Overview of Natural Language Acquisition

Written By Lia Douglas

This a is very brief overview of the six stages of gestalt language development. Marge Blanc wrote the book Natural language Acquisition to guide parents and professionals on how to support gestalt language processors. She offers courses to parents and professionals at her website communicationdevelopmentcenter.com along with Alexandria Zachos of Meaningfulspeech.com. Both these ladies have been instrumental in instructing and educating me on gestalt language processing. The key to remember is that this is a natural way to develop language and it has to be meaningful to the child. What does that mean? It means that we can not just model phrases we want them to use or learn! Each child is different and unique and there is no “set” of standard scripts or phrases for all children in stage 1. It has to be meaningful for the child with an emotional attachment to it.

Lia Douglas

Lia Douglas is a dedicated speech-language pathologist with 29 years of experience, specializing in neurodivergent-affirming speech therapy practices. Over five years ago, she founded Beach Speech Pediatric Therapy in Gulf Shores, AL, where she provides compassionate, individualized care to children and their families. Lia is deeply passionate about fostering inclusivity and equipping families with positive, affirming strategies to support their children’s unique strengths and communication needs. Her commitment to creating supportive environments where every child can thrive has made her a trusted advocate and resource in the community.

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NLA Stage 1: Echolalia
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