Supporting Gestalt Language Processors to Keep Scripting

his AAC sentences sounded less complex than the echolalia he spoke in, they were words of his own. - THINKING FROM A NEURODIVERSITY LENS Neurodiversity is the reality that human brains come in a great deal of variety. The neurodiversity paradigm posits that this vari- ety is a normal and beneficial part of human diversity. TIf we ac- cept this variety of brains as beneficial, the extension of this is that brains that diverge from the societal ‘norm’ (I/DD, mental health conditions, learning disabilities, etc) do not need to be changed. The neurodiversity movement started in 1990 as part of, and a re- action to, the social model of disability. Many practitioners have begun to embrace the neurodiversity movement, but have not yet fully understood the foundations of the movement. This can end up looking that using identity-first language, acknowledging GLPs, but still writing goals that aim for the GLP to look ‘indistinguishable’ from a neurotypical speaker. When setting goals for GLPs, it’s essential to think beyond typ- ical language use and focus on meaningful goals. It's about sup- porting their ability to communicate effectively and authentically, not just conforming to conventional language norms. Many ideas that we have about how a GLP will develop are straight lines from ‘echolalic speaker’ to ‘typical speaker’. Yet many of their current communication strategies might be working for them just fine, or they might be better supported by adding more gestalts even once they are able to use single words. We can set goals based on skills that really are crucial, and support those skills with scripts or single words. For instance, the first skill to learn might be repairing com- munication breakdowns. GLPs are frequently misunderstood, because their listeners don’t understand what their gestalts truly mean. Early AAC customization may be adding phrases to help them explain themselves: “that’s from my favorite TV show”, “this situation is reminding me of a quote”, or “that’s not quite what I meant”. Before changing a way that someone communicates, identify whether it is working for them or not. This means starting by be- ing a detective. What need is the script or gestalt meeting? Is it helping with sensory needs? Social? Once the need is identified, you can ask yourself: Is this scripting meeting that need? If it isn’t, that’s when it’s time to step in. A script meeting a need might look like someone walking away from interactions that start seeming happy with how the interac- tion proceeded. It might look like someone successfully getting other people to leave them alone. An unmet need can look like frustration, or like being frequently misunderstood by others. Ian’s scripting was meeting his needs . . . until suddenly it wasn’t. Ian loves to talk to people about his favorite dinosaur documenta- ries. His family knows that when he brings a quote to them, it’s likely a conversation starter. Now that he’s in school, he gets frustrated that people don’t know what to do when he talks to him, and often they

Nonspeaking GLPs can be more difficult to identify. You may find lists of traits that suggest someone is a GLP when they are nonspeaking. These lists often overlap with behaviors that are typical of most children. By building a true foundation of what it means to process via gestalt, it becomes easier to understand the difference. For example, most children like music, but a GLP might insist that “The Wheels on the Bus” be played every time they hear a baby crying and be inconsolable if the singer is partic- ularly off-pitch. The good news is that you don’t have to be per- fect at identifying a nonspeaking Gestalt Language Processor. If you’re not sure, it doesn’t hurt to try different strategies and see what works, especially since many AAC strategies stay the same for GLPs. Liza watches game shows at the same time every night. During the day, she shares that she wants to transition to a new activity by singing the closing song of Jeopardy! and imitates the buzzer sound when she has made a mistake. A few times, she has found an old epi- sode of a game show online while her family is talking, only for them to see that the moment Liza has chosen from the episode is related to their story. - AAC BENEFITS ALL GLPS We have improved immensely as a field at making sure non- speaking people have access to robust AAC, although there’s a lot of room to grow in this regard. However, we are still in the infancy of understanding the benefits of AAC to speaking people. AAC can significantly improve auditory processing by provid- ing a visual representation of language. Auditory processing is- sues make it more difficult to find word boundaries and to hear a word the same way every time, which are vital parts of learning to understand and produce words. By visually demonstrating the building blocks of language, AAC can help GLPs actively see word boundaries, grammar conjugations, and how concepts may be categorized into groups. Many AAC users have expressed that there are times they are only able to use echolalia via speech, while with AAC they can express significantly more. This suggests that someone’s brain might not be “stuck” in a stage of GLP; rather, their vocal system hasn’t caught up to their receptive understanding. My personal experience as an AAC user who mostly speaks is that sometimes echolalia comes out much more smoothly than other words. There are times when the echolalia “stuck in my head” is too loud to let the authentic words come out. There are other times when I can’t twist my tongue around any words but ones I’ve used before. This doesn’t mean my overall language pro- cessing or language development is delayed. It means I need my AAC. When Aaron’s aide started modeling AAC, it was a relief. He could focus on the letters and pictures, and stop struggling to differentiate her words from the background sounds. His performance in class im- proved, but Aaron’s teachers were more excited by his AAC use. While

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