The preceding stage of child’s speech was characterized by the repetition of sounds which he had heard himself make. But about the ninth or tenth month he will probably begin imitating or echoing sounds made by others. This type of repetition is called “echolalia.”
But let’s not worry about the name. We’ll just be glad that now when we say “da-da” our young prince is more likely to delight us with saying “da-da” than dismiss us with “gub-gub.”
At first he will imitate only the sounds that he has already prac-ticed during the lalling stage, but soon he will be ready to imitate sounds presented to him—ready, but not always willing.
He seems to reserve the right to decide for himself when he will delight us with his imitations. So don’t be surprised if, when Aunt Jane arrives, and you tell her how the young genius said “ma-ma” right after you, and just to prove it you try to get him to do it again —don’t be surprised if you are met with icy stares or an outburst of “ge-ka-eh-eh-dee-dah!”
After Aunt Jane leaves, you may find that he will not only echo “ma-ma” but will repeat after you sound combinations that are much more complex.
Any echoing of the sounds you produce is a marked advance over tailing, for it shows an acoustic awareness of your pres-ence—an awareness of you as a source of sound and sound stimulation.
At this stage he accompanies his gestures with more vocalization than he did earlier, and he seems to discriminate between the tones of anger and praise.
Occasionally he may respond with an attempt at speech. But even though he “echoes” words after us, they have no meaning for him. He is simply enjoying the repetition of the sound. He will, however, show increasing interest in isolated words if they are always associated with things that are important to him and to his needs.
This association of certain sounds or words with objects and ac-tivities is important for the acquisition of speech, and proceeds according to a process that psychologists call “conditioning.” Briefly, it works like this. A stimulus brings forth a certain response.
By presenting two stimuli at the same time, conditioning takes place, so that the second stimulus will bring forth the original response.
Remember that the child heard himself say “da.” This served as a stimulus for him to repeat “da.” When this stimulus-response pattern is well established, the second stimulus is introduced: at the same time he says “da” you say “da.” Through conditioning, the child learns to respond to your stimulus as he had to his own, so when you say “da” he echoes, or responds with “da.”
Let’s carry this a step further. Every time that the child says “da” you show him a doll and repeat the syllable “da.” Through the presenta-tion of the visual stimulus (the doll) with the audible stimulus (the spoken “da”) the two become associated, so that the sight of the doll serves as the stimulus for the child to say “da.”
At this age “da” is quite satisfactory as the pronunciation of “doll.” When the association is firmly established, we may start saying “doll” when he says “da.” For example, when he holds out his hands and says “da,” we may give him the doll and say, “Here is your doll.”
But we won’t worry about his failure to use the sound of l for quite a while yet. We’ll discuss that in the next chapter, but now let’s go back to the stages of speech development.
During this stage called echolalia, he is building by imitation a repertoire of sounds and sound combinations that are peculiar to the language of his parents and environment. He must be able to produce these sounds voluntarily before he will be able to “speak” in the adult sense.
With this practice in imitation, an increasing interest in his environment, and better muscular control, the stage is set for his first real speech.
