Echolalia and Gestalt Language Development: Supporting Communication in Everyday Adventures

Echolalia communicates! Come along with us as we explore why echolalia may be used by a child and what we, as speech-language pathologists, teachers, and parents, can do to support children who communicate with scripts or delayed echolalia. We will look at how to identify whether a child is developing language “whole to part” as a gestalt language processor and why goals for children in the early stages of language development need to be viewed through the lens of gestalt language processing. Our journey will also include how we can support children in “everyday adventures,” which can increase connection and spontaneous language use. There will also be immediate takeaways provided for how to get started creating an environment ripe for authentic communication and how to model language for a child who uses echolalia to communicate.