Hi all! I’m officially joining the #JusJoJan fun today, because the prompt inspired me. It’s “echo”.
There’s a resident at my home who repeats everything she hears. I was actually confused when I first got introduced here, because this resident has a very clear, high-pitched sing-song voice reminiscent of staff. When I asked why the staff were saying everything twice, one of them explained that this person wasn’t a staff but a client and she experiences echolalia.
I immediately assumed she’s autistic, but she isn’t. She has Sanfilippo Syndrome, a rare (albeit relatively common in the Netherlands) metabolic disease that leads to cognitive decline. Apparently, this person’s cognitive decline is so advanced that she doesn’t recognize anyone, except for sometimes her parents.
It’s interesting to note that, when I first got here, she always only echoed the staff, not the other residents. Now she regularly echoes me and sometimes other clients too. She still doesn’t repeat it when someone tells her off for talking too much. I think that’s funny.
I, being autistic, sometimes experience echolalia too. When under a lot of stress, I engage in immediate echolalia, like this other client: I repeat what has just been said. Sometimes, I also experience delayed echolalia. When this happens, I notably echo my fellow clients.
When I’m in a mentally good place, I sometimes feel guilty for it, because it feels like I’m appropriating them. That’s not my intention though and, well, I’m not echoing on purpose anyway.
A Multitude of Musings 
I’m autistic and experience echolalia often. I find it soothing.
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Thanks for sharing. I haven’t really noticed whether it’s soothing for me, but I guess so, since I do it to regulate stress.
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vey interesting Astrid I have never heard anyone who did this do it!
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Thanks for commenting. I don’t think I ever noticed it in others until after my own autism diagnosis and even then I didn’t always see it, as with the fellow resident who I thought was a staff.
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I have never heard of this, so found the post interesting
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Thank you for commenting. I’m glad my post interested you.
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My autistic son does it too. It’s been part of life longer than I can remember. Thanks for sharing, Astrid! ❤
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Thanks for sharing your perspective, Linda.
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My nephew had echolalia when he was a youngster. He would repeat what you were saying within seconds of you saying it. #MMBC
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Thanks for sharing. I, interestingly, don’t think I had it as much when I was a child as I do now.
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I hadn’t heard of echolalia before but asked my eldest who works in a care home about it and she has a couple of residents who experience it. When I think about it I tend to repeat things when someone is talking to me if I am feeling anxious.
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Oh, that’s so interesting! For me, it’s also worse when I’m anxious.
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Thanks for using the prompt I submitted and for a very informative post. I had never heard of echolalia before.
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I’m glad I was able to expand your knowledge. Thanks for providing the prompt.
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Thanks so much for sharing your experience with Echolalia Astrid.My youngest son also does this. It soothes him when he’s feeling anxious.
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Thanks for sharing. I’m glad your youngest feels better when he does this.
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