[1][6] Immediate echolalia results from quick recall of information from the short-term memory and "superficial linguistic processing".

[6] Echophenomena (particularly echolalia and echopraxia) were defining characteristics in the early descriptions of Tourette syndrome (TS).

[10] In transcortical sensory aphasia, echolalia is common, with the patient incorporating another person's words or sentences into his or her own response.

Cases of echolalia have appeared after lesions of the left medial frontal lobe and supplemental motor areas.

Unintentional or nonfunctional echolalia shows similarities to imitation behavior seen after disinhibition of the frontal network and is most likely related to mirror neurons.

[2] In cases where echolalia is a part of mixed transitory aphasia, the perisylvian language area remains intact, but the surrounding anterior and posterior association cortexes degenerate or experience infarction.

The baby first repeats with only syllables such as "baba" but as their language skills progress the child will eventually be able to say the word "bottle".

The results suggest that perhaps in certain tasks (i.e., receptive labeling), echolalia should not be eliminated, but taken advantage of as it may facilitate acquisition and generalization for autistic children.

[1] Evidence points to a healthy mirror neuron system (MNS), but "inadequate imitation-control mechanism, which make them vulnerable to interferences".

Studies have shown that in some cases echolalia is used as a coping mechanism allowing an autistic person to contribute to a conversation when unable to produce spontaneous speech.

[15] Uta Frith, Prizant and others have interpreted echolalia as evidence of "gestalt" processing in autistic children, including in the acquisition of language.

[6] However, a 1990 study on the acquisition of grammar by Tager-Flusberg and Calkins found that echolalia did not facilitate grammatical development in autistic children.