Understanding Gestalt Language Processing

Learning language is a complex process that begins before we’re even born.

By the time your child is 6 months old, they’re expected to recognize their own name.

By 12 months, they’re expected to be able to follow simple directions.

However, there’s more to learning language than just understanding it.

Most people will also learn to speak.

And the way we learn can impact this process.

If your child is a gestalt language learner, they learn to speak in chunks (or phrases) consisting of multiple words instead of word by word.

You might not be sure what to do to encourage their language development.

How do you teach your child to communicate effectively with others?

Do the phrases that they say have meaning, or are they just words?

Fortunately, this is something speech and language therapists can help with.

Here at Forte Speech & Language Therapy, our team of SLPs includes those with a clinical focus on speech therapy for kids who are gestalt language processors.

Today, we’ll take a closer look at what this is, and how speech therapy for gestalt language processing can help your child develop their language skills.

Analytic Language Learning: How Many Children Learn Language

To understand gestalt language learning, it’s also important to understand how many other children learn language.

This is called analytic language learning.

This is when children acquire language word by word.

If your child learns language analytically, they first learn a word and its meaning.

Then, they are able to start using that word in different contexts.

Finally, your child will be able to put this word into phrases that increase in complexity.

Analytic language learning is sort of like building with blocks.

You start with placing one block, and eventually as you acquire more blocks you can build up a tower.

How Is Gestalt Language Learning Different?

Gestalt language learning is sort of like the reverse of analytic language learning.

If your child is a gestalt language learner, they’ll memorize and communicate primarily using phrases – or scripts – instead of learning one word at a time.

Once your child has learned a script, they’ll eventually begin to break apart (or mitigate) the individual words and understand their meanings.

From there, they can begin to put those words into different phrases to communicate for various functions (e.g., to protest, request, call attention, seek assistance, etc.).

The first step of this process can show up as something called delayed echolalia.

This is when your child hears a phrase and repeats it.

For example, every time you leave the house you might tell your child, “Put your shoes on!”

After hearing this, they might start saying “put your shoes on!” every time they want to go somewhere.

At first, they may not understand all the individual words in this sentence, or that each word carries meaning.

Eventually, though, your child will be able to break down this sentence and start using the words in different contexts.

Consider the building block analogy from the section on analytic language processing.

Instead of building individual blocks into a tower, gestalt language processors learn by taking the tower apart block by block.

Why Are Some Kids Gestalt Language Learners?

Many people are gestalt language learners.

Often, children use a combination of gestalt and analytic learning as they develop their language skills.

However, gestalt processing is typically talked about in relation to autism.

Autistic people are often gestalt language learners.

For example, one common trait among autistic children is echolalia.

Echolalia is the repetition of phrases.

There are different types of echolalia and different reasons that autistic people might use echolalia.

One main purpose of echolalia, though, is communication through gestalt language learning, as we discussed in the last section.

However, your child doesn’t need to be autistic to be a gestalt language learner.

Some children are just wired this way.

And it’s no more right or wrong than being an analytic language learner.

RELATED: Speech-Language Pathologist For Neurodiverse People

How To Tell If Your Child Is A Gestalt Language Learner

You might be wondering how to tell if your child is a gestalt language processor.

While there’s no definitive answer for how to tell, there are some things you can look out for.

A big sign that your child might be a gestalt language learner is if they use delayed echolalia to communicate.

This might be the case if your young child uses scripts they’ve previously heard to communicate, rather than individual words.

This is especially true if your child doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of individual words.

You can also pay attention to the types of phrases your child uses.

If they’re using the same phrase in multiple contexts, this might be a sign of gestalt learning.

For example, if you say “Put your shoes on!” before leaving the house, your child might pick up on this phrase.

However, they may not use it in only that context.

Perhaps you notice that when they watch TV and the characters are going for a walk on screen your child will say “Put your shoes on!”

Or maybe you’re out grocery shopping and they repeat this script as you leave the store.

They might also use the same phrase to indicate that they want to go somewhere.

In this case, your child would be using the whole phrase to reference going somewhere.

But they don’t yet have the individual words to customize that phrase for specific contexts.

Instead, they use the phrase in all contexts that involve going somewhere.

Of course, this is just one example.

There are many ways that using delayed echolalia to communicate can show up in your child’s day to day life.

How To Help Your Gestalt Language Learning Child Build Communication Skills

It can be hard to know how to help your gestalt language learning child build their communication skills.

However, there are things you can do at home to help them develop language skills.

One of the most important things you can do is to respond to your child’s communication attempts, even if you’re not exactly sure what they’re communicating.

Even if their scripts seem out of context, they are meaningful forms of communication that should be acknowledged.

This can look like smiling, nodding, or repeating what your child says.

When you understand what your child is trying to communicate, you can respond to them based on the intention of their message, instead of the exact words they’re saying.

Let’s go back to our “put your shoes on!” example.

If you are leaving the grocery store and your child says, “Put your shoes on!” you might first acknowledge what they’ve said by responding with, “Yes,” and then add, “Let’s go home!”

This type of response models new scripts for your child that conveys their meaning.

However, you also aren’t correcting your child’s speech.

You’re just giving them another option to learn.

Modeling language in small chunks for your child can be very helpful as well.

When playing with them, you might say phrases that would naturally be said in that context, like “Let’s do it again!” or, “It’s so fun!”

You can also model language by giving them phrases to use to communicate their needs.

For example, you might be used to asking your child “are you thirsty?”

Instead, you can try giving them water or juice and modeling, “I’m thirsty!” or “Let’s get some water!”

This helps them learn to communicate needs.

Of course, there are many more functions of communication.

We can help gestalt language learners build their language skills by modeling scripts that show different functions of speech.

This can include protesting, commenting, asking questions, or calling attention to things.

Essentially, the most important thing is to acknowledge your child’s scripts.

Understand that although they are often not to be taken literally, they typically carry meaning.

At the end of the day, we want to honor all communication attempts, and let children know that what they have to say is important.

Do Gestalt Language Learners Need Speech Therapy?

Gestalt language learners often benefit from speech therapy.

If your child is a gestalt language learner, speech therapy can provide them with a safe space to learn how to effectively communicate with others.

While children learn language and communication skills in school, this learning is often geared toward analytic language learners.

Through school alone, your child may not have access to the support they need to develop their communication skills.

This is where speech therapy comes in.

A speech therapist can assess your child’s language skills and implement strategies to support language development and help your child progress through the stages of gestalt language learning.

Speech therapists also work with families and teachers to make sure everyone knows how to provide a supportive communication environment for your child.

Book Your Appointment With Forte Speech & Language Therapy Today

At Forte Speech & Language Therapy, we provide neurodiversity affirming therapy.

This means we can work with your gestalt language learning child to improve communication while embracing the unique way their brain works.

At Forte Speech & Language Therapy, your child will never be made to feel wrong for having different communication styles.

Instead, we take a strengths based approach to therapy.

By focusing on strengths, we can help neurodivergent people build effective, meaningful communication skills.

Book your appointment with Forte Speech & Language Therapy today.