I first stumbled across the term gestalt language processing while scrolling through Instagram. It peaked my interest—not because I had heard it before, but because I hadn’t. Not once in graduate school. Not in the countless conferences I had attended. It was brand new to me.
But something about it struck a chord.
The post mentioned something about echolalia, and immediately, my mind went to several students on my caseload. Students I adored—but was somewhat struggling to support. We had been working on answering wh- questions for what felt like forever. And every time, they would repeat the question back to me instead of answering it.
Then there were the students who whispered phrases under their breath—lines that sounded like they came from a TV show. Others repeated the same sentence over and over in situations that didn’t seem to match. I knew what I was doing in therapy wasn't always clicking with them. It felt like I was missing something to support these students.
So I kept reading. And reading. And what I discovered changed everything.
I learned that what I had previously been taught, to ignore echolalia or try to extinguish, wasn’t just outdated. It was wrong.
Echolalia, scripting, gestalts… different words, same truth: these weren’t meaningless repetitions. They were meaningful attempts at communication. I realized these phrases were actually how some children learn language—starting with chunks of meaningful scripts, not single words.
My then coworkers and I dived deep. We started binge-watching every short clip we could find on social media, trying to piece together what this meant for our therapy practices. We talked, reflected, questioned. And then, we began to shift.
Instead of correcting or redirecting a script, I started responding to it. I treated it as a genuine communication attempt. If I didn’t quite understand what they were saying, I’d still say things like “Yeah!” or “Mmm hmm” to show I was listening. I started repeating their phrases back to them to acknowledge and connect. And then, I’d pause and ask myself: What are they trying to tell me? What could this mean to them?
And then came the “aha” moments.
When a child sees that you get what they’re trying to say—when they light up because someone finally understands—that moment is gold.
These kids became more engaged, more social, more confident. I began to see progress in a way I hadn’t before. Not from drilling wh- questions. Not from pushing my agenda. But from meeting them where they were, and helping them build from there. More meaningful communication, more joy.
It felt like magic.
Since completing my training with Meaningful Speech, I’ve identified so many gestalt language processors in my practice. Some are autistic, many, in fact, are. (If you’ve ever watched Love on the Spectrum, you’ve probably noticed how often the adults quote movies and TV shows—that’s gestalt language processing in action.) But not all gestalt language processors are autistic.
This shift in understanding has been one of the most transformative of my career. I just wish I had known about it sooner.
But as Maya Angelou said: When you know better, you do better. And now that I do, I’ll never go back.
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