Let’s break it down into steps to make these complicated words easier to understand. Once you have a deeper understanding, you will then be able to support your child or young person develop their communication skills in the best way as a Gestalt Language Processor. Remember not every child will be a Gestalt Language Processor; if your child uses echolalia and/or has a diagnosis of autism then your child’s way of processing language is most likely different to the classic way children typically learn language.
Let’s start with understanding what each of these words “Gestalt Language Processors” mean.
Gestalt: “the way a thing has been placed or put together”
Language: “a system of human communication”
Processors: “responds to and processes basic instruction”
So, let’s put those meanings together. “Gestalt Language Processors are children who process early language in strings of sounds or chunks.” They tend not to process single words.
It is important to understand this way of processing communication because between 75-90% of children with Autistic Spectrum Conditions process language in this way (Blanc, 2012). We know that it’s important for young people to have their voice heard and to be able to express themselves. So, it’s vital that they move from echolalia to self-generated communication to be able to do this. This means that our children’s communication partners play a vital role in supporting their child’s language. We can support our children by modelling phrases until the child has learnt the process themselves.
Let’s explore an example together
X (who is a gestalt language processor) and his family love to feed the ducks in their spare time; this is an activity that takes place regularly. Let’s look at how you, as the adults, could support X in his communication. Look at the phrases that are used. They are meaningful to the activity with repetition used throughout.
Top tip: You could think of an activity you and your child or young person take part in on a regular basis and brainstorm some key phrases that you could use.
Need a boost in confidence to support your child’s gestalt language processing?
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
We often hear from parents who are trying their best to connect with their child, especially when reading books, but are met with frustration. They’ll say, ‘I read the book exactly as it’s written, but my child can’t focus for very long and just runs off!’ or ‘my child just flicks through the pages then turns it upside down and runs off with it’ or similar.
It’s a common story. Traditional reading—going through the text from cover-to-cover—has its place of course, but for little ones with a language delay or autism it can move too quickly and place all the focus on the book’s words, not on the interaction.
But what if I told you that story time could become one of the most fun and productive times for your child’s communication development?
Watch the fantastic little video clip above! You can see the pure joy and connection between this dad and his son. This is the same family who, just a few weeks ago, felt defeated when trying to read a book, with their child quickly losing interest and leaving the reading/book corner.
What changed?
The power of parent coaching and Hanen principles
The difference you see in the video is the direct result of parent interaction therapy, or parent coaching, based on the internationally recognised Hanen principles.
I didn’t ‘fix’ the child. Instead, I coached the parents in a few simple, powerful strategies that completely changed the dynamic of their interaction. Instead of being a time for teaching and instruction, story time became a back-and-forth conversation.
Here are the four major transformations that coaching helped this family achieve:
1. From reader to play partner
Before coaching, the parents felt their job was to read the text and to teach the words in it to their child. Now, their job is to follow their child’s lead. They learned to Observe, Wait, and Listen (OWL). If the child points to the tree or the badger on the page, the parent talks about the tree or the badger.
The result
The child is now initiating and leading the conversation! He is sharing what he finds interesting, which makes him feel powerful and keeps him deeply engaged.
2. Building connection and attention
When parents focus solely on reading, they often forget to make frequent eye contact and use animated facial expressions. The principles taught them to put the text aside and prioritise connection.
The result
Our little boy is looking at his dad more frequently, making great eye contact, and clearly having fun! When the interaction is fun, the child’s attention span naturally lengthens, allowing him to attend to the book and the interaction for a much longer time.
3. Creating opportunities for communication
The parents learned simple ways to prompt communication without pressure. They stopped asking knowledge-based questions (‘What colour is that? Or point to the pig!’), which can feel like a test.
Instead, they learned to use techniques like ‘Saying less and pausing’ or ‘copying their little one’s echolalia ‘, signalling that they are very interested in what he is saying and that his communication matters!
The result
The child is now spontaneously using strings of sounds and gestures to communicate his needs and interests, knowing and enjoying his parents’ enthusiastic responses.
