OMG, my son repeats himself ALL the time

[Anonymous]

he is 2 BTW, what do we do to decrease it?? it is driving us crazy!! It is paired with the ability to not be able to play independently at all. ALWAYS needs to be entertained by one of us. please help -we have tried many things to try to limit this and nothing seems to be working. Also, when will this stage pass??

[Anonymous]

You just have to wait it out. And no, I have no idea how long this particular phase will last. Could be months, could be years.

[Anonymous]

Do you repeat back what he says to you to acknowledge hearing it? Using pretty much the same words? My 2 year old does this until I tell him what I have heard him say. I think he just wants to know I am listening. Not hard.

[Anonymous]

My son turned 2 in May, and aside from his occasional echoing of me, he never repeats himself. Neither did my daughter, for that matter.

What do you mean by repeating? Is it when he's demanding something? My son will go to the freezer and repeatedly say popsicle until he gets one (or not).

Some kids learn differently. My friend's daughter learned by rote (echolalia) b/c she had speech issues (not autism, which is what echolalia is usually associated with).

So if it's draining, have him checked out. Usually around 2 is when conditions start to manifest b/c this is the stage at which they start to communicate.

[Anonymous]

My 2.5yo does this, too, and unless you have some reason to believe something is amiss, everything I've read says it's perfectly age-appropriate. Mine generally seems to do for things he feels strongly about, or things he REALLY wants to be sure I know. The other day he was climbing on his bunkbed and didn't want me to stop him, so he told me - I don't know, 100 times? 250? - that he was climbing the ladder and not to get him down. The first 50, 75 times I said, "Yes, I see you climbing the ladder. No, I'm not going to stop you. No, I'm not going to make you come down." Then I moved to, "I know. I heard you, sweetheart." Then I stopped answering, which only made him ask me louder, so I left the room.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I am not worried about autism or any other developmental concern -he is great socially, demonstrates no other repetitive behaviors, and appears normal developmentally. Oh and yes, we try repeating it back MANY times -try turning it into a question -sometimes we add something different in there so that it gives him something to think about. Some examples include -going to grandma and poppop's house and he will say grandma and pop pop over house over and over again. Second example, that is an eagle and he will say eagle 100 times, with me repeating it back to him -then we will take it to another level -what does the eagle do? he will say fly outside -then he will say eagle fly outside.....etc.

[Anonymous]

That's how they learn, it's definitely a phase albeit a very trying one. To the extent you can, just keep talking to him when he does it. When it's driving you absolutely nuts, turn on some music (at least that worked for my son, who sang the same song over and over and over).

[Anonymous]

Funny. My DS has been very slow to speak, so I clicked on your link to see more about kids who do speak... Makes me realize it's hard to be happy either way!!!

A few ideas: sounds like your child is enjoying practicing sounds, forming words, and hearing them.

Can you play books on tape? Can you start going to the library and getting out new books each week (or day!), with new words, particularly words that sound fun said aloud? (Dr. Suess comes to mind because of his rhymes, also Prunella and the Purple Peanut, a narrative with all P words, things that sound fun aloud). Can you play songs and music (classical music has no words!!!)?

In other words, it's a phase, he'll grow out of it, he'll soon be something else that makes you crazy, but in the meanwhile, maybe you can feed the part of him that is enjoying his new verbal skills....

[Anonymous]

Are you concerned because of real issues or just annoyed?

[Anonymous]

Tell him not to repeat himself. Isn't this obvious? You are the parent, right?

[Anonymous]

tell him you heard him and please do not repeat himself. if he does it a lot just repeat him so he understands what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

My now-six-year old repeated himself at that age, and, yes, it does pass. However, my ds does still talk all.the.time. At least it's now more varied and interesting (he's a great reader and loves to talk about whatever it is he's been reading about), but he still takes silence as a challenge. At least in our case, I think it was a sign of a kid who was really eager to communicate, but who has a limited capacity to do so. So he repeats what he knows over and over. As he got older, it did help to ask him questions about whatever it was he was talking about, but at the younger age, it didn't really help. I'm a pretty strict parent, but I wouldn't try to quash it. I do think they really are just doing their best to be a part of the conversation.

[Anonymous]

Acknowledge it a couple of times and then ignore it.

As for the playing by himself -- set him up with some toys and tell him Mommy's busy doing ___ and can't play right now. Start with just a few minutes, 2-3, and work your way up until he can play by himself for longer periods.

Better to start now, it only gets harder as they get older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Tell him not to repeat himself. Isn't this obvious? You are the parent, right?

Oh my God, that's a good one. Just tell him to stop! I never thought of that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Tell him not to repeat himself. Isn't this obvious? You are the parent, right?

Oh my God, that's a good one. Just tell him to stop! I never thought of that!

I can hear OP's sing-song child repeating in an endless loop "I told you not to repeat yourself. I told you not to repeat yourself. I told you not to repeat yourself."

I'm sure this suggestion will make the situation much improved.