Are you a professional who works with young people who might be using a Gestalt Language Processing approach to language development?

* Do you hear your student repeat phrases they have heard before (e.g., echolalia)?
* Do they gravitate to singing songs or parts of songs?
* Do you have a sense that they might need a slightly different approach from you?
* Have you heard about echolalia, natural langauge process, and/or gestalt language process but want to think more deeply about how to practically apply this in your practice?

This session will be tailored for professionals including speech-language therapists, music therapists, occupational therapists, teachers, or other people who work with closely with neurodivergent students.

The conversation will be led by Shannon Hennig, a speech-language therapist with over 20 years of experience in the area of autism. She is a strong believer in the neurodiversity movement. She knows how much autistic children depend on all of us to provide the right type of language support so that they can grow into their potential.

To keep things practical and engaging, we will follow a case study of a young person over several years and practice observing real-life language and thinking through how communication partners can respond. All participants will be asked to confirm that they will refrain from taking any photos or videos of client videos.

By the end of the session, you will be able to:
* list several signs that a child may be a gestalt language processor
* advocate for and explain why this is a natural and expected way that many learn language
* describe the 4 different stages of gestalt language processing
* start to notice these stages on the fly
* describe techniques for each of the stages
* have at least 3 ideas of where to start in your next conversation with a younger person who is learning this language in this way

For more information, please email info@inclusive-communication.co.nz