Ecolalias pdf

I'm only halfway through, but it has really changed how I do therapy or want to do therapy with a couple of my kids! I was floored by how much insight it has given me into my own students! I integrated your work into my grad course in ASD this past July, and shared your writings and ideas with my students.

Read what others are saying:. Elimination of echolalic responding to questions through the training of a generalized verbal response.

Journal of applied behavior analysis. Control of echolalic speech in psychotic children. Journal of abnormal child psychology. The functions of immediate echolalia in autistic children. The Journal of speech and hearing disorders. Some generalization and follow-up measures on autistic children in behavior therapy. Echolalia and comprehension in autistic children. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. Nevertheless, teaching the child with autism an appropriate response to commonly asked questions e.

It uses the best of all the previous methods but adds the teaching of an important skill for persons with autism: the pause.

The method is known as the Cues-Pause-Point method. Select 10 questions from each of three content areas: a. Identification - e. Where do you live? Interaction - e. What kind of music do you like? Factual - e. What baseball team plays in Atlanta? Make sure these are questions that may be commonly asked but you are sure the person does not know the answer to. You should have 30 questions. Ask each of the questions, record the answers, and score the person's answers using the following categories: echolalia when one or more of the words in the question were repeated even if other verbalizations follow ; incorrect when the response contains an irrelevant word even if the correct response was also given ; or correct when the answer is appropriate to the question or matches the trained response.

Training - Step 1: Teach the person to verbally label word cards or picture cards that will be used to prompt the correct answer to the questions. For example, for the question "What is your name? For the question "What baseball team plays in Atlanta? Accomplish the training by showing the card, asking the person "What does this say? Continue training each set of 10 cards until the person correctly identifies each card or picture when the trainer simply points to them, for three consecutive trials.

Training - Step 2: Make sure you are in a quiet place with no distractions. Sit across the table from the person. Have the ten cards that correspond to the ten questions that you will ask placed in the order you will ask the questions on the table in front of you.

Hold up your right index finger at eye level midway between you and the person to indicate that you want silence this is the "pause" prompt. Say, "I am going to ask you some questions and I want you to answer them as best you can. Ask the first question and move your right index finger from the "pause" prompt position to point to the correct response card which will be the answer to the question asked so that your finger touches it about two seconds after asking the question.

If the person does not immediately say the correct word, prompt by pointing or saying, "What does this say?

Cover the card with your right hand while acknowledging the person's correct response with a smile or head nod. Prompt the correct answer as before even though the card will remain covered. Reinforce each correct answer with verbal praise and a reinforcer e. Continue in this manner so that each of the ten questions in this content area are asked and at later sessions cover the ten questions from each of the other two content areas.

Continue training on the 30 questions until the person is correctly answering each question with only the point prompt for three consecutive training sessions.

Training - Step 3: Using no cards or prompts, ask each of the 10 questions in three different training sessions. Use the "pause" prompt while the question is being asked and then move your hand back to the table and wait for the person's response.

Provide feedback and reinforcement as above. Training - Step 4: Fade the feedback and reinforcements by reducing the number of words you use to praise the person and rewarding every other correct response.

Eventually eliminate all feedback and reinforcements. Once the person is answering your questions in a consistently correct and normal manner, have other persons ask the same questions in random order to assure that the person has generalized his learning. Maintenance: Observe the person's response to asking other questions not trained and use the "pause" prompt if needed.

Ignore echoed responses, prompt the correct answer, and have him try again. Ideally, the person has been taught that "I don't know" is an acceptable response and a wrong response will get more results than an echoed response. It involves the same set up procedure as the Cues-Pause-Point model above. That is, select 10 questions from each of three content areas: a. Then conduct a baseline: Ask each of the questions, record the answers, and score the person's answers using the following categories: echolalia when one or more of the words in the question were repeated even if other verbalizations follow ; incorrect when the response contains an irrelevant word even if the correct response was also given ; or correct when the answer is appropriate to the question or matches the trained response.

Next select a model. The model should be someone who can answer the questions correctly. Set up the training room as above with both the model and the person you are training seated across the table from you.

Begin with the model and ask the first question. Provide feedback and reinforcement for the correct answer. Then look at the person and ask the same question and provide feedback and reinforcement for correct responses. Continue until the ten questions for that content area are asked and then complete the other content area questions at later training sessions. Fade the reinforcers and have other persons ask the questions to assure generalization has occurred.

If the person echoes, "Do you want juice? Yes or no," and the person echoes your last word "no" , accept this response. A Final Word Echolalia can be a persistent and maddening problem for persons with autism, their families, and teachers.

But I hope you learned that echolalia is not just another problem behavior. Echolalia is a functional step in the person with autism's cognitive and language development. I also hope you have learned some strategies to support the person's movement to a more creative form of language.

If you have a better or different way of handling echolalia, please let me know. Email me at gheffner netzero. Reichle Eds , Communicative approaches to challenging behavior. Baltimore: Brookes Publishers. Rydell, P. Quill Ed. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers. References: Charlop, M. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 16, Fay, W.

Emerging language in autistic children. Baltimore: University Park Press, Finnerty, J. Analyzing the development of early childhood language. Grandin, T. Thinking in pictures. New York: Random House, Inc. Howlin, P. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 11, Leung, J.

Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 30, Lovaas, O. The autistic child: Language development through behavior modification. New York: Irvington Press, Teaching developmentally disabled children: The me book. McMorrow, M. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 19, Prior, M. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2, Prizant, B.

Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 48, Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 46, Rimland, B. Psychology Today, August, Schreibman, L.