Delayed echoing as an interactional resource: a case study of a 3-year-old child on the autistic spectrum

An analysis is presented of instances of delayed echoing produced in interactions occurring between a 3-year-old child with an autistic disorder and his mother at home. The study draws on the techniques of conversation analysis to explore the interactional work accomplished by these delayed echoes. Consideration is given to the social directedness of the child's echoes, the manner in which they are received by his conversational partner, and the extent to which they can be seen to solicit specific responses. It is argued that the child's echoes serve him in important ways as a resource for engaging in reciprocal talk with his mother. Furthermore, these echoes are a resource which is also drawn upon by the child's mother, to particular interactional ends. Delayed echoes, for this dyad, have an important part to play in the construction of intersubjectivity.