An autistic young man I know expresses echolalia not just in speech, but in sending me text messages too!
What is echolalia in autism?
Echolalia is the repetition of words, phrases or sentences – but this can mean one of several things.
One autistic man whom I had done some brief volunteer work with, exhibited echolalia in the form of frequent recitations of lines from movies.
There were periods of silence in between.
I knew another man with autism who did this same kind of echolalia, but pretty much ongoing.
Now, the autistic man with the echolalia text messages does not recite lines from film, nor does he repeat statements heard in the past.
Instead, he repeats things in real-time. This includes what people have just said to him; what someone is saying to someone else; and the talking from “Jane” coming from my phone’s GPS app.
Quite frankly, I find it very charming!
He is not capable of back-and-forth conversation. So I gather that his echolalia is his individual way of establishing or maintaining connection with other people.
Usually, the echolalia that he exhibits, in one-on-one interaction, is one or two words.
But he’ll repeat full sentences from Jane.
Interestingly, he can read out loud fluently at a literate level.
One day we exchanged phone numbers. I knew he probably was not capable of a back-and-forth exchange even via texting, even though he could type fairly well on his phone.
This was evidenced by him typing out simple answers, in a blank field on his phone, to my verbal, in-person questions such as who his top three music acts are.
Some weeks later I received my first text from him. It didn’t make sense, so I asked him what he meant.
Instead of answering, he re-sent my question!
I then asked other (simple) questions, such as where he was at that point, and he’d resend them.
He was obviously using the resend function rather than typing out repeats.
I then texted him a comment about one of his activities. He re-sent it.
I concluded that this was his way of connecting with me, of engaging with me.
I texted his host home and she said this is how he communicates.
Well, he must’ve been thinking of me before he sent his first text.
We see each other once a week at our activity for disabled people.
Though I don’t consider myself disabled, I do have a clinical diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and this makes me part of the program as a participant.
Some autistic people, who exhibit echolalia, are fully capable of conversation.
For some Autists, echolalia provides self-regulation or is a form of stimming.
This is not the same as obsessive compulsive thought disorder.
In OCD, the thoughts are intrusive and unwanted, but keep barging their way in, causing distress to the individual.
In ASD silent echolalia, the thoughts are deliberate, very welcome and a source of self-regulation.
I think my buddy’s echolalia is cool, and I fully recognize it as his way of connecting to people as well as responding in one-on-one interactions.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical and fitness topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer. In 2022 she received a diagnosis of Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder and subsequently has developed an intense interest in ASD.
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