A Guide to Improving Echolalia

Do you want to help an echolalic autistic child or adult develop more functional communication?

I’m excited to say that my third book is now available on Amazon in both eBook and print versions.? Autism, Echolalia, and Sometimes, Blindness: A Practical Guide to Conventional Communication is a “how to” book of specific evidence-based practices to improve functional communication skills such as requesting, commenting, answering, and asking for echolalic autistic speakers.

Find it on Amazon at:?? EIF Book link

Here is a bit from the introduction:

Echolalia?

Echolalia is a fascinating and challenging communication disorder that often accompanies autism. I have helped many echolalic children. Some were also congenitally blind, which explains the title of this book.

Echolalic autistic children, and sometimes adults, use language as they have heard it, often in ways that are not accurate. This might include immediately repeating the words of another speaker, or later re-using whole chunks of someone else’s speech. ?Sometimes the echoes are lines from videos or songs.

A child might echo, “Try it! It’s delicious!”?while shoving away a new food. Or he might say, “Can you do it by yourself?” when trying to ask for help.

The children’s ability to use self-created language and to participate in conversation is significantly compromised. So, the overall goal of therapy is to teach them to create original language to share their needs and ideas, respond to others, and become able to converse.

What’s the book for?

The purpose of this book is to guide speech/language pathologists, parents, and educators as they teach developmentally attainable and immediately useful communication skills to echolalic learners.?

This book provides specific steps to teach echolalic preschoolers, older children, and even adults ?to spontaneously ask for what they want, choose verbally among things offered to them, ask people to do actions, protest events they don’t like, greet people, share comments in joint play and understand, answer, and ask questions. It also describes how to teach the pronouns that are usually reversed in echolalia.

Moving beyond echolalia is essential to support academic education, social development, and life skills.

What’s in the book?

First, the book introduces echolalia, describes research that has informed my therapy, overviews the therapy process, and introduces the children who will illustrate the method.? Then there are five chapters of specific teaching advice, a description of other communication differences of autism, and a chapter that sums up the key concepts of the book.

Here is a bit about each chapter:

Chapter 1. Autism & Echolalia

·?A brief introduction to autism and echolalia ?

·?Explanation of my belief that echolalia is rooted in the neurodivergence of autism and has potential for considerable improvement with pragmatic, evidence-based therapy

Chapter 2. Research and Where it Took Me???

?·?An easy tour of some of the research highlights on echolalia, from the 1960’s to now, which have influenced my clinical decisions and intervention

?Chapter 3. The Therapy and the Children

?·?How the research has informed my therapy, especially my emphasis on pragmatic communication—teaching children the language they need for the thoughts they are trying to express

·?Description of pre-therapy assessment to determine needs and goals

·?Introduction of the five autistic people, composite examples of my many echolalic students, who will illustrate variations of the therapy process throughout the next five “How-to” chapters. They are two preschoolers, two visually impaired and autistic school age students, and one adult.

The "How to” Chapters 4-8 describe what to teach and how to do so. ?Specific lessons for Josie, Caleb, Fern, Harry, and Kate are included in each chapter.

Chapter 4. Requesting and Choosing

?How to:

·?make requests by saying “I want…”? instead of echoing the “Do you want…?” question which they frequently have been asked by adults.

·?understand and select between verbal choices such as “Do you want apples or grapes?” instead of repeating both options or always the second one offered

?Chapter 5. Directing and Protesting

How to:

· ask for help or other action from adults or peers

· protest unwanted actions with conventional words instead of screams and echoes

· cooperate with requests and directives from adults and peers

?Chapter 6. Greeting and Commenting

?How to:

· respond to greetings without repeating one’s own name or ignoring the greeter

· engage in joint play with a variety of toys while making relevant reciprocal comments

?Chapter 7. Pronouns

?How to:

· use “I”, “me”, “my” for self-reference, instead of “you” and “your”

· master other pronouns as needed

?Chapter 8. Answering and Asking Questions

?How to:

· answer Wh- questions, including open choice questions

· answer yes-or-no questions

· ask questions

?Chapter 9. Unconventional Language During and After Echolalia

· Verbal perseveration, neologisms and other idiosyncratic language

· Monologues and excessively formal language

·?Post-echolalic characteristics similar to autistic speakers who were not echolalic

· The viewpoint of autistic adults

?Chapter 10. Echolalia Therapy: Why and How

?·?A summary of the why, the how, and the process of using these methods to remediate echolalia and the importance of spontaneous, self-created language

Where did the therapy come from?

Through my long career as a speech/language pathologist and autism consultant, I have known many individuals with autism spectrum disorders, and usually their families, sometimes through the children’s entire school careers. ?Dozens of them were echolalic children, either sighted or blind, when we met.? And, of course, autism usually requires support even after echolalia is resolved.

I have worked in residential settings, schools and preschools, hospitals, and private practice, taught university courses, presented at conferences, in-service events and short courses, distributed monthly newsletters to professional colleagues via email and LinkedIn, and written two other books on autism and communication.

What to do next?

If you are working with children or adults who echo and everyone is happy with their progress, “Congratulations!”??? If you are new to the adventure or looking for practical, evidence-based support, please read the book. And if you like it, I’d really appreciate a review on Amazon.

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