Today’s episode is an “interview” with Jessica! We’re chatting all about Gestalt Language Processing, using AAC in occupational therapy sessions, collaborating with speech therapists, transitions with non-speaking / pre-verbal clients, and more!
Although Jessica is not an expert in language and communication, she works closely with an SLP who has extensive experience in GLP specifically. Everything she shares is from her personal and professional experiences. She knows that she has more to learn in this area and is always looking for new ways to help her clients!
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -> https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, & child development courses.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
Links
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Episode 266 Gestalt Language Processing
Today’s episode is an “interview” with Jessica! We’re chatting all about Gestalt Language Processing, using AAC in occupational therapy sessions, collaborating with speech therapists, transitions with non-speaking / pre-verbal clients, and more!
Although Jessica is not an expert in language and communication, she works closely with an SLP who has extensive experience in GLP specifically. Everything she shares is from her personal and professional experiences. She knows that she has more to learn in this area and is always looking for new ways to help her clients!
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -> https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, & child development courses.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
Links
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla YouTube Channel
Harkla Website - Shop Sensory Products!
Harkla Instagram
Episode 266 Gestalt Language Processing
I think, you know, so often these kids who are non-speaking or pre-verbal, it can seem more difficult to make a connection with them because they're not using language the way we're used to or the way we do. So really, as a practitioner, you have to find out how to communicate with them and how to connect with them and it can be a little bit more difficult in the beginning. But really it's a matter of stepping back. Taking it back to the basics. Something that we talk about all the time of like getting down on their level, figure out what they like, maybe change the environment, and instead of being in a big treatment gym, you go to a small room where it's quiet, the lights are dimmer, there's not as much going on, and you'll be able to connect with them a little bit because they're not so overstimulated.
Rachel:I'm Rachel.
Jessica:And I'm Jessica. And this is All Things Sensory by Harkla.
Rachel:We are both certified occupational therapy assistants and together with Harkla, we are on a mission to empower parents, therapists, and educators to help raise confident and strong children of all abilities.
Jessica:On this podcast, we chat about all things sensory, diving into special needs, occupational therapy, parenting, self care, overall health and wellness and so much more.
Rachel:We are here to provide raw, honest, and fun strategies, ideas, and information for parents, therapists, and educators, as well as other professionals to implement into daily life.
Jessica:Thank you so much for joining us.
Rachel:Hey there. Welcome back to all things sensory by Harkala. You're listening to your good friends, Rach and Jessica. I almost called you Jess, but then I was like, well, she doesn't like to be called Jess as much.
Jessica:I don't care.
Rachel:Okay.
Jessica:It's just that certain people do and certain people don't, but I really don't have a preference.
Rachel:Jess ica. Jessica. So anyways, today we are going to do a little bit of a different style of our.
Jessica:Is it a unique episode?
Rachel:It's such a unique episode. It's going to be so good.
Jessica:If you know, you know.
Rachel:Okay. Anyways, we're sitting on the couch again for this episode and we get a little chatty because we're in the reclined position and we're just like hanging out, chit chatting, having a good time.
Jessica:It feels so much more relaxed.
Rachel:Recording. Yeah, I know. It's like we're just hanging out talking.
Jessica:Which might not be a good thing.
Rachel:I know. You'll have to let us know if, if these episodes are like extra and you're like, just get to the point, you guys. Okay, let's get to the point. So we're talking about gestalt language processing today. And the reason why we're talking about this is because Jessica is in the clinic part time. She works 2 days a week in the clinic, and she sees a variety of kiddos on her caseload and she works with a speech language pathologist. And not like just one, but she works with one who also sees the same clients and they've been working together to support their gestalt language processing client. I don't know the proper term for that. How you, how you say that, but.
Jessica:Yeah. I'm not sure either, actually.
Rachel:We'll, we'll probably refer to this as GLP, gestalt language processors, gestalt language processing. So just know that if we say GLP, it's just a little bit easier for us to say.
Jessica:So much easier.
Rachel:Yes.
