#30facesofautism - Day 20

Day 20 – I never really wanted a bird but sometimes the Lord sees fit to give you a baby for your 40^th birthday instead who actually turns out to be a cute little parrot.  Early on when language therapy started Baby Girl engaged in a lot of echolalia.  The official definition of echolalia is when children copy sounds, words, and eventually phrases and sentences that they hear adults use in specific, repetitive context.  It is also important because it supports certain aspects of cognitive functioning.  While the echolalia is not the major component of her day to day interactions anymore I can tell you that the level to which she can repeat exactly what she hears remains.  Autographic or Echoic memory is specific to retaining auditory information and hers is strong – very strong.  Routines, plays, songs, movies, and bad words all are destined to come right back out exactly the way they went in. Yeah, you read that right.  In Kindergarten she came home a few days in and started calling out names (as she was lining up the pigs).  I realized pretty quickly she was calling out the names of the children in her class and then one day I realized she was calling them in alphabetical order exactly how her teachers called roll.  What gave that away was when she called Jamie, Jamie, turn around and pay attention, Jamie (name changed to protect the innocent).  She absolutely loved when we played along. #30facesofautism