>Do you remember this post about the pros and cons of educational videos? Well, I still love the series, but I’m starting to go insane. My Dr. J has become obsessed with the videos and their story lines. His echolalia (repetitive speech) has increased lately, even more so since we started watching this series.

I’m about to go crazy. Continue reading →

You gotta love echolalia. For those of you who don’t know what that big word means, it means repetitive talk or quoting someone/something else instead of creating your own words. When my son was younger, I didn’t realize how much he did this until the psychologist that tested him mentioned his “scripted speech.” Then I started paying attention to exactly what he was saying all the time and realized he hardly ever had original conversation of his own! Other people may not have realized it because he used bits and pieces from movies and books and inserted them where they made sense. For example, he might say, “I love blue sweaters. They’re my favorite,” and he was quoting some TV character, not expressing his own personal opinion.

His echolalia has actually improved a lot since being on the gluten-free/casein-free diet. I guess removing those irritants from his system has cleared his brain a bit for some independent thinking. He still does this, especially when excited or upset. So, the other day when he was really angry at me, he quoted from the Wild West episode of Olivia, the pig on Nickelodeon.

I had put him on my bed to calm down and so I would not lose my own cool. He was in just his underwear because he had just taken a bath. He was standing on my bed and said to me, “This town’s not big enough for the two of us.” I managed not to laugh and said, “You’re right,” and shut the door so I could clean up the huge mess he had created because he was angry. I will share more of this story and how our week has gone later when I finally get time.

Update: You can click here to read the rest of the story.