Echolalia: types, causes, signs, symptoms, treatment

Echolalia is the uncontrolled repetition of syllables, words, phrases heard in someone else's speech. Often such patients do not understand the meaning of statements addressed to them, which leads to automatic copying of the heard fragment of speech. Such people often suffer from impaired intellectual development, mental retardation of varying degrees of severity, when communicating they operate with a limited vocabulary, and do not know how to express their feelings and thoughts.

Echolalia in children (echolalia in children's speech)

In children without mental development disorders, the functions of immediate speech imitation at an early age are as follows:

• maintaining a conversation. For example, a child already knows that dialogue consists of an exchange of phrases, but his own vocabulary is still small and it is difficult to find the right words. Therefore, the baby simply repeats what he heard to show that he is ready to interact with the interlocutor;
• desire to express consent. According to the observations of psychologists, immediate speech imitation is often used by children who have already learned the word “no”, but do not yet know the word “yes”. By repeating what they heard, they make it clear that they agree with the person;
• speech development. Here the situation is similar to the process of learning foreign languages, when a student repeats a word again and again in order to understand and remember it. A child who is just beginning to master oral speech follows the same pattern.

Normally, the symptom of repeating what is heard is typical for babies, since speaking skills are formed in two stages: 6–12 months. and 3–4 years. Such young children tend to repeat everything they hear to enrich their vocabulary and form a “base” of interaction with the world. If the child has already reached the age of four, but echolalia by this time still continues to be his main form of speech, it is necessary to seek help from specialists - a psychologist , psychoneurologist, speech therapist, special education teacher.

What is echolalia and when does it cease to be the norm?

1. Definition of concepts 2. Causes 3. Classification 4. Diagnostics 5. Treatment
In the process of speech formation, various zones of the cortex undergo a number of sequential changes. At a certain stage of development, the child is able to make individual sounds, then pronounce words, subsequently speech imitation occurs, and so on. Without going through these stages, the full construction of language structures is impossible. However, the processes of speech formation do not always occur physiologically. And sometimes normal functions begin to act as pathological symptoms.

One of the stages necessary for the maturation of the speech center is considered to be echolalia - a phenomenon when a person repeats the speech of someone else he has heard. In what cases does it cease to be the norm and become a cause for serious concern?

Echolalia in adults

Echolalia in adults is always considered as a sign of some mental pathology - schizophrenia (most often), autism, amnesia, consequences of traumatic brain injury, etc.

In autistic adults with echolalia, in addition to repeated meaningless repetition of words or phrases, more “smoothed out” symptoms are often observed, such as:

• in the process of working on a task - unconscious repetition in a whisper of various instructions received to complete this task;
• repeating the names of objects while working with them;
• Frequently quoting lines from films or television shows (mostly in context appropriate to the situation);
• unconscious repetition “to oneself” or quietly reciting the text of a book while reading.

Some adults diagnosed with autism say that speech imitation is a unique way of communication for them - an unconscious attempt to maintain a conversation by responding to the interlocutor even before consciously understanding what he said.

Causes and symptoms of the disease

Echolalia is a pathology that has certain causes; this deviation sometimes occurs in children and almost always in adults, not only as a result of learning speech activity, but also for other reasons:

• mental disorders;
• pathologies of a neurological nature;
• damage to the frontal lobe of the brain;
• mental retardation;
• autistic disorders;
• Tourette syndrome and Rett syndrome;
• imbecility and schizophrenia;
• oncology in the brain area;
• dyslexia and dysphasia.

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Delayed echolalia can occur as a result of the following provoking factors:

1. Self-stimulation . The main goal is to receive positive emotions from what is said. The patient constantly repeats exactly the phrase or words that give him pleasure. If this type of deviation is used as entertainment, then you can lose touch with reality.
2. Mood communication . Repeated phrases can create a certain mood, that is, program the patient.
3. Summarizing . The patient tries to group all the phrases and memories received during the day.

If a child has at least one of the listed provoking factors for the development of pathology, then it is necessary to constantly be under the supervision of a specialist, and at the first manifestations, undergo an examination and begin treatment and correction of the condition.

In the first years of life, when a child tries to repeat a phrase or words of adults, this is a completely normal state, because he is just learning. This is generally considered normal from the age of six months to three years.

If this deviation is observed in a child over the age of 4 years, then it is necessary to pay attention to this, since it may indicate developmental disorders that are associated with speech development; echolalia is also often a typical symptom of autism.

With immediate echolalia, a child may fall into hysterics if, after answering a question, he did not get what he wanted, since awareness of the question came only after some time.

How to treat echolalia in children and adults?

Although vocabulary and syllabic speech imitation in childhood is an integral part of speech development, long-term persistence of this phenomenon is considered a cause for concern. It is very important to diagnose pathological echolalia in time for its faster cure.

To diagnose the pathological form of this condition, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of a number of mental functions. This method allows us to identify the patient’s neurological diseases and/or special mental conditions in which echolalia acts as an additional symptom.