This video is a testament to the fact that you are your child’s best therapist. With the right tools and coaching, you can transform everyday routines, like reading a book, into the most joyful and effective communication sessions.
4. Acknowledging and interpreting echolalia
In the video, you may hear the little boy repeat a phrase from the book or from what his dad just said. This is called echolalia, and for a long time, it was often dismissed or discouraged.
However, a core principle of our parent coaching is that echolalia is communication. For children who are ‘Gestalt Language Processors,’ these memorised phrases (or ‘gestalts’) are their building blocks of language.
The key is not to stop the repetition, but to become a ‘language detective’ and ‘interpreter’!
By modelling the correct, first-person phrase right after the echo, parents/caregivers are teaching a child how to break down the ‘chunk’ and use the individual words functionally. They are showing their child: ‘I heard you. Your communication makes sense to me.’
This strategy is a game-changer because it:
Validates the child’s communication: It honours the child’s natural way of learning language, which boosts their confidence and willingness to communicate.
Facilitates language development: It provides the child with the next step—a meaningful, functional phrase—to move them from repeating language to generating their own spontaneous sentences.
Look at the child’s face again in the video. When his dad acknowledges and interprets his communication, you see that spark of joy and connection—that’s the moment when true, functional language learning happens!
Ready to unlock the potential in your family’s story time? Contact me to learn more about our parent coaching programs.
Sonja McGeachie
Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
This particular student has a mild motor planning difficulty and six weeks ago he came to me with a very strong lisp. In addition to the lisp he is struggling to produce a number of sounds, SH and L on its own and all the clusters (FL/BL/KL/PL) but also CH together with some vowel difficulties.
Here I use the ‘Flat Tyre’ Sound, to offer as an image for a new S sound and the ‘Tick Tock’ Sound for a new image of the T sound. Both cards are from the Bjorem Speech Sound Deck, which I love and use almost daily.
Gestural Cues
I like to use all the ‘cued articulation’ hand cues by Jane Passy for consonants and fricatives. Here we use our fingers and hand to illustrate what our tongue does, and we also show whether a sound is voiced or voiceless. When I use one finger it is voiceless (k/f/s/p) and when I use two fingers for the same cue it means that the voice needs to be turned on: (g/v/z/b/n/m). For vowels I like to use Pam Marshalla’s cue system.
Simultaneous production
We say the word together.
Direct imitation
I say the word and my student copies me directly.
Imitation after a delay
I say the word and then after a little wait my student says the word.
Spontaneous production
My student has now learned to say the word by him/herself.
Offering feedback
It sounds like… I just heard… I didn’t hear the first sound there? Can you try again?
Letting the student reflect
By just shaking my head or by looking quizzical so that my student realises something didn’t quite go right.
Postitive reinforcement
‘Yes that was it, do it again, nice one…’
Cognitive reframing
This is a technique where we identify different semantic cues and metaphors or imagery cues, so instead of teaching or focusing on a sound we try out viewing each syllable from a different point of view.
For example: ‘yellow’. I have had great success with this one: we start with just saying ‘yeah yeah yeah’. I might make a little joke and say something like ‘imagine your mum says tidy your bedroom, what do you say or what do you think?’ Answer: ‘yeah yeah yeah’. Then we practice ‘low’ together, I might blow some bubbles high and low and we talk about ‘low’. And then we put ‘Yeah’ and ‘Low’ together and now we have YELLOW!! It might at first still sound a bit odd, like ‘yea-low’ but we soon shape that up and have the real word.
Each student is different and having a great rapport is crucial to our success.
Then a little game break after some 7–10 or so repetitions and always trying to finish on a positive note.
What game breaks do I use:
Very quick ones! Students can post something, place a counter in a game, take out a Jenga block from the tower, pop in a counter for ‘connect 4’, stick a sword into the Pop the Pirate barrel or add a couple of Lego blocks to something they are building.
Feeding and Dysphagia (Swallowing) Specialist The London Speech and Feeding Practice
The London Speech and Feeding Practice
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
“I’ve got something in my bag, in my bag, in my bag,
I’ve got something in my bag,
what it is”
You might be wondering why your Speech and Language Therapist is singing this song and then presenting items from a zipped-up bag. Let me take you through stage one of this evidence-based approach.
