What is Gestalt Language Processing?

Written by Jenn Robinson, MA, CCC-SLP \ Owner/Founder

You may have heard of Gestalt Language Processing - it's gained a lot of popularity on social media, podcasts, and parenting groups! But what does it really mean, and does it apply to your child?

Typically when we think of how a child develops language, we think they first acquire single words ("ball", "mama", "mine"), then learn to combine them ("my ball", "mama go", "open box"). This is usually referred to as Analytic Language Processing.

Some children learn language from echolalia, which means they learn language from longer, memorized chunks. Often these chunks are intonationally-defined, so you may notice them saying these chunks with the same pitch and intonation each time. Some examples I've heard from children I've worked with include:

• We're ready to get started (whenever he wanted to start a new activity)

• Let's try....duck! Let's try....pig! (when he wanted his parents to draw animals)

• Daddy finger daddy finger where are youuu (singing a familiar song)

Oftentimes these chunks come from favorite books, songs, TV shows, movies, or from things the people around them say. They may sound "scripted", but they do have meaningful communicative intent.

Sometimes, these children's chunks can be less understandable. For example, I worked with a three-year-old boy who would often climb on the table and exclaim "what is happening!?". His parents (and I) were initially baffled - what did he mean? After consulting with each other, we realized this was a memorized chunk (aka "gestalt") that he had learned, because every time he climbed on the table, his mother would shout "what is happening?", smile, pick him up, and place him safely on the floor. So when he climbed up and said this, what he really meant was "I want my mom to pick me up", and that memorized gestalt was how he was communicating that.

Some common characteristics of Gestalt Language Processing are:

• Echolalia (imitating language exactly as they heard it)

• Overuse of "taught" phrases they were previously required to imitate ("I want...")

• Single words they cannot combine with other words despite previous therapy

• Being musically inclined

• Slow progress with "traditional" speech therapy

• Difficulties with changes in routines

For these types of language learners, there are a few general strategies I recommend (but remember one size doesn't fit all when it comes to therapy!). These include:

• Decreasing how often we ask questions ("I'm hungry", instead of "are you hungry?", "it's a dog!" instead of "what is that?")

• Modeling language from their point of view ("I need help!" instead of "do you need help?")

• Modeling around single words (if the child says "juice", we might say "I'm thirsty", and if the child says "pig", we might say "wow it's so cute").

Another thing to keep in mind is that there is no clear cut line between Analytic Language Processing and Gestalt Language Processing. Sometimes, children are both!

In my speech therapy sessions, I focus on understanding how each individual child communicates, and I use that knowledge to support meaningful, flexible communication skills. If you think your child may be a Gestalt Language learner, contact us for a free phone consultation and we can chat!