask, “Do you want a sandwich?”

In this example, they are repeating what you would say to them as a way to communicate to you what they actually want. This could be how their delays in speech development could manifest themselves.

How is Echolalia Treated?

In and of itself, echolalia isn’t bad. In fact, repeating words and phrases is a good way to help children with autism learn how they can effectively communicate.

At the same time, the tendency to repeat words and phrases could cause other challenges, such as fitting in with peers.

That’s why early-intervention services such as applied behavioral analysis, or ABA therapy, can help children expand on their communication and language skills so they rely less on repeating words and phrases and more on forming their own ways to communicate effectively.

Blue Gems ABA Develops Personal ABA Therapy

Most children with autism struggle in some way with communication. It’s one of the typical symptoms of ASD, no matter where on the spectrum your child falls.

At Blue Gems ABA, we create personalized ABA therapy treatment plans for each one of our patients that are catered to their specific challenges and needs. In this way, we are able to provide more effective ABA therapy that helps each child build the communication, social and daily life skills with which they might normally struggle.

To learn more, please contact us today.

References

  1. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/echolalia
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK565908/