People with echolalia repeat noises and phrases that they hear. They may not be able to communicate effectively because they struggle to express their own thoughts. For example, someone with echolalia might only be able to repeat a question rather than answer it. In many cases, echolalia is an attempt to communicate, learn language, or practice language.

Echolalia is different from Tourette syndrome, where a speaker may suddenly yell or say random things as part of their tic. In this case, they speaker has no control over what they say or when they say it.

Repetitive speech is an extremely common part of language development, and is commonly seen in young toddlers who are learning to communicate. By the age of 2, most children will start mixing in their own utterances along with repetitions of what they hear. By age 3, most children’s echolalia will be minimal at most.

The main symptom of echolalia is the repetition of phrases and noises that have been heard. It can be immediate, with the speaker repeating something right away after hearing it. It can also be delayed, with the speaker repeating something hours or days after hearing it.

Other signs of echolalia may include frustration during conversations, depression, and muteness. A person with echolalia may be unusually irritable, especially when asked questions.

Functional echolalia is attempted communication intended to be interactional, acting as communication with another person. Examples include:Turn taking: The person with echolalia uses phrases to fill an alternating verbal exchange.Verbal completion: Speech is used to complete familiar verbal routines that are initiated by others. For example, if people with echolalia are asked to complete a task, they might say “good job!” while completing it, echoing what they’re used to hearing.

Interactive Echolalia (1)

Providing information: Speech may be used to offer new information, but it may be hard to connect the dots. A mother might ask her child what he wants for lunch, for example, and he’ll sing the song from a lunch meat commercial to say he wants a sandwich.Requests: The person with echolalia may say “Do you want lunch?” to ask for their own lunch.

Interactive Echolalia (2)

Non-interactive echolalia is typically not intended as communication and is meant for personal use, like personal labeling or self-stimulation. Examples include:Non-focused speech: The person with echolalia says something that has no relevance to the situational context, like reciting portions of a TV show while walking around a classroom. This behavior may be stimming.Situation association: Speech is triggered by a situation, visual, person, or activity, and doesn’t seem to be an attempt at communication. If someone sees a brand-name product in the store, for example, they might sing the ad

Non-interactive echolalia (1)

Rehearsal: The speaker may utter the same phrase softly to themselves a few times before responding in a normal voice. This may be practice for the coming interaction.Self-direction: People might use these utterances to walk themselves through a process. If they’re making a sandwich, for example, they might tell themselves to “Turn on water. Use soap. Rinse hands. Turn off water. Dry hands. Get bread. Put bread on plate. Get lunch meat,” and so on until the process is completed.

Non-interactive echolalia (2)

People with echolalia repeat noises and phrases that they hear. Learn more about why this occurs.

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Science & Nature

Echolalia: Causes, Symptoms, Types, Diagnosis, and Treatment 

Your little one should now have about 300 words in their verbal arsenal and it is likely they understand much more than that. Not only should your child be speaking in simple sentences, their comprehension is booming and getting stronger every day.&nbsp;

Word Count

<ul><li>Enjoys listening to books and may even attempt to "read" it on their own.</li><li>Identifies basic shapes and colors.</li><li>Says the alphabet.</li></ul>

Basic Milestones

Everything you need to know about how your 3-year-old is developing, from physical and cognitive milestones, to emotional and social development.

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What to Expect When Parenting Your 3-Year-Old

While most 4-year-olds can recite the alphabet and memorize shapes and colors, cognitive development isn’t just about learning facts and academic basics. Learning for children this age also envelops learning about learning—how to ask questions and how to process information into understanding.

Questions and Alphabet

This age is definitely a chatty one, as more language skills develop (what they say and what they understand) at an astounding rate. Your 4-year-old should have about 2,500-3,000﻿ words they understand. By the fifth birthday, however, it will balloon to over 5,000 words.

Everything you need to know about how your 4-year-old is developing, from physical and cognitive milestones, to emotional and social development.

Everything You Need to Know About Your 4-Year-Old's Development

Most 13-year-olds communicate similarly to adults. They comprehend abstract language, such as figurative language and metaphors. They may become less literal and more figurative.

