What is Gestalt Language Processing? Is Your Child a Gestalt Language Learner?
Summary
TLDRIn this video, speech language pathologist Laura Strink discusses gestalt language processing, a method of language learning where children grasp language in chunks rather than individual words. She differentiates it from analytical language development and highlights the importance of recognizing the communicative intent behind scripting or echolalia. Strink suggests strategies to support gestalt language processors, such as modeling gestalts, tuning into melody, and keeping a dictionary of their unique language. She encourages seeking professional help from speech therapists familiar with gestalt processing.
Takeaways
- 🌟 Gestalt language processing is a significant topic in speech therapy, differing from analytical language processing.
- 👶 Analytical language learners acquire language by understanding words as single units and gradually expanding their usage.
- 🎭 Gestalt language learners often learn whole scripts or sentences as a single unit of meaning, leading to scripting or echolalia.
- 🧠 Just thought language processing in children can manifest as jargoning, echolalia, or scripting, often tied to emotional experiences.
- 🌈 Echolalia in children always carries a communicative intent, which should be acknowledged and reinforced.
- 🗣️ Reducing questions and modeling gestalts can support language development in children who use gestalt language processing.
- 🎵 Paying attention to the melody and intonation in language modeling can help children better understand and use gestalts.
- 🕵️♀️ Keeping a dictionary of a child's gestalts can help decode their unique forms of communication and support their emotional expression.
- 💼 Speech therapists at Emerge are familiar with gestalt language processing and can provide specialized support.
- 📚 Additional resources, including blog posts, Instagram accounts, and podcasts, are available for further understanding of gestalt language processing.
Q & A
What is gestalt language processing?
-Gestalt language processing is a way of learning and using language where an entire script or chunk of a sentence is learned as carrying one set of meaning, often presenting as scripting or echolalia.
How does analytical language development differ from gestalt language processing?
-Analytical language development involves learning words as single units and slowly expanding on that, while gestalt language processing involves learning entire scripts or chunks of sentences as a single unit of meaning.
What is the significance of understanding the difference between analytical and gestalt language processing?
-Understanding this difference is crucial for supporting children's language development, as it helps in tailoring educational and therapeutic approaches to their specific language processing style.
Why is it important to recognize the communicative intent behind a child's scripting or jargoning?
-Recognizing the communicative intent behind a child's scripting or jargoning validates their form of communication, which can positively impact their self-image and sense of being a competent communicator.
How can parents or therapists support a child who uses gestalt language processing?
-Support can be provided by acknowledging the child's gestalts, reducing questions, modeling gestalts, tuning into melody, and keeping a dictionary of the child's gestalts to understand their meanings.
What is the role of intonation in gestalt language processing?
-Intonation plays a significant role in gestalt language processing as it makes sentences more tangible and understandable, often reflecting the emotional state of the child.
Why should we not take a child's gestalts at face value?
-We should not take gestalts at face value because they are rarely literal and understanding their underlying meaning requires deeper analysis, which can provide insights into the child's emotional state or intentions.
How can modeling gestalts help in a child's language development?
-Modeling gestalts can help a child learn how to communicate effectively by providing them with examples of how to structure language in a way that is more likely to be understood by others.
What is the purpose of keeping a dictionary of a child's gestalts?
-A dictionary of a child's gestalts serves as a reference for caregivers, therapists, and educators to understand the child's unique forms of communication and respond appropriately.
How can one learn more about gestalt language processing?
-One can learn more about gestalt language processing by visiting the associated blog post, which includes resources such as Instagram accounts and podcasts.
What should one do if they suspect their child might be a gestalt language processor?
-If one suspects their child might be a gestalt language processor, they should reach out to a speech therapist, as all speech therapists at Emerge are familiar with this method of learning language.
Outlines
🗣️ Understanding Gestalt Language Processing in Children
Laura Strink, a speech language pathologist, introduces gestalt language processing as a key topic in speech therapy. She differentiates between analytic and gestalt language processing, explaining that analytic learners acquire language by learning words as single units and gradually expanding their use, while gestalt learners absorb language in chunks or scripts, often leading to scripting or echolalia. Laura emphasizes the importance of recognizing the communicative intent behind echolalia and the need to support children's language development by modeling gestalts, acknowledging their scripts, and understanding the emotional ties behind their language. She also suggests keeping a dictionary of a child's gestalts to help others understand their communication.
🤝 Supporting Gestalt Language Processors with Speech Therapy
In the second paragraph, Laura Strink extends an invitation to parents who believe their child might be a gestalt language processor to consider speech therapy. She assures that the therapists at Emerge are well-versed in supporting gestalt language processors and encourages reaching out to start the therapeutic process. The paragraph serves as a call to action, offering hope and a pathway for families seeking to enhance their child's language capabilities.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Gestalt Language Processing
💡Analytic Language Development
💡Echolalia
💡Scripting
💡Just Thought Language Processing
💡Intonation
💡Emotional Experiences
💡Language Development
💡Communication Intent
💡Gestalts Dictionary
Highlights
Gestalt language processing is a new hot topic in speech therapy.
