Ming from Agents of Speech explains why children repeat questions: usually because they don't understand the language or the repetition has become a learned routine. Echolalia isn't a sign of autism by itself. Instead of asking the same question over, model the answer: say "Ouch" or "I'm okay" so they learn the response, not just the echo.
Hey, guys, this is ming here from agentsofspeech.com today we're gonna talk about why your child repeats your questions. Obviously, the reason why is because they don't understand you. Okay. And parents ask me, okay, when my child echoes me, is it echolalia, does that mean that they are on the spectrum and the answer is no? It might not be. It might be. But if you just say echolalia, does it equal equate to autism? The answer is obvious. No. Okay. There are a lot of people who are delayed or children who are delayed that repeat questions, repeat what people say, and, you know, sometimes they repeat in a particular way. It might be other things other than delay or person of people who are on the spectrum. The reason why people repeat questions in general is because they don't understand it. I've tried it a lot. I've tried it many times. Whenever someone asks me something in a language I don't understand, I will try to repeat the question for clarification. So there is a use, there is a function for repeating someone's question because we don't really understand it and we want it to be rephrased. Good for us who have a solid grasp in one language, we can say, can you repeat that? Can you say it in a different way? Or like, I don't really understand the question. So children don't have that vocab to say, hey, I don't understand. Can you say again? Right. So that's why they repeat the question. Okay? That's number one reason. Number two reason is because it becomes a routine. Children will grab whatever you're modeling and to use it in their vocab all the time. That's why swear word. Swear words are a huge thing for children who are delayed because it's loud, it's passionate, it's emotional, it's funny at times, okay? Children will pick that up and will use it even at the right situations, even if they're delayed or they have a speech disorder or whatever. That way that you model sometimes is in a question form. I have a vivid memory of a client of mine who fell down. The kid, I mean. And then the mom would say, are you okay? And then the child would repeat, are you okay? It becomes a routine. Okay? The next time he falls down, he says, are you okay? And points as his. As his, like, knee. And then he's, like, making a sad face and so on. What that means is that they think that the question means that, ouch. You know, so all I did, I told the mom to do Was, hey, stop saying are you okay? Or even if you stop ass by accident, you instantly, at that moment say, ouch or like, I'm okay or it hurts, whatever that is normal or whatever that is acceptable at that situation, you can use it and say it. So very quickly, after two weeks, the child started to use like, ouchie, you know, it hurts, mom. Instead of saying, are you okay? Because when you model, you need to, when you model using. Using question, right? You know, model also the answer. It's. It's fine to ask a question, but you need to model some sort of a response or answer so that the child knows that, oh, there's a second part to it. That's great. And because children who are delayed, or just anyone who isn't very good at a language, if you use like a tone going up like, are you okay? As a question? And then you give the last part like, I'm fine, or like ouchie or whatever, like, people will stick on to the last word, okay? And that's because of like, just recency, because we don't really, we cannot really hear all of the words in the sentence because of our language level. Therefore, we will stick our attention to the last few words, which is the answer itself. So if you were trying to model a question, try to give the answer right away, okay? And therefore it will make sense. Remember, always to model the language you want to hear. Do not try and use questions to teach. Because when you use questions to teach children what they need to say, they don't have the content to do it, even if they know that they have to answer you. That's why they repeat. They don't understand it. Just to reassure you here. Repeating a question, repeating words does not instantly automatically mean that your child is on the spectrum. Maybe they are more at risk of having asd. It's a risk factor. It doesn't mean that it will happen or your child is already on the spectrum. So you need to understand that. And whoever gives you suggestions that, oh, he might be on the spectrum or whatever, remember, take it with a grain of salt. It's a might. They don't know for sure. Go get it checked. Okay, that's all I'm going to say here. Hopefully this message gets to you at last. If you haven't, you should go and check out our checklist for parents. It's agentsofspeech.com checklist. It's a list of tools and toys that we recommend parents to get if you're looking to start home therapy. Okay. So that's it for this video. Hopefully, I'll see you soon. Bye. Bye.
