Gestalt Language Processing (or Gestalt Language Acquisition) has recently become a hot topic in the pediatric speech-language therapy world. While you may or may not have heard of this term, you likely have heard someone using Gestalt Language – and a better understanding of it may just be the key to unlocking your child’s communication skills!
So what is Gestalt Language Processing?
Most children have traditionally been seen as primarily analytic language learners. Analytic language is characterized by the following:
- Bottom up approach to language acquisition
- Learning the building blocks of language, then how to put them together to form increasingly complex sentences
- E.g., “doggie”, progressing to “brown doggie”, progressing to “I want to pet the cute, brown doggie”
Gestalt language is also often part of typical language learning, but is found more prevalently in some children. Gestalt language is:
- More commonly found in autistic children, but not exclusive to Autism spectrum disorder
- Top-down approach to language acquisition
- Learning the meaning of specific phrases/sentences as a whole, then breaking them down into smaller meaningful units (words), and finally build those units back up into novel sentences
- The 4 general stages* of Gestalt language are as follows, with examples:
- Echolalia [“happybirthdaytoyouhappybirthdaytoyou”]
- Mitigated echolalia [“happybirthdayto Dad”]
- Isolated words and beginning word combinations [“Dad birthday”]
- Grammar [“Dad, it’s your birthday today”]
*There are 6 recognized stages of Gestalt language acquisition, which can be summarized in 4 general stages
Is my child a Gestalt Language Processor?
You may be able to recognize Gestalt language in your child’s speech, whether it’s an occasional use, or their predominant way of learning language. If your child is a Gestalt language processor, you may observe the following:
- Frequently imitating, or echoing, what they hear
- Using memorized or highly familiar phrases/sentences (may be scripts from preferred movies, songs, or shows, or “catch phrases” they hear frequently in their environment)
- Rarely independently creating new sentences
- Speaking in the third person
- Asking instead of telling (e.g., “Are you hungry?” versus “I am hungry”)
Tips for supporting language development in a Gestalt Language processor
Here are some techniques that SLP’s have found to be successful supports for children primarily acquiring language through a Gestalt lens:
- Use first person language – say it how you want your child to say it! (e.g., model “I want to eat” instead of asking “do you want to eat?”)
- Focus on what’s functional and motivating – what do they like to talk about? What would be a versatile and useful phrase? (e.g., “Let’s watch Blues Clues”, “I need to go potty”)
- Be their voice/narrator – does it seem like your child is trying to communicate something, but they just don’t have the words? Fill in the silence for them, with phrases that communicate what they seem to be desiring (e.g., if your child is pushing something away, you can say, “No! I don’t want that.”)
If you think your child may benefit from the support of speech therapy or would like further training as to how you can support their language development, visit our therapy clinic, ABLE Health, in Tukwila, or visit our website for more information!
Additional information:
https://www.theinformedslp.com/review/let-s-give-them-something-to-gestalt-about
https://find.asha.org/asha/#q=gestalt&sort=relevancy