You want to check a patient with suspected catatonia for echopraxia. Before revealing the answer, decide what you would actually do.

Observe the patient's behaviour around others, including staff and fellow patients, noting any tendency to automatically mirror simple actions. With appropriate care, a simple gesture — a clap, a wave, snapping fingers — can be performed in front of the patient to see whether it is spontaneously imitated. Consider the surrounding clinical picture as well, since echopraxia is often seen alongside other catatonic signs such as automatic obedience and echolalia, so a positive finding should prompt a broader catatonic examination.