EPISODE 45
Echolalia and Unconventional Verbal Behavior – A Discussion with Barry Prizant, Dave Finch and Rebecca Rosenzweig
Echolalia and Unconventional Verbal Behavior – A Discussion with Barry Prizant, Dave Finch and Rebecca Rosenzweig
Play the Episode…
…and Continue the Discussion
Do you have a book or podcast club? If so, you may use this discussion guide to facilitate a conversation about this episode.
1) What motivated Barry to research echolalia, and how did his background allow him to approach echolalia from a different perspective from those who pathologized echolalia. If you know individual children or adults who use echolalia, do you see patterns similar to those discussed in this episode?
2) Barry, Dave and Rebecca discuss different forms of echolalia, some that were not discussed in Barry’s early research. Describe these forms and what is unique about them. How are they similar to patterns of language that neurotypical people may use.
3) Given the discussion of echolalia and gestalt patterns of language acquisition, will this new understanding change how you teach or interact with individuals who use echolalia. If so, how so?
Featuring
REBECCA ROSENZWEIG
Rebecca Rosenzweig earned her BA in psychology from Wheaton College in Massachusetts and will be entering a doctorate program in occupational therapy in the fall of 2022. She is on the staff of Leaps n Boundz, a center for therapeutic and recreational programs for people with disabilities. She primarily works with autistic people, and she creates and leads training sessions for staff on autism awareness and sensitivity based on her personal experiences as a self-advocate and those in the self-advocate community. She lives in LA with her dog Samson, and in her free time enjoys crocheting, arts and crafts, and reading.
Show Notes
Echolalia has a very special place in Barry’s life. It became a topic of fascination and an enthusiasm in his very early work with a group of wonderful young autistic boys. His deep interest resulted in a federally funded dissertation that challenged and overturned misinformed and disrespectful views of echolalia disseminated by Ivar Lovaas, the father of ABA. Rather than seeing echolalia as meaningless parroting and psychotic speech that needed to be “extinguished”, Barry’s research demonstrated that it could serve multiple communicative functions and reflected a “gestalt style” of learning language, a different strategy of language acquisition closely tied to differences in cognitive development. Barry and Dave discuss this history and how echolalia must be considered when understanding language of autistic people. They are joined by Rebecca Rosenzweig, a young autistic woman who shares her experiences with echolalia.
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