Gestalt Language Processing

Some children learn language in chunks, rather than one word at a time. For example, they may remember and repeat whole movie lines or phrases they hear often, such as “Today’s a great day.” Children who learn language this way are called gestalt language processors.

A child who is a gestalt language processor may use these phrases in ways that seem confusing at first. For example, a child might say “hip-hip hooray” whenever they feel happy — such as when they are going down a slide, getting an ice cream, or seeing a cute puppy.

Some speech pathologists recognise when a child is learning language this way and use it to guide therapy. This approach is called Natural Language Acquisition (N.L.A.). N.L.A. supports children through different stages, helping them move from using whole phrases toward creating their own, more flexible language over time.

Marge Blanc is well known for her work in gestalt language processing and Natural Language Acquisition. I first learned about her work from a passionate speech pathologist, Jayde Watts. A free one-hour introduction to N.L.A. is available at the link below:

Free one-hour course on N.L.A.:
https://naturalcommunication.com/products/one-hour-introduction-to-nla-w-marge-blanc-paulina-elias-and-amanda-blackwell

Written by Jessica Bibby, using information learned from Marge Blanc.

Copyright © 18/09/2024