What is it about?
We all know about one of these styles. It starts with single words and then word + word combinations. But what about another style? One where kids start with big chunks of language, and make those chunks shorter and shorter until they have single words. Then they can develop those word + word combinations. Either way, language development is natural and leads to very complicated sentences. The second way just takes a little longer.
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Why is it important?
We all need to know that the second way is just as good as the first. Kids let us know which kind of language development is natural for them by either focusing on single words in the first style or focusing on “the whole thing” in the second style. The whole thing could be a song, a story, a video clip, the alphabet. But no matter what it is, it’s called a “gestalt.” Which just means the whole thing. You may know a child like this. If so, read on.
Perspectives
The field of Speech-Language Pathology has known that “echolalia” is meaningful. Echolalia just means using language that has been heard before. If it’s a single word, that’s one thing. But what if it’s the whole alphabet? Or the whole song? The gestalt. Now is our opportunity to understand how that gestalt is the first stage of natural gestalt language development! It’s an exciting journey.
Marge Blanc
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Using the Natural Language Acquisition Protocol to Support Gestalt Language Development, Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, October 2023, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2023_persp-23-00098.
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