Abstract Mature Language

By this age, many teens have their own <a href="https://www.verywellfamily.com/ways-social-media-affects-teen-mental-health-4144769" target="_self">social media accounts</a> and they’re able to communicate with their friends privately. For some teens, this provides a sense of relief as they often talk to their friends in a slightly different manner than they speak to their parents.

Social Media Language

Everything you need to know about how your 13-year-old is developing, from physical or cognitive milestones, to emotional and social development.

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Social and Emotional Development in 13-Year-Old Teens

Many 6-year-olds will begin or continue to develop independent reading and may begin to enjoy writing stories, especially about themselves. They may be able to write a short paragraph about what they did over summer vacation or a weekend, for instance.&nbsp;

Independent Reading

They may enjoy reading simple chapters and will be able to proudly re-tell basic plot lines and discuss elements of what they liked or didn’t like about the story or characters.&nbsp;

Reading for Leisure

The number of <a href="https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-are-sight-words-2086724" target="_self">sight words</a> they know will grow and they will be able to break down words into sounds. Their vocabulary also increases, and they will be able to spell a greater number of words (though many words will still be invented spelling, such as "floo" for "flew"). They will also learn how to use punctuation and capitalization of letters in sentences.

Sight Words & Sounds

Everything you need to know about how your 6 year-old is developing, from physical and cognitive milestones, to emotional and social development.

Everything You Need to Know About Your 6-Year-Old's Development

By this age, your child’s speech should be understood by strangers almost all of the time. Your child should also be using adult-like grammar correctly.&nbsp;

Strangers and Grammar

Nine-year-old children are able to write and read skillfully and will be able to express themselves using complex and sophisticated vocabulary and ideas. You can expect your nine-year-old child to be able to read different types of fictional and non-fictional works, including biographies, poems, historical fiction, suspenseful series, and more.&nbsp;

Reading and Writing

In fourth grade, your child may also be expected to produce various <a href="https://www.verywellfamily.com/four-types-of-writing-620805" target="_self">types of writing</a> including book reports, essays, fiction, and historical fiction. Nine-year-olds will be able to use research material from the library and the internet to gather information for reports on various subjects including historical events and figures.

Expectations in Education

Everything you need to know about how your 9-year-old is developing, from physical or cognitive milestones to emotional and social development.

Growth and Developmental Milestones for a 9-Year-Old Boy or Girl

There are two main areas of language:&nbsp;<ul><li>Receptive language (understanding): Comprehension of language.&nbsp;</li><li>Expressive language (using language): The use of language through speech, sign or alternative forms of communication to communicate wants, needs, thoughts and ideas.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>

Areas of Language

<ul><li>Attends to sounds and voices</li><li>Recognises facial expressions and tones of voice</li><li>Babbling (e.g. ma-ma, da-da)</li><li>Takes turns vocalising with others</li><li>Recognises names of a few objects</li><li>IF MILESTONES NOT REACHED:</li><li>May have difficulties socialising with parents and joint attention</li><li>May affect muscle tone in the face as babbling helps to strengthen the muscles</li></ul>

6-12 Months

<ul><li>Responds to familiar requests (e.g. come here) and own name</li><li>Understands gestures (e.g. wave for ‘bye’)</li><li>Babbling (e.g. ma-ma, da-da)</li><li>Takes turns vocalising with others</li><li>Recognises names of a few objects</li><li>Can understand one key word in a sentence (e.g. Where’s your nose?)</li><li>By 2 years vocabulary is 250-300 words</li><li>IF MILESTONES NOT REACHED:</li><li>May have difficulties socialising with parents and joint attention</li><li>May struggle to copy and learn from others due to poor understanding and attention</li></ul>

