Everyday my son repeats most everything he hears. Echolalia is something that comes along with being Autistic. We have gotten used to it over the last year. We are just happy that he talks! But sometimes Logan hears things he doesn't need to repeat. Most of the time he hears these things from his potty mouth mommy. I try very hard not to say those potty mouth things. But the just fly out sometimes.
Besides potty mouth words there are other things that little ears don't need to hear. Our six year old daughter loves to listen. She pretends to be drawing or watching TV but really she is recording for future use. The main problem with this isn't just what she repeats and to who, it is her filtering system. Her filtering system is only six years old. Unlike refrigerator filtering systems, the hearing and repeat filtering system actually gets better with age. Well we assume so. But a six year old filtering system has not matured enough to apply the appropriate regurgitation rules of public speaking. Part of the appropriate regurgitation rules of public speaking is knowing who to repeat things too. What part of the conversation should be repeated, and when it would be correct to repeat it.
But our little six year old just says it to whoever she is talking to. Her teacher the principle, the neighbors.. The list could go on.
The main difference is that Gwen uses what she hears to start or contribute to conversations. So even though I complain about her filtering system I am glad that it is there are being used. Logan doesn't use his filtering system, well maybe he does but we are not sure what happens in there.
Logan just says them because it is very hard for him to find his own words. When you ask him a question you can see him trying to process the answer. Sometimes he can do it, but most of the time he will just revert to echolalic behavior.
We used to think it was cute that Logan could reenact an entire Thomas video and it still is, but it is also heart breaking when you are trying to dress your child and all he wants to do is repeat Thomas's Great Adventure. You have to try to pull him out of his shell, get him to engage in the here and now. Say things like, "those are Thomas's words, what are Logan's words." Usually we just get a very small look and then a repeat.
However, I wanted to report that lately he has been engaging so much more. Logan is lucky, he goes to a school that is incredible. It has a great team of teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists and and Autism team. And yes it is a public school. They are working wonders with our son.
So even if Logan has a potty mouth mommy, I have hope that someday he will not just repeat my bad words, but filter them inappropriately and use them against me someday to his teacher.
