So many parents come to me in tears after hearing about gestalt language processing, because it feels like they finally have the words to describe what they’ve always thought: that there is meaning behind their child’s echolalia. What a validating feeling- to learn that your child isn’t just repeating their favorite characters and humming their favorite nursery rhymes for no reason; but instead- they are trying to communicate.

A gestalt language processor is an individual who acquires language first in chunks of words that are defined by intonation and connected to a personal experience or emotional context. We call these “gestalts.” Gestalts (sometimes referred to as echolalia or scripts) reflect a whole experience, feeling, or idea. For example, your child may say (or sing/hum) “if you’re happy and you know it” to convey that they are feeling happy, but not be able to use each of the words in other ways. That’s because to an early gestalt language processor, “if you’re happy and you know it” is not “if” “you’re” “happy” “and” “you” “know” “it,” but rather “ifyou’rehappyandyouknowit.” Early gestalt language processors pick up on intonation and will often use their gestalts with the same inflection every single time. Gestalts are not usually literal and often require our interpretation!

We believe that many (or most) autistic individuals are gestalt language processors, but neurotypical individuals can be gestalt language processors, too. Gestalt language processing is not a diagnosis, but rather a natural model of language acquisition.

Here are 9 signs that your child or student is a gestalt language processor:

They have a strong visual and/or auditory memory
They repeat lines or songs from their favorite shows and may sound just like the character
They are able to sing their favorite nursery rhymes or songs but have a hard time communicating basic needs
They watch the same clips from their favorite songs or shows repeatedly
They love music and are really tuned-in to information presented musically
They use long, richly intonated utterances that may be difficult to understand
They have difficulty with pronouns and may confuse I and you (e.g. they refer to themselves as ‘you’) or refer to themselves in the third person
They might repeat others immediately even if that’s not what they actually want to say (immediate echolalia)
They may like to keep sets of toys in tact, and have a hard time if a piece goes missing (e.g. if they have a set of Mickey figurines and Goofy goes missing, it could be very difficult for them).

Does this sound like your child or student? If so, you do NOT want to miss our transformative, self-paced course- The Great Language Partner Program, where we will teach you exactly how to connect and communicate with your child to optimize their communication potential.