Is my child a gestalt language processor (GLP)???
You may have heard us talk about gestalt language processing versus analytical language processing at Beach Speech therapy. As neurodivergent affirming SLP’s, we are well versed and trained in both ways to learn and develop language. It is our job to get to know your child and figure out in which way they are learning and processing language to best support them. It is also very common for our Autistic clients to process language in this way! But be cautious when seeking therapies for your child NOT ALL SLP’s, OT’s or PT’s have a good understanding of gestalt language development is or how to support it. What does gestalt mean anyway and why does it matter?? Gestalt means “whole” so your child will process chunks of language or phrases or scripts instead of single word units. It isn’t until they reach a certain stage of language development that they begin processing single word units. This doesn’t mean they won’t use single words, but they may not use those words “flexibly” or combine them with other words yet. This can be one of the reasons Autistic children can get stuck at the single word level because that it all they are taught initially. So let’s look at some of the signs that a child may be a gestalt language processor…….
Often these children pick up phrases from their parents, caregivers, favorite songs or tv shows or characters and will use them to communicate for example “mm mm mm yummy” or “That was fun and now were done!” or “Cow!” every time they see any animal.
The may have many single words they have picked up from you or been taught but they use the words in the same way for the dame thing mostly and don’t progress to combining it with other words.
These children often pick up on the intonation or pattern of phrases and words and can often sound like they are babbling long strings of sounds with intent but you have no idea what they are saying. These are our intonation babies, you may recognize what they are babbling sounds familiar but you can pick out the individual words or maybe understand one words in the utterance.
GLP’s often learn phrases before single words that they use to communicate with. “hot dog, hot dog, hot digetty dog!”
You may notice your child repeats what you say EXACTLY how you said it. “Want me to pick you up?” and they repeat “pick you up”. ( we see a lot of pronoun reversal with our GLP’s because they are picking up what you are saying to them)
Your child may watch the same clip, episode or song on repeat over and over again.
Your child may have delayed speech and language as compared to their peers and seem to develop language different because they do!
You may have noticed your child has strong memory skills. They want to perform an activity the exact same way they remember doing it prior, play with the same toys over and over in the same way. they may re-enact their favorite parts of a show.
You’ve tried speech therapy for your child prior and they didn’t make much progress. Probably because a more traditional approach was used for analytical language processors and they are gestalt language processors!
I hope you find this helpful! As always, we are here to support you and your child! Let us k now if you have any questions!