There are many aims of ‘bucket or bag time’. During stage one, you are simply engaging your child’s attention (whilst also exposing them to language). It’s important to remember that you are not forcing your child to say or do anything. The idea is that the items in the bag or bucket ‘offers an irresistible invitation to learn’ (Gina Davies, 2020).
You don’t need ‘special’ expensive toys. Use what you have at home. It might be that you have some bubbles, a wind-up toy. You might have some foil that you can roll up into a ball, or a balloon. Keep these items for ‘bucket time’. This means that your child is likely to be excited and motivated for the activity. The only stipulation is that these items must be highly motivating and must be the most exciting thing in the room. You’ll want to cover up any distractions.
So, you have your items and your opaque zipped bag, next you’ll want to put the items into the bag ensuring the zip is closed. The zip is important as it increases suspense and excitement as your child cannot see inside. You can also comment when unzipping ‘open bag’ using the signs ‘open’ + ‘bag’ to support your child’s understanding. Your Speech and Language Therapist can help with any Makaton signs that are unknown. The idea of this activity is that the item isn’t touched by your child. This can seem a little odd or feel “mean” but there is a reason for this: we want our child to look at us as well as the object or toy. As soon as we allow our child to touch and play with that toy their attention will go to the toy alone and we won’t get JOINT attention or engagement. This is the reason why we SHOW interesting things for a brief moment and then put these items back into the bag or bucket and out comes the next item. If your child wants to grab the toy and gets upset, then they may not be quite ready for this approach.
Next, we sing the song (as above) and unzip the bag taking out one of the items. The use of pausing is important. Pause after the song: does your child try to use gesture or sound? You can also use this opportunity to model short phrases, ideally one or two words such “it’s a spinner! Wow… so many colours”. After a couple of turns, repeat the process and pull out a different item. We tend not to sing the song each time for the next item. Just sing it at the beginning and then get on with producing the amazing, wonderful things in your bag. No hard and fast rules though, apart from “don’t let the child touch the toys”.
The biggest factor here is that you and your child enjoy the activity together. Have lots of fun!!
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
Holiday meals are meant to be joyful and something we all look forward to. But for many children and their families, these occasions can be overwhelming and be the cause of dread and worry. The combination of new smells, unfamiliar foods, loud environments, social expectations, and allergy anxieties can quickly turn what should be a festive time into a stressful one.
For parents of children with sensory processing differences, selective eating challenges, or food allergies, holiday gatherings often require careful planning and a big dose of tolerance and compassion. The good news is that with awareness and a few gentle strategies, you can support your child to feel safe, regulated, and included during festive meals without pressure, tears, or discomfort.
Let’s explore how to make holiday mealtimes calmer, safer, and more connected this season.
🎄 Why holiday meals feel so overwhelming
Holiday gatherings usually combine several sensory triggers all at once:
Noisy, chaotic rooms
Strong smells from a mix of foods we don’t normally cook
Expectations to ‘try everything’ or ‘enjoy it’s sooo good!’
New environments, seating arrangements, or routines
For children with sensory sensitivities, this can feel like a tidal wave of input. Research shows that children who are sensory-sensitive often have heightened responses to smell, taste, and texture, which may lead to avoidance or distress at mealtimes (Cermak, Curtin, & Bandini, 2010).
Add food allergies into the picture and anxiety increases even further for both children and parents. A 2020 study by DunnGalvin et al. found that children with food allergies experience significantly higher stress in shared eating environments, especially when food preparation or contamination risk is hard to control.
So, if your child becomes tearful, shuts down, or refuses to sit at the festive table, it isn’t ‘bad behaviour.’ It’s sensory overload, heightened vigilance, or discomfort communicating through their body.
🌟 Preparing your child for a calmer festive meal
Preparation is especially important for sensory-sensitive or allergy-aware children. Here’s how to set them up for success:
1. Offer predictability through previewing
Before the event, show your child pictures of:
where you’re going
who will be there
the types of foods that might be served
where they might sit
A visual schedule or social story can help reduce anxiety and give your child a sense of control.