Analytical language development is the traditional way children learn language.
Gestalt language learners learn entire scripts or chunks of sentences as a single unit of meaning.
Scripting or echolalia is common in gestalt language learners.
Just thought language processing involves jargoning, echolalia, or scripting in younger children.
Autistic children often use scripting, repeating lines from movies or other sources.
Gestalts are rarely literal and are often tied to emotional experiences.
It's important to understand the communicative intent behind a child's gestalts.
Echolalia always communicates, and understanding this intent is validating for the child.
Modeling gestalts can support a child's language development.
Using intonation-rich sentences can make gestalts more understandable.
Scripts are often deeply tied to emotion and can provide clues to a child's emotional state.
Keeping a dictionary of a child's gestalts can help others understand their communication.
Speech therapists at Emerge are familiar with gestalt language processing and can provide support.
Resources for learning more about gestalt language processing include blog posts, Instagram accounts, and podcasts.
Transcripts
hello my name is laura strink and i am a
speech language pathologist here at
emerge pediatric therapy and today i
wanted to talk to you all about one of
the new hot topics in speech therapy
which is gestalt language processing
so one of the most important things to
know before we start talking about ways
to support your child who may be using
gestalt language processing is the
difference between analytical and just
thought language processing
analytic language development is the way
that we think about most children
learning how to access language and
learn about it so the way language is
developed with analytic language
learners is they learn words as being a
single unit and they slowly expand on
that with time so first they might
understand go then they might start
saying let's go then they might start
saying let's go to the store gestalt
language learners often learn language
where an entire script or chunk or
sentence is learned as carrying one set
of meaning so this often presents as
scripting or echolalia in some of our
kids so they might learn let's go to the
store and that means let's go and so the
way they develop language is going to
look really different so they might
start by saying let's go to the store
then they might start changing out one
part of that say let's go to emerge
let's go home and then you'll see them
gradually start using those chunks of
language in more flexible ways
lots of children are just thought
language processors and lots of children
are maybe both analytic and gestalt
language processors so it's really
important that we take bits and pieces
of what we know about how your child is
developing language and support them in
that growth so often what just thought
language processing looks like in
younger children especially is
jargoning or echolalia or scripting and
so your child might be saying a line
that they heard from a movie over and
over again which is really common
particularly in autistic children and so
it's our job as the um people who are
supporting our your children to figure
out what those scripts mean they are
often really intonationally rich so
you'll hear a lot of up and down and a
lot of rich melody to that speech and
they're often very strongly tied to
emotional experiences it's also
important to keep in mind that the
gestalts you hear from your child are
rarely literal so your child might be
saying zoom zoom zoom we're going to the
moon and that doesn't mean every time
that they're pretending to go to the
moon like in this show
it could mean i want to play with you or
it could mean let's go and so it's
really important that we don't take
these gestalts at face value but we
instead dig to figure out what their
meaning could be
so next we need to know a little bit
about how we can support our children
who use gestalt language processing the
number one thing to keep in mind is that
echolalia always communicates every time
you hear your child scripting or
jargoning there is communicative intent
if you know what that intent is then you
should reinforce that because that's
extremely validating for your child lots
of autistic adults still rely on this
type of communication and having people
recognize it as a valid form of
communication
has done wonders for their self-image
and for how validated they feel as
communicators
if you aren't sure what this script
means then it's important to acknowledge
that you heard them but don't go out of
your way to assign meetings this can be
frustrating
aside from acknowledging your child's
gestalts and scripting there are several
tangible things that you can do to
support their language development the
first thing is reduce asking questions
instead model gestalts so the
recommended gestalts that you might use
include let's it's and i'm statements
the more you model this the more likely
your child might be to pick up on these
really important um examples of how to
communicate with others
you can also tune into melody whenever
you're modeling gestalts for your child
knowing that intonationally rich
sentences are more tangible and more
likely to be understood might mean that
we model some of our gestalts and make
them really rich in intonation for our
children
it's also important to remember that
these scripts are often deeply tied to
emotion so if you do the detective work
then it may give you really important
clues as to your child's regulatory
state on whatever their scripting is
one more thing you can do is start
keeping a dictionary of your child's
gestalts that way your speech therapist
your child's teacher other members of
your family can refer to that and know
exactly what your child is communicating
when they're using these different forms
of communication
if you would like to learn more about
gestalt language processing you can
visit the blog post associated with this
talk which includes several great
resources for instagram accounts and
podcasts that you can listen to to learn
more and if you think your child might
be a gestalt language processor and
you'd like to work start working with a
speech therapist all the speech
therapists that emerge are familiar with
this method of learning language so
reach out to us and hopefully we can get
started on some speech therapy working
together with you
you
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