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Your child may need intervention if they are having difficulty:

1. Expressing themselves clearly and effectively

2. Following directions and answering questions

3. Maintaining a conversation

4. Being understood by others when speaking

Or if they show signs of:

1. Becoming frustrated when trying to communicate

2. Lacking confidence communicating with peers and adults

3. Overly relying on echolalia (echoing or imitating what other people say what they hear from media) rather than using their own new words/phrases

If your child is experiencing any of the above, contact us to schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation, and/or a $15 speech and language screener to see if further services may be warranted.

Many people do not know that there are two ways to develop language, that exist on a continuum - Analytic Language Processing and Gestalt Language Processing!

1. Analytic Language Processing is what we “typically” think of when we think of a baby acquiring language - they begin with single words (e.g. “ball”), then combine two words (e.g. “ball go”, “red ball”), then produce phrases and sentences (e.g. “the red ball fell down”).
   

2. Gestalt Language Processing is when children learn language from echolalia, or intonationally-rich “chunks” of language, which they memorize from what other people say and what they hear from media. These children need to first learn whole gestalts (e.g. “we gotta get outta here!”), then learn how to break apart their gestalts (aka “chunks”) and combine them with other gestalts (e.g. “we gotta get” + “another ball”), before finally pulling single words out of gestalts (e.g. “ball”, “ball + red”). Then they can finally begin to combine two or more words into new combinations (e.g. “the red ball fell down”).
   

Common signs of Gestalt Language Processing include:

1. Immediate echolalia - imitating what another person says right after they say it

   1. E.g. adult: "Are you hungry?", child: "Are you hungry?", and adult: "Bye Sam!", child: "Bye Sam!

2. Delayed echolalia - imitating what another person said minutes, hours, days, or weeks after they said it

   1. E.g. singing entire songs, quoting lines from TV or movies

3. Echopraxia - acting out a scene from real life or from TV with their body in the same way they originally saw it

   1. E.g. pairing specific hand gestures with spoken echolalia, or specific dances

4. Musically inclined - Gestalt Language Processors are typically very interested in music, and may memorize entire songs even when they cannot consistently communicate their wants and needs with words

5. Stuck single words - they may use a lot of single word labels, but are not able to combine them with other words without being directly prompted to

6. Slow or limited progress with traditional speech therapy approaches - these children learn differently, so they need different language supports! Rather than using traditional analytic speech therapy approaches, these children need a clinician trained in the Natural Language Acquisition framework for Gestalt Language Processors.

A Gestalt Language Processor may be delayed if their spontaneous language is inflexible, “stuck”, prompt dependent, requires interpretation by their parents, and if they cannot clearly communicate their wants, needs, and ideas with others spontaneously.

A speech and language screener is a 15-30 minute informal assessment of your child’s speech and language skills. It may involve a brief articulation screening, a brief language sample, a story retell task, informal conversation, and/or observations made about your child’s communication during child-led play. It does not result in a score, but can be used alongside developmental milestones to determine if further evaluation and/or speech therapy may be warranted.

A speech and language evaluation is a formal assessment of all areas of suspected delay in your child’s communication skills, including a written report and recommendations. This can include articulation, phonology, apraxia of speech, receptive language (language comprehension), expressive language (language expression), pragmatic/social language skills, and fluency/stuttering. These evaluations typically take between 1-2 hours, and result in a standardized score, which compares your child’s performance to other children their age in order to determine if there are any delays and if therapy is recommended.

An evaluation for a Gestalt Language Processor with suspected language delays would include comprehensive language sampling to determine which Stages of the Natural Language Acquisition framework your child is communicating with, and if they are delayed in their expressive language progression. Language sampling occurs over 1-2 hour sessions (or 2-4 half hour sessions). If a child is delayed, the results of this assessment will help determine appropriate goals to help guide them towards producing novel, self-generated language.

What makes my therapy approach stand out is the combination of personalized care and collaborative teamwork. While many therapy approaches focus on isolated skills, I place importance on a child's entire development - emotional, social, and communicative. This means every therapy session is tailored to meet the child exactly where they are, whether they are learning to express a single word or building confidence with higher-level speech and language skills. This approach is neurodiversity-affirming, meaning I honor and respect the different ways in which children process and use language, ensuring therapy aligns with their individual strengths and needs, in order to develop their confidence and avoid prompt dependence.

I also focus on creating a strong partnership with families. Many therapies don’t provide enough ongoing guidance for parents, but I make sure families are actively involved in the process, coaching them on how to support their child’s communication at home and ensuring that all of their questions are answered. I also value the importance of collaborating with any other therapies a child may be receiving, such as occupational therapists, physical therapists, ABA therapists, or teachers. This collaborative model ensures that progress is consistent and reinforced across all environments, making therapy more effective and sustainable in the long run.

Lastly, I’m passionate about accepting each child as they are and helping them gain confidence in themselves as communicators by using their special interests and learning styles in therapy. I believe that language is not just about words, but about empowerment and self-expression. Every child deserves the opportunity to communicate authentically and confidently, and to build lasting communication skills that they can carry with them as they grow.

Therapy location: I’ve designed my business model to be flexible, ensuring that therapy is accessible and convenient for your family. To best meet your child’s needs, I offer mobile speech therapy in the comfort of your home, at your child’s daycare, or at their school. At this time I provide services in Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Simi Valley, Moorpark, and Camarillo. If you prefer a more flexible option or if you are located outside of those service areas, I also provide teletherapy sessions, allowing therapy to fit seamlessly into your busy schedule while still offering personalized care.

Length of sessions: I offer 30-minute, 45-minute, and 60-minute sessions for in-person and teletherapy services. If you are unsure of how long you’d like your child’s sessions to be, please contact me and I’d be happy to chat on the phone about your child’s communication to help you determine what may be the best fit.