Echolalia And Gestalt Language Processing: Why Does My Child Repeat Phrases And Song Lyrics?

Children learn to speak by imitation. They copy what we their caregivers say and what they hear from family, friends, books, TV, movies etc. Most children eventually start piecing together their own phrases and sentences using words they have learned. But some children use a form of imitation called “echolalia”, meaning they rely on these learned phrases or words for the bulk of their communication. What happens when we have a child who is “stuck” in their “echolalia” phase? How can we help a child who just seems to imitate everything we say or only uses “learned” or “imitated” phrases from TV shows, movies, songs or from their caregivers?

There are two types of echolalia. Immediate and Delayed. Immediate Echolalia is when a child repeats what is said immediately after they hear it. An example of this would be when you are with a child and you ask them, “What do you want to do next?” and they repeat you by saying, “What do you want to do next?”. Immediate Echolalia doesn’t have to be word for word, sometimes children repeat just the last word or couple words of a sentence. In this example, the child may say, “do next?”.

Delayed Echolalia is when a child says a phrase they have learned or heard before, whether from a caregiver, a TV show, movie etc. but it is not a direct or immediate repetition of the phrase. A learned phrase may be used in a context where it is appropriate and makes sense, for example, a child may associate the phrase they hear from their caregiver when they need help, “Do you need help?”, so instead of generating their own sentence like, “I need help”, they may imitate the learned phrase they have heard so many times in that situation and say, “Do you need help?”. Delayed Echolalia may also be used in a context that doesn’t seem to necessarily fit the given situation. Children who use delayed echolalia may say phrases to themselves that might not make sense to us in the given moment. Children may use phrases they have heard on TV shows or movies as well as sing songs. We are learning more and more about Delayed Echolalia and we are learning that sometimes even if it doesn’t make sense to us, there is merit in trying to understand patterns in the way your child uses their phrases and they may actually be using them to communicate, even if it is not so easy to figure out what exactly they are trying to say.

This brings us to Gestalt Language Processing. Gestalt Language Processors is how Speech-Language Pathologists refer to children who learn language in these learned phrases or “chunks” which are referred to as “gestalts”. Gestalt Language Processors may use echolalia, whether Immediate or Delayed or both for the bulk of their communication. Many Autistic children are Gestalt Language Processors.

As you learn more about Gestalt Language Processing, you will find that there are multiple stages of language development that children who are GLPs will go through. They will start in Stage 1 and the goal is to move them all the way to the final stage, Stage 6.

Stage 1: Echolalia

In Stage 1, children are using “whole gestalts” which means they are using whole phrases/gestalts and they are not flexible, meaning they are not changing or adding more words to them. For example, they may hear the phrase, “I have an idea!” from a tv show and use that phrase often. The goal of Stage 1 is to give them access to a wide variety of these scripts/gestalts/phrases. That way they can later change the scripts into more flexible language.

Stage 2: Broken Down Gestalts

In Stage 2, children will start using parts of gestalts in different ways as their language in this stage is starting to become more flexible. The gestalts may change a little bit, such as changing a word. For example, the phrase “I have an idea!”, may be changed to “I have a doll!”. One thing to note about Stage 2, is that children will be in this stage for a long time, and that’s what we want. The longer they are in this stage, the more we can set them up for success.

Stage 3: Single Words + Word Combinations

In this stage we will start to see isolation of single words from phrases. In this stage we are focused on using WORD + WORD combinations. We are not worried about correct grammar. We can model noun + noun, adjective + noun, noun + adjective etc. word combinations. Use this strategy when going outside with your child, for example, and start pointing to things around you, “big tree”, “pretty bird”, “green grass” etc.

Typically the children I work with are in Stages 1-3. Stages 4-6 are when children begin to use correct grammar and develop a complete grammar system.

Stage 4: Beginning Grammar

Stage 5: Complex Sentences

Stage 6: Complete Grammar System

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Signs Of A Gestalt Language Processor

So what does all this mean for you and your child? How do you know if your child is a Gestalt Language Processor? Children who are Gestalt Language Processors may show the following signs and characteristics:

• they may enjoy language rich in intonation

• they may repeat questions instead of answering them

• they may be stuck on using mostly single word utterances for communication

• they may repeat phrases and songs word-for-word and with intonation from movies, TV shows, you etc.

• they may use long strings of unintelligible speech, “gibberish”, that are rich in intonation

If you think your child is a Gestalt Language Processor, the best thing you can do is reach out to a Speech-Language Pathologist who has knowledge and experience in treating Gestalt Language Processing. I am not an expert at it, and I don’t think most SLPs are. More awareness and training has been coming my way recently and because this is how so many of my students communicate, I have been trying to learn more and more about it. I am passionate about this work. I find it very fun and interesting to meet a child at their level, find out what their interests are and use those in speech therapy to help them learn to communicate more effectively.

Hello! I’m Kayla Birch, M.A. CCC-SLP. I am a Speech-Language Pathologist and I currently work with preschoolers in a school district. Many of the children I work with are autistic or have developmental delays meaning they are behind in their speech, language or other developmental milestones.