2. Pack safe foods without apology
If your child has allergies or selective eating, bring:
‘Safe foods’ you know they will eat
Backup snacks
A separate (their own) plate, if needed
Emergency medication
Announce clear, firm boundaries such as:
‘Ok people, these are Jamie’s safe foods — we’ll stick with these today.’ This will help relatives understand without pressure or judgement.
3. Choose seating that supports sensory regulation
If possible, seat your child:
at the end of the table
near a familiar adult
away from the kitchen (strong smells)
away from noise clusters
give them their favourite toy or fidget whilst waiting
Let them take breaks when needed. This isn’t ‘rude,’ it’s self-regulation.
🍽️ Supporting children during the meal
1. Focus on connection, not consumption
The holidays are not the time to expand your child’s food range. Keeping mealtimes low-pressure actually supports long-term progress.
In fact, the research is clear: pressuring children to eat decreases acceptance and increases refusal (Galloway et al., 2006).
So instead of ‘Just try it!’ try:
‘You don’t have to eat it, you can look at it.’
‘You’re in charge of what goes in your mouth.’
‘You can keep your safe foods on your plate.’
2. Protect your child’s allergy safety
Holiday meals often include:
cross-contamination risks
shared utensils
buffets
homemade dishes without ingredient lists
Use gentle but firm scripts:
‘Because of Ellie’s allergies, we’ll keep her plate separate.’
‘We’ll serve her food ourselves to make sure she stays safe.’
Confidence in your boundary helps others respect it.
3. Manage sensory load in real time
Offer:
headphones
a small chew or fidget toy
a designated ‘calm corner’
time outside for fresh air
a predictable signal for breaks (e.g., a hand squeeze or card)
Remember, sensory regulation is healthcare, not ‘giving in.’
4. Model calm eating
Children learn most from watching.
Slow, happy bites and relaxed facial expressions tell the nervous system: ‘This environment is safe’.
💛 What to say to well-meaning relatives
Families often have big feelings about food. You can prepare nice phrases like:
‘We’re focusing on helping him feel safe around food today.’
‘She has allergies, so we’re sticking to our plan.’
‘We’re avoiding pressure because it helps him eat better long term.’
‘We’re celebrating together, eating is not the goal today.’
Setting expectations ahead of time can reduce awkward moments later.
🎁 The bigger picture: It’s about safety, not ‘picky eating’
Children with allergies, sensory differences, or feeding challenges aren’t trying to be difficult. They are trying to stay safe, regulated, and comfortable.
Your calm presence, gentle boundaries, and preparation create the conditions for a holiday that feels peaceful, not pressured.
Sonja McGeachie
Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
Echolalia is a term used when assessing or treating children with Autism. The term refers to the repetition or echoing of utterances, either our own or others’. It can also be echoing phrases heard on television, advertising jingles or catchy repeat phrases used in tv programmes or nursery rhymes and songs. Whilst we all use echolalia occasionally and it can be observed in typically developing children, we tend not to see/hear it beyond the age of 2.5 years old. Children with ASD, however, do use echolalia often into late childhood.
There are generally two types of Echolalia:
Immediate echolalia
Here the repeated phrases or words are produced immediately after someone has spoken the original words or within two conversational turns of the original utterance.
Delayed echolalia
The repeat echoing of the original utterance occurs sometime later, more than two conversational turns or with a much longer time delay. Due to the delay it can be hard to interpret the meaning of the echolalic utterance as it may refer to something that happened long ago and in a different context to the originally utterance.
(Stiegler, 2015, Fay 1967, Blanc 2014)
There are other unconventional speech behaviours which include:
Perseveration of Speech – persistent repetition of speech
Repetitive questioning – persisting even though answers were given
Vocalisations such as: humming, whistling, clicking, squealing etc.
