Re: Echolalia or just a repetative behavior?

[Guest guest]

Funny how going back and reading my own words got me thinking about what to do.

I just decided that rather than answer yes or no about who's it is, I'm gonna

start labeling WHAT it is(she has a very limited vocabulary), so when she says

" Da mine? " I'm going to try responding " That IS your plate, plate, p-p-plate "

and see if I can get more words from her that way.

>

> Hi all,

>

> My 2 and a half yr old has been for the past 6mo but increasingly in the past

month or so is constantly asking, " Da mine? " (Is that mine?) over and over and

over, even after she gets an answer. She also will ask if it is someone elses

" da Daddy? " (Is that Daddy's?) I suppose there's nothing I can do about it, it's

just part of her PDD-NOS diagnosis? Her speech therapist suggested guiding the

conversation towards, answering and saying, yes, that's yours, can you go find

your brother's? or something along those lines. It has not really helped as she

seems to be stuck on it for weeks now.

>

> Any thoughts?

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I think it's a phase if it's anything like my boy. My son used to ask me constantly if was his sister? Um, yes, she was your sister today, yesterday, the day before that, ten mins. ago and forever. He asked me this for a good year??!!! God only knows why or if he was really asking me something else, etc. To: autism-aspergers Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 3:08 PMSubject: Echolalia or just a repetative behavior?

Hi all,

My 2 and a half yr old has been for the past 6mo but increasingly in the past month or so is constantly asking, "Da mine?" (Is that mine?) over and over and over, even after she gets an answer. She also will ask if it is someone elses "da Daddy?"(Is that Daddy's?) I suppose there's nothing I can do about it, it's just part of her PDD-NOS diagnosis? Her speech therapist suggested guiding the conversation towards, answering and saying, yes, that's yours, can you go find your brother's? or something along those lines. It has not really helped as she seems to be stuck on it for weeks now.

Any thoughts?

[Guest guest]

I am a classroom aide for children with autism and my son has high functioning autism and I have to say that doesn't sound like echolalia. Echolalia is when the child just repeats what you say and doesn't come up with their own natural thoughts. I have heard many children say "odd" things repetitively for long periods of time as well as short ones. I would recommend prompting her with what you want her to say instead when she vocalizes the repetetive speech or direct her to be quiet. If she is receptive and attemps to either correct herself or is quiet when asked, she should then be rewarded with either praise or a preferred activity or item that is only used as a motivator for this specific goal. If she does not attempt to correct herself or cannot be quiet when asked she should receive no positive or negative attention

in any way until she corrects herself. Good luck!!

Shana

[Guest guest]

Just to clarify, you think it's probably just a (non-functional)repetative

behavior then? Because that is how I have felt for the past month, that or she's

obsessed with knowing the owner of every object she encounters.

>

>

> I am a classroom aide for children with autism and my son has high functioning

autism and I have to say that doesn't sound like echolalia.  Echolalia is when

the child just repeats what you say and doesn't come up with their own natural

thoughts.  I have heard many children say " odd " things repetitively for long

periods of time as well as short ones.  I would recommend prompting her with

what you want her to say instead when she vocalizes the repetetive speech or

direct her to be quiet.  If she is receptive and attemps to either correct

herself or is quiet when asked, she should then be rewarded with either praise

or a preferred activity or item that is only used as a motivator for this

specific goal.  If she does not attempt to correct herself or cannot be quiet

when asked she should receive no positive or negative attention in any way until

she corrects herself. Good luck!!

>  

> Shana

>

[Guest guest]

What would happen if you simply answered her question? She may be establishing

categories in her mind and needs the repetition of question/response.

A standard approach for neurotypical children with the same behavior would be to

answer the question and eventually to make labels in easy-to-read print

identifying who the object belongs to. This would then begin the process of her

recognizing printed names and helping her memory of who the objects belongs to.

I highly doubt she is asking to annoy you, although it can get crazy after a few

hours of that continual same question. I would bet she learns differently and

all of the experts in the world are going to approach this from their bias or

professional filter.

I think that manipulating people (special needs or not) toward a desired

behavior is disrespectful, which is why we home-school. As a biofeedback

therapist, I've worked with many adults who have been stressed as a result of

not being listened to and who have been manipulated throughout their lives. So,

I know the negative results of behavior modification at the hands of poorly

trained people. Highly trained people employ behavior modification with no

stress to the client/child, and with a sense of respect for what the behavior of

the child/client is trying to communicate. This is not the case for people using

behavior modification to manipulate someone's behavior.

It turns out that our child (with autism) uses language differently than typical

people and when we really listen, we can then supply him with the words a

typical person uses for the same communication. The standard approach by some of

the professional manipulators was to forbid him to use his way of speech or

" reward " him (see " Punished by Rewards " ) if he spoke " their way " . The end result

of that type of manipulation was a very unhappy child who was further

dis-empowered and helpless. Understanding how he uses language has actually

helped teach him how the typical world uses language.

I would bet addressing your very young child's communication with the same

respect and kindness you would want directed towards yourself could save years

of unhappiness and actually help her learn.

Priscilla

>

> Hi all,

>

> My 2 and a half yr old has been for the past 6mo but increasingly in the past

month or so is constantly asking, " Da mine? " (Is that mine?) over and over and

over, even after she gets an answer. She also will ask if it is someone elses

" da Daddy? " (Is that Daddy's?) I suppose there's nothing I can do about it, it's

just part of her PDD-NOS diagnosis? Her speech therapist suggested guiding the

conversation towards, answering and saying, yes, that's yours, can you go find

your brother's? or something along those lines. It has not really helped as she

seems to be stuck on it for weeks now.

>

> Any thoughts?

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Maybe this is part of the diagnosis that I just don't understand. Why does she

need to catagorize everything according to ownership?

We do answer her questions, continually, but we really want to help her expand

on her vocabulary, not just make her stop the repetitive questions. For a few

days there I was able to get her to start imitating speech by answering, yes,

that IS your _____. And then repeating what it was a few times for her.

What is biofeedback? How do you think it would be helpful in her case? We

homeschool too. She is the 5th of 6 kids. I thought I knew a thing or two about

children until she was born! I am ok with her being different and being herself,

I just want to help her communicate in a way that she can be understood and her

needs can be met. It can be really frustrating for the both of us when she has a

need(perhaps just to catagorize things) and I can't figure it out.

> >

> > Hi all,

> >

> > My 2 and a half yr old has been for the past 6mo but increasingly in the

past month or so is constantly asking, " Da mine? " (Is that mine?) over and over

and over, even after she gets an answer. She also will ask if it is someone

elses " da Daddy? " (Is that Daddy's?) I suppose there's nothing I can do about it,

it's just part of her PDD-NOS diagnosis? Her speech therapist suggested guiding

the conversation towards, answering and saying, yes, that's yours, can you go

find your brother's? or something along those lines. It has not really helped as

she seems to be stuck on it for weeks now.

> >

> > Any thoughts?

> >

> >

> >

>