Speech and Echo-what-ia

Please forgive the extended interruption in the blog, I've getting ready for, and then we had a triennial and transitional IEP meeting. Then, of course, researching for this blog.

Many kiddos grow up and learn to speak very well. They learn language properly, how to pronounce words the correct way and how to converse with others in an appropriate manner. From different speech therapists, psychologists and research on my own I found out that there are basically three stages (there are 6 stages to language) to actually beginning to speak:

babbling (beginning of speech, nonsense - 4 to 6 months);
jargon (language that is not clear, babbling turns into non-sense speech - around 7 months to 1 yr);
speech :

• 1 - 2 yrs: continually developing language - begins to "chain" 2 words - begin asking 1 - 2 word questions
• 2 - 3 yrs: using 2 - 3 words to converse or ask for things (begins using k, g, t, f, d and n sounds) begins naming objects
• 3 - 4 yrs: using 4 word sentences or more, begins conversing with others on different topics
• 4 - 5 yrs: says most sounds correctly except a few like l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, th - begins using rhyming words, naming some letters and numbers, begins using the same grammar as the rest of the family

There are many resources available to learn the basics of speech and language development - mostly clinical, but there are charts too:
 

http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/language_development.shtml
http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/growth/aaslm.html
http://www.aaclanguagelab.com/stages

Many kiddos on the spectrum will have a speech or language problem of some kind. Some will be delayed in speech; some will regress and appear to "lose" the speech they've learned; and unfortunately some will never use speech as a way to communicate. I have searched and searched, and have yet to find any study done on the percentage of children with speech delays in particular.

There are a lot of those with an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) who have echolalia. Echolalia (ech·o·la·li·a) is the repeating of words or phrases, as if echoing them. Echoing something the person has heard. There are two types of echolalia, immediate and delayed. It is believed that up to 75% of people on the autism spectrum have echolalia. Researchers believe that "immediate echolalia" (short term auditory memory) is something that is used as meaningful, purposeful communication. While "delayed echolalia" (long term auditory memory) and may be communicative or not, depending on the individual and/or the circumstance. This is based on the encyclopedia from the autisticsociety.org website, which is a great resource.

Speaking from experience, our twins both echolalic, there are days that they will repeat a lot of what they hear, other days they will only repeat certain things. It seams that there are definitely times when they are trying to communicate, and we have found that when they begin the "echo" process, we generally can't completely make out what they are trying to tell us. We will struggle to try to figure out what they are trying to tell us, but when we do, it's cause for celebration all around. Those are learning times for all of us. We can begin to understand what they want to tell us, and we can help them try to be more clear in their speech. Other times I think they just like the way it "feels" to echo a "special" word they've heard. The sensation of trying to say the different letters and hearing the different sounds.

From a mother's heart - take time to talk to your kiddos, whether they converse with you or not, they hear you and are learning every day.
God Bless.