Much research has gone into the meaning and treatment of Echolalia and the following list consists of possible functions that have been identified:
Information sharing
Responding to answers
Labelling
Drawing attention to self
Protesting
Requesting
Giving instructions
Self-regulation, calming
(Stiegler 2015, Prizant 1983)
Echolalia does have a function and is part of the Gestalt Learning Process (where longer units of speech are memorised and then used as a whole without the individual words being meaningful).
As a Speech and Language Therapist I promote sound and proven Intervention based on the Hanen Programme which helps provide a highly facilitative Interaction Style and I will tell you a bit more in my next blog how the “More Than Words” approach can help children with echolalia move through their Gestalt Learning into more analytic processing of language, grammar and meaning.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
As parents and therapists, we all want to help our children communicate. But sometimes, the process can feel like ‘work’. If I had a penny for every parent saying ‘I find it so boring!’… Ok hang in… what if I told you the most effective therapy happens when it doesn’t look like therapy at all?
My approach centres on connection, enthusiasm, and multi-sensory engagement. We don’t just teach words; we teach the joy of using them. These strategies can be used whether your child is speaking, using a core board, or communicating in his or her own unique way.
Some of my favourite strategies
Today I want to share a few of my favourite strategies to turn everyday interactions into powerful communication opportunities regardless of why or how big a delay your child is having.
Facial expressions & exaggeration: Use an exaggerated facial expression to show surprise (wide eyes!), excitement (big smile!), or confusion (a crinkled brow!). Your face is a powerful teaching tool. I am always talking like a clown in my sessions. I can announce that I have also a normal speaking voice outside my clinic room! 😊
Using your voice with intonation: Your voice is music! Use a singsong or ‘tuneful’ repeat to make words stand out. For example, ‘It’s a BIIIG ball!’ or ‘Let’s GO-O-O!’. Again think: clown!!
Hands and body to show: Use gestures, hands, and body movements to demonstrate. Say ‘OPEN’ while pulling your hands apart, or ‘UP’ while raising the toy high above your head.
Elongating our words: Stretching out key sounds or words gives them emphasis and more time for your child to process. ‘Criiiinkley’ ‘tiiickleyyyy’
Core board & language modelling:
Model the core board with joy: Don’t just point: point with energy!
Model the core board repeatedly throughout the activity, showing genuine excitement. This demonstrates the board is a joyful tool, not homework.
Pointing to the core board: When you say a core word, point to the corresponding symbol. You are showing your child, ‘My words live here, and your words can too’.
Describing it for your child: Help your child build his or her vocabulary by providing rich sensory language. ‘It’s squishy’, ‘It’s very noisy’, or ‘It’s so smooth’.
Catchy phrases: Repetitive, positive phrases create a sense of shared fun. Use them consistently: ‘Oh, that’s a nice one!’ or ‘We like that!’
Following your child’s Interest: Put down your agenda and follow your child’s lead. If they pick up a block, talk about the block. This ensures they are engaged and ready to learn.
Allowing for pauses: This is critical! After you made a comment, allow for a significant pause (count to five in your head) for your child to fill. The silence creates a powerful opportunity for them to initiate communication.
Copying your child’s sounds: If he or she makes a sound (‘buh!’), you make the sound back! Copying your child’s sounds shows him or her ‘I hear you, and your communication is important’.
Lots of repetition: Hearing a word many times in meaningful contexts is how we learn! Repeat key phrases and core words throughout the activity. Repetition is the key to retention.
Getting turns: Explicitly teach and celebrate getting turns in a game. ‘My turn! Your turn!’ This is a foundational social and communication skill.
Using tidy up as a teaching activity: Turn cleanup into a fun game! It’s a goldmine for core words like PUT IN, ALL DONE, HELP, and MORE. For example, ‘Let’s PUT IN the red block! Yay!’
Using exaggerated repeats: When your child tries a sound or word, give it back with exaggerated, tuneful repeats.
Try out all or even just a few of these strategies, and I can promise you, you’re not just encouraging language; you’re building a joyful, reciprocal relationship based on genuine communication!
Which strategy are you excited to try first? Let me know in the comments!
If I can help you with any of the above, if you want to practise these a bit more, I would love to help you!
Sonja McGeachie
Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
