![]() ![]() Echolalia can be a developmental phase and working alongside a SLP is very helpful to identify intervention strategies. Shelley: Echolalia may relate to the child with autism having difficulty using more complex and spontaneous language. ![]() In addition, repeating words and phrases often serves a communicative purpose such as saying “yes” or helping with processing of information. Children with autism often learn language in chunks rather than creatively word by word. Jim: Repeating words, or echolalia, is a common learning style for children with autism. It’s sort of like a Rolodex of phrases that the person pulls from at any given time in the day. Because the brain’s “language center” has difficulty coming up with language on its own, it copies what it hears from the world around it and uses it in place of original words and sentences of its own. Echo/repeat words/phrasesĮmily: One of the primary communication deficits in autism is the tendency to echo or repeat words or phrases that are heard in one’s environment. A sound that we could tolerate may be startling to someone who is more sensitive to auditory input than others. When children startle easily, the result is frequently a “fight or flight” response.Įmily: It may be sensitivity to their environments. Shelley: The child may have difficulty anticipating everyday events, and filtering irrelevant social and environmental stimuli. Jim: Covering ears can often become a learned behavior and may be linked to anxiety as a child becomes fearful of potential unpleasant noises. Thus, sounds that are tolerable to us may be very loud and uncomfortable for them. Covering their ears is one way to lessen the auditory input.Įmily: Children with autism are often hyper-sensitive to auditory stimuli. Many children with autism have auditory sensitivities to specific sounds, such as a fire engine, baby crying, or toilet flushing. Shelley: This could relate to many things, such as the child covering their face as a way to block out too much sensory stimuli, to self-regulate, or to express feeling scared/anxious. Cover their eyes/face /ears with their hands Shelley: Because of difficulty attaching meaning to the facial cues of caregivers and peers which relates to the child’s social-communication skills. Thus, they are not drawn to others’ eyes as information sources. In addition, individuals with autism do not find communicative meaning in others’ eyes like the rest of us. For example, while speaking to someone, a child may forget to make eye contact (which makes it difficult to know to whom the verbalization is directed). For active avoiders, I think there is a sensory component where it is unpleasant for them to make direct eye to eye contact.Įmily: One of the core deficits for individuals with autism is difficulty coordinating verbal and non-verbal means of communication. ![]() There is a difference between kids who actively avoid eye contact and kids who haven’t learned how to use eye contact during communication. Here’s what they had to say: Why do many kids with autism. Jim Mancini is a Speech Language Pathologist and Emily Rastall is a Clinical Psychologist, both at Seattle Children’s Autism Center. Shelley O’Donnell is an Occupational Therapist specializing in children with autism at Seattle Therapy Services. We asked a panel of providers to give us their best answers as to why our kids do what they do. I did my parental best to offer up ideas as to why she does what she does, and thankfully they didn’t question me or ask to see the evidence behind my hypotheses. We welcomed his questions as well as those from his curious neighborhood friends who we were determined to include in our friendly and oh-so-unconventional home. When my kids were young, my son Justin was quite curious about the many odd mannerisms his sister with autism demonstrated. ![]()
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