It wasn’t until recently, as I began to work more deeply with Autistic children, that I learned what Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs) were. I remember identifying this type of language processing (way of learning language) as Echolalia, which is the repetition of language in whole chunks. However, I was taught to ignore and decrease this type of language as it disrupted structured spaces, like a classroom, and was considered “unnatural”. I am happy to say that after much research and clinical experience, I now understand the shifts our healthcare professionals are taking to better support GLPs. In this blog post, I will discuss further who and what considers someone a GLP, what healthcare professionals can do to best support them, and share additional resources to learn more.
So what is GLP? Well according to Marge Blanc and The Communication Development Center, GLP is just one way a child can develop their language. Most children learn language through Analytic Language Processing (ALP), which means that children are learning language through single units or individual words that gradually move to sentences. However, many neurodiverse individuals are GLPs, which means they develop language through memorized chunks or phrases and then move to single words. I remember a colleague of mine once described the two as so: ALPs learn language brick by brick (word by word) to eventually build their house (using phrases/sentences); whereas GLPs already have their houses built.
Now that we have a basic understanding of the differences between GLPs and ALPs, let’s talk about what we can do to best support them. When working with GLPs we must use our detective hats to figure out what the gestalt used really means. Remember, we shouldn’t take an individual's gestalts literally because they can serve many communicative functions. For example, if a child says “To infinity and beyond”, it is our job to understand what they really mean. A child can use that phrase to mean “Let’s go” or “Let’s watch Toy Story” etc. In the process of us being detectives, we must also remember to always acknowledge whatever language the individual is producing, even if we do not understand it. This can be seen through head nodding and verbal feedback “I hear you”. All language is beautiful language and it’s our job to honor and validate whatever type the individual is using. Lastly, when interacting with GLPs we must make an effort to decrease the number of questions we present and instead use declarative statements. This switch promotes the use of spontaneous language and allows the individual to receive further examples of the language they can use themselves. For example, instead of asking “do you like apples or bananas” we can say “I love apples” or “wow look at those green apples, so yummy!”.
Although there is so much more information I did not include in this post, I hope this at least sparked a new interest for you to consider working with neurodiverse populations. To further your understanding, I have provided some resources below:
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