Parents of nonspeakers and minimal speakers are gaining interest in gestalt language processing (GLP) and what it means for students who communicate using echolalia or scripting.

Speech Language Pathologist Katja Piscitelli joined Nonverbal Autism Homeschool families for a live presentation on GLP.  Katja is the owner of Total Spectrum Speech Therapy in Sacramento, Calif., and she's developed a large following on Instagram under the account Bohospeechie.

What is GLP? Katja’s website explains it:

If your child uses "scripting" or delayed echolalia, they are likely a gestalt language processor. There are two ways that children process language: analytic and gestalt. While analytic processors process language word by word (e.g. "mom", then "mom go", then "mom go up"), gestalt processors process language in "chunks" or gestalts (also known as scripts/scripting). Single words are not processed as single units of meaning until later in language development. These students use delayed echolalia (often of whole phrases/songs/movie lines) to acquire language. Most autistic students are gestalt language processors (85% +), but neurotypical children can process language this way as well.

Parents who purchase Nonverbal Autism Homeschool gain access to live Zoom sessions with an experienced special education teacher and special guests like Katja. During her session, parents learned how to know if their student is a GLP, how to identify GLP stages of language development, and how to modify AAC devices and lessons to accommodate it.

Nonverbal Autism Homeschool provides you with all the curriculum, teaching instruction and support you need to successfully teach your nonspeaking or minimally speaking student. Join at anytime and move at your student's own pace.