Pronoun reversal

pronoun reversal is a language abnormality common in the speech of autisticchildren. Children refer to themselves as "he", "she", or "you", or by their own proper names. Pronounreversal is closely linked to echolalia. Since autistic children often use echolalic speech, they refer to themselves as they have heard others speak of them and misapply pronouns. For example:

Parent: What are you doing, Johnny?

Child: He's here.

Parent: Are you having a good time?

Child: He knows it.

If speech continues to develop more normally, this pronoun reversal might be expected to disappear. In many instances, however, it is highly resistant to change. Some children have required very extensive training even after they have stopped parroting the phrases of other people.

References

1. Tramontana & Stimbert, 1970
2. Davison, Neale & Kring, 2004

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronoun+reversal Wikipedia article Pronoun reversal.