1-2 Years

<ul><li>Follows 2 part instructions</li><li>Points to main body parts, clothing items, toys and food when asked</li><li>Names actions</li><li>By 3 years uses 1000 words</li><li>Minimum of 2-3 words in a sentence&nbsp;</li><li>Still talks to self in long monologues</li><li>Talks about present events</li><li>Regular Plurals </li><li>Articles </li><li>Progressive –ing</li><li>Uses Pronouns </li><li>Regular Past Tense</li><li>Possessive ‘s </li><li>Position</li><li>Size</li><li>Quantity</li><li>Other: stop; go/start; loud; quiet; heavy; soft; fast; hot; cold</li><li>Understands and asks What and Where questions</li></ul>

2-3 Years

<ul><li>IF MILESTONES NOT REACHED:</li><li>May have difficulties socialising with peers and joint attention</li><li>May struggle to copy and learn from others due to poor understanding and attention</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by peers</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing wants, needs, thoughts and ideas</li></ul>

If 2-3y milestones not reached:

<ul><li>Follows 3 part instructions</li><li>Understands longer, more complex sentences</li><li>By 4 years uses nearly 1500 words</li><li>Minimum of 3-4 word sentences</li><li>Tells you what they are doing</li><li>Tells you the function or use of an object</li><li>Begins to talk about past events</li><li>Auxiliary ‘is’&nbsp;</li><li>Pronouns ‘he/she’</li><li>Connector ‘and’&nbsp;</li><li>3rd Person Singular&nbsp;</li><li>Contracted Negative&nbsp;</li><li>Contracted Copula</li><li>Past Participle</li><li>Position:bottom; behind; first; near</li><li>Size:short (length) – emerging; short (height)</li><li>Quantity:3; every; none</li><li>Other:hard; slow; light (weight); many colours</li><li>Understands Who questions</li><li>Asks What, Why, When and How questions</li></ul>

3-4 Years

<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising with peers</li><li>May struggle to copy and learn from others due to poor understanding and attention</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, child care, kindergarten</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by peers</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing wants, needs, thoughts and ideas</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li></ul>

If 3-4 Year Milestones not reached:

<ul><li>Follows the meaning of others’ conversations</li><li>Continuing to expand</li><li>Can generally understand colour and shape words&nbsp;</li><li>Can sort objects into simple categories&nbsp;</li><li>Minimum of 4-5 word sentences</li><li>Talks about past and future events</li><li>Pronouns</li><li>Comparative –er and Superlative</li><li>Use of ‘is’ vs ‘are‘</li></ul>

4-5 Years

<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising</li><li>May struggle to copy and learn from others due to poor understanding and attention</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, kindergarten</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by peers</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing wants, needs, thoughts and ideas</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li></ul>

If 4-5 Year Milestones not reached:

<ul><li>Follows the meaning of others’ conversations</li><li>Follows multi-step instructions</li><li>Vocabulary comprehension increases</li><li>Vocabulary comprehension increases</li><li>Uses more complex sentences</li><li>Uses imaginative language in play – likes to pretend and act out stories</li><li>Tells several attributes about an object</li><li>Irregular past tense – e.g. fell, broke, ate</li><li>Time: yesterday, tomorrow, morning, afternoon, later</li><li>Uses How and Where questions</li></ul>

5-6 Years

<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising</li><li>May have poor attention and concentration</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, school</li><li>May have difficulties retelling events</li><li>May have difficulties following routines</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing thoughts and ideas verbally and in written form</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li></ul>

If 5-6 Year Milestones not reached:

<ul><li>Ideas are shared</li><li>Follows multi-step instructions</li><li>Can classify objects according to more specific traits&nbsp;</li><li>Gives short oral reports</li><li>Uses language at a higher level to make jokes, tease, engage in sarcasm, argue point of view, explain complex situations, talk about movies or past events in detail</li></ul>

6-7 Years

<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising</li><li>May have poor attention and concentration</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, school</li><li>May have difficulties retelling events</li><li>May have difficulties being understood by unfamiliar people</li><li>May have difficulties expressing thoughts and ideas verbally and in written form</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li><li>May have difficulties with reading fluency and comprehension</li></ul>

If 6-7 Milestones not reached:

<ul><li>Can listen for a sustained period of time (e.g. attend to a guest speaker at school)</li><li>No specific milestones</li><li>Can express their opinion</li><li>Can retell both imaginary and real events</li><li>Uses appropriate grammar in their speech and written work</li><li>Can problem solve</li><li>Will ask questions to clarify information</li></ul>

7-8 Years

<ul><li>May have difficulties socialising</li><li>May have poor attention and concentration</li><li>May have difficulties following instructions at home, school</li><li>May have difficulties retelling events</li><li>Mayhave difficulties problem solving</li><li>May have difficulties expressing thoughts and ideas verbally and in written form</li><li>May have difficulties responding appropriately to questions</li><li>Word finding difficulties causing disfluent speech</li><li>May have difficulties with reading fluency and comprehension</li></ul>

If 7-8 Milestones not reached:

<ul><li>Past Tense “to be”</li><li>Connector ‘because</li><li>Adverb –ly</li><li>Irregular Plurals</li><li>Position: middle; around; away from; between; through; next to/beside; last</li><li>Size, tall, thin</li><li>Quantity:4; most; few</li><li>Position</li><li>Quantity: 5 (emerging); pair</li><li>Other: same; different (size); different (function)</li></ul>

4-5 Years P2

<ul><li>Develops written language skills and ability to write descriptive stories</li><li>Grammar is mature</li><li>Position: left; right</li><li>Other: same; different; season; time of day</li><li>Can understand the difference between reality and fantasy</li><li>Able to make predictions, justify decisions, provide solutions and give explanations</li></ul>

6-7 Years P2

Stages of Language Development

In German, a young girl is given no gender, while a turnip is denoted as female.Now that there are more than 63 genders, Mx, Ind, M, Mre, Msr, Myr, Pr, Sai, Ser or Misc being some of them, we need to be especially mindful of how we refer to people.If we want <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2018/02/12/objectifying-mens-crotches-isnt-equality-makes-sexism-towards-women-worse-7305596/">true gender equality </a>then we should start to look at the things that perpetuate inequality, language being one of them. Because language is a powerful tool and we should use it to encourage inclusivity.

Gender Equality

We can talk about language and sexism till the cows come home. It is pretty sexist that women are asked to declare their marriage status through honorifics like 'Miss’,‘Mrs’ and ‘Ms’,...

Can we have gender equality if we're still using gendered language every day?

Zimbardo’s sample consisted of 21 male university students who volunteered in response to a newspaper advert. The participants were selected on the basis of their physical and mental stability and were each paid $15 a day to take part. The participants were randomly assigned to one of two social roles, prisoners or guards.Zimbardo wanted to make the experience as realistic as possible, turning the basement of Stanford University into a mock prison. Furthermore, the ‘prisoners’ were arrested by real local police and fingerprinted, stripped and given a numbered smocked to wear, with chains placed around their ankles. The guards were given uniforms, dark reflective sunglasses, handcuffs and a truncheon. The guards were instructed to run the prison without using physical violence. The experiment was set to run for two weeks.

Zimbardo's research

Conformity to Social Roles as Investigated by… | Psychology | tutor2u

“Back in the ’20s and ’30s, there was this massive use in some social sets in gay America of French as the quintessential gay language, and that continues to the ’70s,” he says. “Honest to God, Miss Piggy spoke fluent gay English. The way she slips in these little French things, the use of ‘moi’ and the hand gesture to the bosom, this is so 1930s gay.” “I thought, Let’s use that ancient term ‘lavender’ and let’s offend everybody ,” he says. Lavender, he points out, has been associated with the occult and mysticism, with women’s power in Africa, and with forms of power in the West in the Roman Imperial Court and the Catholic Church. “It surfaces in the 20th century with a lesbian women’s movement in England, which was marked in public by women who wore lavender-colored rhinoceros pins on their lapel,” he says.

Lavender Language 

From Regency England to 1920s Harlem to Miss Piggy, gay vernacular has given voice to homosexual identity and desire in a hostile world. In some parts, it still does. 

Echolalia: Causes, Symptoms, Types, Diagnosis, and Treatment

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Everything You Need to Know About Your 4-Year-Old's Development

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Mazz Carsberg