Jessica:Yeah. The point with this episode was to just kind of talk about some of the things that I've been doing in my treatment sessions. The things that I've been learning as I'm working with these children, these clients. The things that I've learned from my, the SLP that I'm working with. She's amazing and the different ways that we're using our AAC devices. If you follow us on social media, you've probably seen the stories that I post on Tuesdays and Thursdays of the tablet that we use and the app that we use is called TD Snap and.
Rachel:Touch down.
Jessica:Maybe that's what it is. I'm just learning so much about it and how to use it, how to set it up, and how to create buttons and pages that work for different children, who are in different levels of their ,language processing and their communication skills. So, we're just going to kind of talk about this. I think Rachel's going to ask me some questions, almost like a, like an interview. Keep in mind that I, I just like touching the tip of the iceberg as far as it comes to like GLP strategies and AAC devices. So I'm just sharing with what I'm learning. But I'm not the expert here.
Rachel:Yes. We do have a previous podcast interview that we will link that goes into more in depth information and strategies and like talking about the levels and whatnot with GLP and we'll link that in the show notes. But what's so crazy to me is when I had Tripp in 2020 and I hadn't gone back to the clinic setting since then. This was not a thing. This wasn't, this wasn't talked about in practice. I had never heard of this before. I mean, obviously it was a thing, but it was just never, it wasn't on the radar for us for us.
Jessica:As OT practitioners.
Rachel:Yeah. I mean, did you, had you ever heard about it? No, no, no.
Jessica:It kind of came up after we kind of took like our break after we joined Harkla and then I'm, you know, when I got back into the clinic a year ago.
Rachel:Yeah. One year.
Jessica:Yeah, it's been a year. I think like mid-May has been a year and all of a sudden it's it's everywhere
Rachel:Yeah, it is. So anyways, I have some questions for Jessica because I want to learn more about it and so I put together these questions and I'm gonna just interview the mini expert here and we'll all learn together So first thing just give us a refresher on what GLP is. Let us know from your perspective as a OT practitioner.
Jessica:So Gestalt Language Processing, GLP, is like the way we describe a certain type of how a child learns how to process language. And no, I'm not explaining this well, but like Rachel said, we have an episode with somebody who was able to explain it very well. So listen to that if you are unfamiliar. Essentially, a gestalt language processor doesn't learn language in the same way that we traditionally learn language or know how people learn language, right? So a child learns language by listening to their caregiver, babbling, starting with one word phrases, two word phrases, and building up from there. And, you know, they, they start building this language that they can talk, right? But a GLP learns in scripts. Thank you. Yeah, learn in scripts. So they learn language in a script, like a phrase. So instead of like single words to identify, like cup, here's a cup, this is a cup, they learn a phrase and that's how they process languages through those scripts and those phrases. And so when we're working with a GLP, a Gestalt Language Processor, the way that we communicate with them is a little bit different because we're not just asking them to like name this thing. We're like, okay, say cup, like they don't understand what that means. That's not how their brain is processing language.
Rachel:They'll be like, okay, say cup. That's what they'll actually say.
Jessica:They can repeat us. Yeah, they're, they're going to have that echolalia, right? Okay. And so what I've been learning a lot from the SLP that I work with, she's amazing.
Rachel:Don't get ahead of yourself. All my questions.
Jessica:I know it's, I'm just expanding. It's fine. What I've been learning is how to use phrases and how to use scripts to help these clients that I'm working with learn language and how to communicate with them. And what I've noticed is that when I use GLP strategies, that's what we call them in our notes. I don't know if that's the correct phrase. But when we use GLP strategies, I get such a response, like a positive response from these kids that I'm working with. Because what I'm doing is I'm communicating with them in a way that their brain understands and so they're All of a sudden it like clicks for them. Like, Oh, she understands me. She's building rapport. This is fun. I can understand what's going on. So, hopefully that makes sense.
Rachel:Yeah, that was great. Yeah, that's helpful. Um, but so what I want, you kind of teased us and went ahead, but tell us how you're collaborating with the SLP in your clinic. So that way other practitioners can do the same thing.
