Repeat Speech

[pg13]

One of my 10 year old fraternal twin boys though very articualte, will silently repeat the last five or six words of the last sentence he says out loud to himself and is unaware he is doing so. He has been doing this for a very long time. Do you know if there is a name for this behavior?

[djbob]

on msn there was a thing saying about wierd illneses or syndrmes u never heard of before it says its a syndrome called latah my friend has it he would ask us summit thenn repeat it as a whisper and when say why you do that he says do what so he dosent know he dose it but thats what it is appently you can get it from being startled after shock it makes you repeat speach and in some cases repeat actions of people around you

[mom@homenow]

This behavior does have a name. It's called Palilalia. Most of the time it does not indicate any kind of problem, but it can be associated with some nervous disorders.  I think that's really strange that a child psychologist has never heard of it.

[missionarymama]

My 6 year old son does the exact same thing.  I have asked a child phychologist and she wasn't aware of a specific behavior or syndrome.  I am thinking it has to do with some kind of auditory processing something.  I can't find anything on the web about it.  My son is like yours...he is quite bright and is a grade level ahead, but he repeats the last 5 -6 words of his last sentence silently, especially if it's a question.  He doesn't realize he's doing it either.  My question is this: should I be reminding him that he is doing it, or not mention it?