What’s the big deal with echolalia?

Previous to the boom of research in the 1980s and 1990s, echolalia; especially delayed echolalia, was thought of as a “deviant behaviour” associated with autism which was meaningless at best and a self-stimulatory behaviour that needs to be eliminated at worst. Parents, educators, and therapists were ignoring it in the best-case scenario or actively trying to stop or extinguish it at worst. To take the script or gestalt’s place, it was thought that children could be taught “appropriate language” (whatever that means!).

But in 1984, following the analysis of hundreds of delayed echolalic remarks, two researchers published a paper identifying that echolalia could fall into 14 functional categories, 7 of which showed communicative intent (Rydell & Perizant, 1984). And as researchers in 1995 found that “at least 85% of children with autism who acquire speech” use echolalia, it was good to see some recognition that echolalia could be communication (Rydell and Prizant, 1995).

However, during the 1990s through to the early 2000s, we were also seeing a boom of children being diagnosed with autism with echolalia being used as a marker and behaviour rather than recognising, researching and supporting echolalia as communication. Behavioural therapies saw a steep growth but the research into language development and supporting echolalia into spontaneous language seemed to be placed on the back burner.

My experience at university, when learning about echolalia, reflected the research that started in the 1980s and 1990s. Yes, it was associated with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, yes it may have some limited communication intent, but it needed to be stopped or fixed. Children presenting with echolalia had delayed language acquisition and needed language intervention, just as any other child presenting to me with a language delay did.

But the more I worked with these families, the more I saw that echolalia did have communication intent and that teaching them with the same strategies I used with my other children presenting with language delays was not leading to the same growth. I was not seeing the generalisation of goals.

So, I went on a journey researching echolalia and I found a community of speech pathologists who were exploring that there were two ways that children learn language. They were advocating for the children they worked with who were echolalic and were identifying these children as Gestalt Language Processors. I found the work of Marg Blanc and the research of Barry Prizant, Ann Peters and all their colleagues. It opened my eyes to a new way of seeing language development.

Analytical language processors learn a language in the “standard” way of learning language, using words first as the building blocks to develop sentences and communication. This was the type of language acquisition I was familiar with where they first learn words, then combine them in two-word combinations. Next, we would observe grammar in phrases followed by their first sentences. The last stage is the use of more complex sentences and grammar.

This style of language learning was the one I was introduced to in my studies and there are a plethora of interventions and strategies that can be used to support those who experience challenges as they move through the hierarchy to learn a language.

Gestalt language processors, on the other hand, don’t start their language learning journey with words, but rather with chunks of language where the melody or intonation is what they tune into rather than the words themselves. A gestalt language processor will first use echolalia to communicate. They will then break apart those language chunks to communicate more flexibly with smaller chunks. The next stage of the language learning process involves isolating single words and using self-generated two-word phrases, followed by adding pre-sentence grammar structures. They will then begin to use advanced grammar in sentences they have generated themselves. The last step is the use of more complex grammar and sentences.

Echolalia is the first step in a Gestalt Language Processors’ journey to language learning.