Jessica:Yeah. Well, it starts with just asking questions, right? Like I will go into her office or I'll catch her in the, you know, kitchen while we're getting food or something and I'll be like, Hey, this is what I'm struggling with. How can I improve my communication with this client? And she'll give me some tips. She'll give me some ideas and we do share a couple of kids, right? So like I'll see a kid for OT and then that child will go to her for speech or vice versa. And we'll be able to kind of collaborate and talk in between that transition. But really it just, it comes from me asking questions and her being willing to share and collaborate. And like I said, she's amazing. She asks me questions from like an OT standpoint of sensory, like, Hey, this, this client does this, what does that mean? And I'm like, Oh, it means that they're seeking out this, this, and this. Try doing this, this, and this in your speech session and then we always come back to each other and be like, Hey, that worked really well. Thank you so much. Or, Hey, this didn't really seem to work. What could I do differently? So if you have the opportunity to collaborate with somebody of a different profession, whether it's speech therapy or physical therapy or chiro or feeding, whatever it is, like, just ask questions because you don't know everything.
Rachel:Our kids deserve it.
Jessica:Our kids deserve it. But also, no, none of us know everything. Unless you have a degree and experience in every single field, then you don't know everything.
Rachel:We're definitely better practitioners when we don't act like we know everything and we're always curious to learn more.
Jessica:Yes.
Rachel:Like stay curious, y'all. So, the next thing I'm curious about, you mentioned the AAC device that you have. Is it one device that you have at the clinic for everyone to use or do the kids bring their own devices?
Jessica:Both.
Rachel:Okay.
Jessica:We have two or three tablets that all of us use.
Rachel:So are you programming them with the phrases that the kids are using or you want them to use?
Jessica:Yeah, so what we do is you can create different like pages in TD Snap and again, this is I've just learned this within the last I don't know six to eight months But you can create pages and what I actually started doing was creating specific pages with the clients like name or initials so that I can go into this one page and have exactly the specific phrases and pictures that I want to use with this specific client. But TD snap also has other ways to use it. They there's like visual schedules that you can create. There's first, that, then picture schedules that you can create within it, which is cool. But for the clients that I'm working with right now, I will have a page and I'll have really simple phrases with the picture of like, it's time to take my shoes off. For drink of water, it'd be like, need a drink, want to get a drink, something like that. And then I'll have other things of do it again. That's a big one that I use for my clients of like, we're doing something that they love to do and so then I'll have the AAC device here and I'll push, do it again. And then we do it again.
Rachel:Instead of like more or all done.
Jessica:Yep. Yep. So we want it to be, and this is what I've learned from my speech therapist I work with is that we want the phrases to be able to later on connect with other things. So instead of like just more, we want it to be like, do it again, because then we can connect it with other things like throw the ball, do it again, throw the ball again, like we can start kind of connecting those phrases and mixing them up and matching them. So then I have other ones of like, I'm all done, or I don't want to, or I don't like it. And then with different activities, it's like throw the ball. Build the puzzle, let's go jump, let's go swing, let's go crash, stuff like that.
Rachel:So you're pushing the button, and then they hear the phrase, and will they generally repeat it? Or are you trying to facilitate them to repeat it, or push the button?
Jessica:Both. But there's no expectation, right? So that's the other thing I'm learning is that these kiddos do so much better when I don't tell them or expect them to do it. I'm just modeling it, right? Like I'm in the middle of a session and say, we're throwing the ball through the tunnel and kiddo is loving it. So we'll throw the ball through the tunnel. The child will bring the ball back to me and on the AAC device, I'll push either throw the ball or do it again, or I'll push both of them. And I'll also say it. Sometimes I won't say it. Sometimes I do say it. And then I'll throw the ball through the tunnel again to show them like, Hey, that's what this means when we say this on the, on the AAC. Ideally, what we want is we want the client to first have that visual attention to the AAC to show like, hey, when we push this button, that's what that means, that's what it communicates and then, at some point, if we're consistent enough, we want the child to end up pushing that button also and, or starting to also verbalize that phrase.
Rachel:Love that.
Jessica:Yeah. It's been really cool.
Rachel:So how do you identify which children can benefit from like using this GLP type strategy in your session?
