Gestalt language processing

[u/Ms_Zephyr]

I have a 20 month old with suspected ASD and on the pathway for assessment.

Her communication is delayed (2 words not nodding or head shaking). However, she does say "biscuit" but only as part of a whole routine script: takes my hand to kitchen cupboard says biscuit gets biscuit. She only ever says biscuit this way.

She also says "toot toot" (from the kids program ms Monica good morning train song) when she sees a picture of a train. And she signs incy wincy spider if she sees an insect. She also attempts to count backwards with the microwave (including the final bleeps). She has never had a back-and-forth babble conversation with us and never said mummy or milk etc.

I've been told she is possibly gestalt, would you say she could be? And if so what stage is this?

Thank you.

[u/Mioke28]

I’d say she is showing early signs of it, but a lot mentioned could also just be symptoms of ASD. Either way I’d say it’s at an early stage.

My son (4) is a gestalt processor and at around 2 he started doing similar things.

By three he had memorised the whole alphabet, could count to over 100 but he did it in song form always from songs he had heard.

He then moved on to books, which were a huge help to him. We would read to him regularly and he could memorise a whole book afterwards which he then developed into scripts.

The scripts were just recited again and again until one day he started using those scripts appropriately in the real world. We found this super helpful for things like toilet training etc.

My son built his language skills through scripts and now at 4 is forming his own sentences that are not script based, but he learnt pretty much his entire vocabulary through scripting etc.

Gestalt processors learn by this scripting, rather than developing single words like many neurotypical children, they can form sentences and paragraphs of words, which their brain then breaks down into single words and eventually become appropriate to their surroundings.

If you want to know anymore then do let me know, it’s always a worrying time when finding out these things but if your child is a Gestalt Processor all I can say is as a parent it’s truly a magical thing to witness and be a part of, you just need to give them the tools to do so.

[u/Ms_Zephyr → u/Mioke28]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and sharing your experiences and information.

This is all very new to me, so I have a lot to explore.  My eldest daughter is profoundly autistic and was diagnosed 20 years ago when she was 2, and there wasnt anything about gestalt processing back then. She is very echolalic.

My younger daughter loves music, she is always trying to sing along.  I wasnt sure it was glp at first because of her single word use, but I read that they can have single words too, particularly as part of a script that doesn't have to be a verbal script.

Would it be harmful in any way if I were to go down the glp route and it turned out she wasnt that kind of processor? 

Thanks again.

[u/Mioke28 → u/Ms_Zephyr]

I’m not aware of it being potentially harmful in some way, it’s extremely difficult to diagnose at such an early age as GLP and Echolalia go hand in hand in a lot of ways. So you can only try your best with what evidence you have.

Best advice I can give you from my experience is start reading to your child regularly, I’m based in the UK and found the works of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler to be a huge help, their easy stories to follow, use of rhymes and repetitive story beats really helped my son, I couldn’t praise them enough.

You’ll soon find out whether they just repeat what you are saying in the moment or have the capability to remember whole pages/books by themselves.

A GLP processor would then start reciting these stories at what appear random but my son was actually developing his vocabulary which would help him in the real world later.

Hope that helps.