In most cases, correction of echolalia is carried out with the help of special programs of classes and exercises using visual aids, tables, video and audio materials, etc. If the patient has autism or other characteristics of mental development, treatment is carried out in combination with other therapeutic methods.

Treatment of echolalia in each individual case should be prescribed by a specialist (neuropsychologist, defectologist, special school teacher, speech therapist, etc.) - the result directly depends on his professional competence. When developing a therapeutic regimen, it is necessary to take into account the patient’s age, the characteristics of his development and the severity of the pathology.

Parents of children with echolalia must adhere to certain rules in everyday communication with their child:

• do not interrupt repeated words or phrases, but try to understand what exactly the child is trying to communicate with these repetitions, even if they seem meaningless. You cannot ignore the intonation of repeated words, the child’s facial expressions - all this will allow you to establish full contact between you;
• gradually increase the number of words in the baby’s vocabulary by unobtrusively adding new constructions to his speech. Maintain a conversation by forming new meaningful phrases based on the words your child repeats. Formulate questions that can be answered briefly (“yes” or “no”);
• In order for the child to better understand what is required of him, it is necessary to use visual aids - signs, pictures, albums with family photographs and other non-verbal communication tools.

It is important to remember that echolalia is often the main tool for self-expression of a child with speech problems, and performs many useful functions - from self-soothing and relieving anxiety to trying to build a dialogue and express his emotions.

Prevention

Echolalia is a unique form of communication, that is, it cannot be called a meaningless and aimless repetition of someone else’s words. Prevention of the disease is aimed at normalizing the communication process, turning the disorder into a tool for interaction with others.

• Do not stop the patient when repeating, since pronouncing words is one of the ways of self-expression in case of problems with oral speech. If this opportunity is not available, the patient will not be able to practice pronunciation, maintain a conversation, and minimize anxiety through verbal communication.
• Pay attention to all the words spoken, even if they don’t make sense at first glance. This will allow you to study the features of echolalia in more detail and improve the communication process. Try to understand what is being said, intonation and facial expressions of the patient. It is very important to grasp the tone and rhythm of what is said, since the same phrases can convey different information.
• Join the conversation and recite your child’s favorite speech scripts one by one. Try to form new things, that is, expand the phrases you have memorized, constantly expanding your vocabulary.

Only regular exercises in a calm environment will help to establish the communication process and improve the socialization of the patient.

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Echolalia in autism

Due to the peculiarities of their mental structure, autistic children are most susceptible to echolalia. A child with autism is unlikely to completely “outgrow” his speech imitation, however, with timely professional correction, this condition can later become much less intense and even practically unnoticeable, although some originality of speech will remain for life.

According to the results of recent studies, manifestations of echolalia in children with autism are a good sign, since they indicate that the child is inclined to communicate. True, he does not yet understand how to do it correctly, and therefore uses the only means available to him. By endlessly repeating the same word or phrase, an autistic person simply communicates with others, unconsciously counting on their attention not to the word/phrase itself, but to its emotional connotation.

An autistic child, unlike a neurotypical child, has an insufficient “intuitive sense of language”, and therefore is forced to learn his native language as a foreign language. Therefore, if autistic children with echolalia do not receive specialized help, their speech may remain at the level of stereotyped repetitions of other people’s phrases, and verbal communication will be significantly limited.

Treatment

The complex of therapeutic measures for echolalia depends on the cause of its occurrence, the age of the patient and the combination with other disorders of higher mental functions.

Physiological speech repetition in children under four years of age does not require outside intervention. This situation only requires parental control and assistance in the correct formation of speech centers. This requires regular dialogue with the child with clear pronunciation of words so that the child can hear the elders correctly. In addition, it is important to create a favorable psychological atmosphere and limit possible stressful situations.

There is no drug therapy for pathological echolalia . Correction of speech imitation is possible using a number of neuropsychological techniques that allow you to correctly form speech skills and bring them to established standards. At this stage, it is also important to observe the principles of parental control over one’s own speech and to prevent sudden emotional and mental overloads of the child.

Drug treatment of echolalia is justified if it is part of an organic brain lesion that requires the administration of certain medications.

The phenomenon of echolalia within the framework of motor aphasia syndrome requires correction of the underlying disease that caused the development of the pathology (stroke, neuroinfection, trauma, and so on). However, here too, neuropsychological correction must take place in parallel, carried out by an aphasiologist to restore the damaged speech center.

Speech communication is a vital component of our daily life. Limitations in speech skills significantly change a person’s communication ability, reduce his social adaptation and quality of life.

Echolalia not only acts as a factor preventing the formation of generally accepted norms of speech activity. In certain cases, it may be a sign of serious brain pathology. Despite the fact that the phenomenon of speech imitation itself has a physiological basis, in certain cases echolalia requires treatment. Timely detection of the transition from a normal stage of child development to a pathological state allows speech disorders to be corrected in a shorter time and the patient to adapt to communication with others.

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