Understanding Echolalia and Gestalt Language Development
Time
Second Keynote Address: 12:45
Presenter/Facilitator
Barry Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP
About the Course
In this address, Dr. Prizant unpacks the complexities and brilliance of Gestalt Language Processing (GLP), a developmental language style commonly observed in autistic individuals. Often misunderstood as merely repetitive speech, echolalia can be a critical step in natural language development. Dr. Prizant will demystify the stages of GLP, explain how echolalia serves meaningful communicative and emotional functions, and share practical strategies for supporting language growth in gestalt processors. This session offers educators, clinicians, and caregivers a respectful, strengths-based approach to honoring diverse paths to communication.
Objectives:
Participants will define key terms related to Gestalt Language Processing, including echolalia, mitigated echolalia, and analytic language development.
Participants will explain the stages of Gestalt Language Development and how echolalia fits within a typical language acquisition framework for gestalt processors.
Participants will demonstrate at least two strategies for supporting communication development in children who are gestalt language processors, grounded in affirming and developmentally appropriate practices.
Barry Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP
Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP is among the world’s leading authorities on autism, and is recognized as an innovator of respectful, person- and family-centered approaches for individuals with autism and neurodevelopmental conditions. With fifty years of experience as a scholar, researcher, and international consultant, he is a visiting scholar at Brown University, a certified speech-language pathologist and Director of Childhood Communication Services, a private practice. Barry is coauthor of The SCERTS Model: A Comprehensive Educational Approach, now being implemented in more than a dozen countries. He has published four books, more than 130 articles and chapters and has received many awards, including the Honors of the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association (their highest recognition), the Princeton University Eden Foundation career award for improving quality of life for persons on the autism spectrum, and the “Divine Neurotypical Award” of GRASP, the world’s largest autistic self-advocacy organization. He has been a two-time featured presenter (2013, 2017) at the United Nations on World Autism Awareness Day. His recent best-selling book, Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism is now published in 22 languages, was selected as the featured book on autism by the United Nations in 2017, and was ranked by Book Authority as #1 of the “100 best books on autism of all time”. With a wealth of inspiring stories and practical advice from thousands of children and older people on the autism spectrum and their families, Uniquely Human conveys a deep respect for the qualities in people on the autism spectrum. It offers a compassionate and insightful perspective that has been called “life-changing as well as uplifting”. Barry also co-hosts a podcast, Uniquely Human: The Podcast, with his friend, Dave Finch, an autistic audio engineer and best selling author.
Speaker Disclosure: Dr. Prizant received a speaking fee for this course.