Pronoun reversal or pronominal reversal is when children refer to themselves as "he", "she", "they", or "you", or by their own proper name ( pronoun avoidance). While it may signal an

autism-spectrum disorder The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

when it persists for an unusual length of time, some degree of pronoun confusion can occur as a part of allistic speech development, and it is common in toddlers.

Pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not c ...

reversal is closely linked to

echolalia Echolalia is the unsolicited repetition of vocalizations made by another person (when repeated by the same person, it is called palilalia). In its profound form it is automatic and effortless. It is one of the echophenomena, closely related t ...

: referring to themselves as they have heard others speak of them, resulting in the misapplication of pronouns. For example: :Parent: ''What are you doing, Johnny?'' :Child: ''You're here.'' :Parent: ''Are you having a good time?'' :Child: ''You sure are.'' As with many other autistic traits, if speech continues to develop more normally, this pronoun reversal might be expected to disappear. However, it can also be highly resistant to change. Some children require extensive training to stop pronoun reversal, even after they have stopped echolalia.

References

# Tramontana & Stimbert, 1970 # Davison, Neale & Kring, 2004

External links

Gold, Kevin and Brian Scassellati, "Grounded Pronoun Learning and Pronoun Reversal", Yale University (2006)
Autism Pronouns {{Autism-stub