Patient with echolalia disorder, follow these tips with simple examples, in order to help them.

In the rehabilitation of this type of patient, the speech therapist must obtain information beforehand by talking with the family about the preferences and tastes of the echolalic child or adult, in order to prepare specific and personalized material adapted to each one of them. Professionals who work with this type of patient must act as one of their environment, and use all the means at their disposal, from photos provided by their family and friends, to pictograms, computers, tablets, since each patient finds one working method more attractive than another. The main objective is to seek to reduce echolalia and, to achieve this, we must adapt to each person and the pathology associated with their echolalia, which will require a different work methodology in each specific case in order to achieve a functional and effective language. .

People in the child’s immediate environment can use taglines to identify moods, tastes, or preferences for different activities, using specific phrases or words.

An example can be when choosing a playful activity between drawing or playing with the computer using the tagline “I the robot”. For third parties it may not mean anything, but to those who live and work with them on a daily basis, it indicates that on this occasion they prefer to play with the computer. If he had said “I paint” he is allowed to paint.

Knowing their tastes and preferences between one meal or another, desserts, games, activities, clothes, places, we can establish this type of tagline to help understand and give functionality to their language. If you like playing with the computer a lot compared to painting, these are good situations to favor a functional language through trial and error, using questions whose answers are known in advance. This advantage helps to work on the functionality of language and intentionality.

How to promote communication with the echolalic patient, with simple examples:

• Clear sentences should be made or direct questions asked: “Do you want bread?”, “You have to be seated” are examples of phrases that avoid possible doubts, since they clearly indicate the information we want to convey, without other elements can lead to its loss.
• Use simple and familiar vocabulary. Do not use technical terms or words that are not appropriate to their age in the case of children, or that are known to be unusual in their environment even if it is an adult.
• Do not use very long or complex sentences, because this would only make it difficult for the patient to understand them, and they would get lost in the large number of words.
• Avoid phrases with double meanings, proverbs or set phrases, since they will not understand these types of statements, unless they have been previously taught.
• Speak slowly and relaxed. You should not be upset or speak quickly, because this will make it difficult for the echolalic patient to understand.
• In case of talking about complex things, indicate them in simple steps so that the patient can understand it. For example, to indicate the following command: “Pick up the blue pants that are stored in the closet in your room”, we must do so by dividing it into three simpler commands: “Go to your room”, “Open the closet”, and “Take the blue pants.
• Give him a time frame to respond. You have to wait for them to process the information given to them and to come up with a response.
• Work with the patient with social skills and roll playing echolalia (simulations), which will favor the learning of strategies to interact with other people. Simulate everyday situations, recreating the environment to be able to enter a situation such as going shopping, entering school, introducing yourself to a child in the park, how to order something in a bar.
• Support with images, SAAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication Systems), pictograms. Use personalized notebooks with each echolalic patient, in which they are provided with photos and pictograms of close people, family members, friends, professionals, daily actions, in which they can support themselves to express their feelings and intentions.
• Choose a quiet environment, without noise or notable distractions to chat with the patient. Any noise and background sounds such as a television, a radio, or several people talking or doing activities around you, can lead to echolalias.
• Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are a classic example of a patient with echolalia. When he is unable to make himself understood, he tends to get frustrated and throw a tantrum.