Gestalt Language Processing: What Parents Should Know

There are two main ways children learn language. Children are either analytic language processors, or they’re gestalt language processors. Understanding gestalt language processing, and knowing which way your child learns and processes language, helps you create an environment that supports their development.

What Is Analytic Language Processing?

Analytic language processing is what people often call “typical” language development. A child learns language in small units, starting with single words, then phrases, and eventually building up to full sentences with correct grammar.

What Is Gestalt Language Processing (GLP)?

Gestalt language processing is a form of language development where a child learns language in gestalts, or chunks, rather than single words. According to ASHA, many children with autism spectrum disorder are gestalt language processors, though neurotypical children can also begin acquiring language this way. You may have heard gestalts referred to as “scripts” or “echolalia.”

What Are the Characteristics of GLP?

Gestalt language processors echo speech they’ve heard before. They often use strings of language repeated from a variety of sources, including movies, caregivers, TV shows, and songs, for example, “Chase is on the case,” or “to infinity and beyond.” A child may show immediate echolalia (repeating a phrase they just heard) or delayed echolalia (repeating a phrase from a movie they watched days earlier).

For example, you might ask your child, “Are you thirsty?” when they seem to want something to drink. From there, your child may start using the phrase “Are you thirsty?” every time they want to request water. They know that using this phrase gets them a drink, even if they don’t yet understand what the individual words mean.

In other children, their speech may not be understood by others, even though it looks like they’re communicating. They may use appropriate intonation, leading people to say something like, “They’re speaking gibberish.”

How ETLC Helps Support Children Who Are GLP

It’s important to remember that children who communicate using gestalts are still communicating. There’s meaning behind their messages, even when we don’t immediately know what that intent is. The goal is to find the meaning behind a child’s gestalt and help them reach the point of self-generated language, where they can break these larger units down into meaningful words of their own.

At Enrichment Therapy & Learning Center, our speech-language pathologists are trained in gestalt language processing. If you believe your child is a gestalt language processor, we can help support their language development. Give us a call.