Echolalia

It's a big word. We use it in the Speech Path word to describe when a person repeats what you say instead of purposefully communicating. It's a big red flag for kiddos as an indicator for autism. It sometimes occurs with adults after a stroke. It's one of those things that is really frustrating to work with at times, but also can be pretty humorous. Here is an example of a young little patient (3 or 4 years) in therapy. He echos everything you say. He also has the ability to see a logo one time and always know what it is. (Dell, Kroger, HP, Buick, etc). He's the happiest kid and smiles the whole time. Here's how our therapy session went down. We'll call him "Jimmy."

Me: "Jimmy, how are you?"
J: "Jimmy, how are you??"
Me: "Jimmy, are you doing well?"
J: "Jimmy are you doing well? KROGER! (Pointing to a Kroger bag in the office).
Me: Yes that is Kroger. (J echoing in the background as I keep talking: Yes that is Kroger. That is Kroger Jimmy, that is Kroger.) Let's look at some pictures. What is this?" (showing a picture of a car).
J: "That's a Buick!"
Me, laughing: "Yes that's a buick. We also call it a car. (J echoing: That's a car). What's this?" (showing a picture of a van)
J: "That's a pontiac."
Me: "Is that a van, jimmy? Say YES or NO."
J: "Is that a van? Yes or no, yes or no."
Me: "Jimmy, say yes or no. Is this a van?:
J: "It's a van! Yes or no, it's a van."
Me: "Jimmy, let's try this again. Look at me, Jimmy. Look in my eyes. Eye contact."
J: "Eye contact. Eye contact Jimmy eye contact. Yes or no, eye contact. Leap frog!" (after seeing the logo of a leap frog toy).

And it goes on, and on, and on... :)