Jessica:I wish I had a good answer for you because I'm still learning so much, so I don't even know. But I think. If a child is delayed on their speech, we want to figure out why. Is it because they are a Gestalt language processor and we haven't been providing them with the strategies to learn language the way that their brain needs to learn? Or is it more related to like a structural thing where they have a tongue tie. So their tongue can't move enough and doesn't have the range of motion to produce speech sounds, right? Like, I do have one client that I've worked with in the past that initially I thought they were a GLP, but I think that it ended up being that they just had some structural challenges that were making it so that they couldn't produce speech sounds. But again, I'm not the expert. I'm not the one to, but it's not even a diagnosis, but I'm not the one to say like, Hey, this is a GLP. This child learns this way.
Rachel:That's when it's important to collaborate.
Jessica:Yeah. That's why I'm like, Hey, what do you think? Could you come observe this child for a couple of minutes? Like, do you have a client right now that could play a game with this child and you could kind of watch them to see, are they a GLP? Should I be using some of these strategies? But you can also just use some of those phrases. So what I tell parents is, instead of asking your child questions like what's in the box. Instead, say something like let's look in the box and then you open it and you do that action. Right? So instead of asking your child those like WH questions, what, when, where, how; instead of asking those questions, use a phrase of what you're actually going to do. Right? So instead of, I, I catch myself all the time asking these kids questions. Be like, what should we do next? And be like, Oh no, don't ask that question. Use a phrase of like, let's go play, let's go find a toy, let's go swing, let's go make a choice instead of asking those questions and oftentimes if you kind of change how you're communicating with the child, you can tell if it connects with them and if they do process language more in that way.
Rachel:Interesting.
Jessica:It's so fascinating.
Rachel:I was going to say. So we know that transitions can be difficult for kids regardless, but are there any tips for making transitions smoother for Gestalt language processors?
Jessica:I think.
Rachel:That you found at least.
Jessica:Yeah. Well, for these clients that I'm working with, I think using the AAC device is huge to, um, communicate if we're going to do more, if we're all done, you know. You can change in TD snap you can change the size of the grid of the pictures. So oftentimes you'll get an AAC device and there's like 20 buttons on one page, right? But you can make it so that there's only like 6 and so there's less visual information to process. The pictures are bigger, the buttons are bigger, so the child has more success with being able to push the button they want because it's bigger, right? So changing the size of it is helpful so the child can like see the options and if they're giving visual attention to the AAC, you can start asking them, should we go play ball? Should we go slide? And then maybe they can make a choice and, and you can follow their lead. I think, oftentimes, with these kids, it's so much more child led.
Rachel:Yeah.
Jessica:Because we are just trying to figure out how to build a connection with them. How to communicate with them. How to make it fun for them. Because their brain processes language in such a different way. So we need to just figure out how to connect with them and that really starts with following their lead and finding out what they want to do. And then we can build in our goals and our things that we need to do, right?
Rachel:I was just thinking you were talking about making it fun and following their lead and figuring out what works for them. It's the exact same thing that we do for the sensory system. Connect with them, build rapport, find out what they like, build on that, challenge them. Yeah. The same concept.
Jessica:Well, and what I found too is because a Gestalt language processor doesn't process language in the same way that like maybe we're used to or maybe the way we process language, oftentimes they're so lost, right? Because their brain's not understanding what's going on, what's being said to them. So oftentimes these kids might be in fight or flight. They don't feel safe and so we need to make them feel safe. We need to figure out how can we make this child feel safe. So, you know, maybe this client loves to play ball. So you incorporate balls into everything. Maybe they love to play with the water. So you incorporate water play into your entire session. Maybe they love to string beads onto pipe cleaners and just like from a visual standpoint, I mean, they love that activity. So start incorporating that activity into the session so that they can get some of that dopamine, right? They can feel happy. They can feel. successful. They can feel safe with you.
Rachel:Any last pieces of advice for other practitioners? What are you gonna leave us with here today?
Jessica:I think, you know, so often these kids who are non-speaking or pre-verbal, It can seem more difficult to make a connection with them because they're not using language the way we're used to or the way we do. So really, as a practitioner, you have to find out how to communicate with them and how to connect with them and it can be a little bit more difficult in the beginning. But really it's a matter of stepping back. Taking it back to the basics. Something that we talk about all the time of like getting down on their level, figure out what they like, maybe change the environment, and instead of being in a big treatment gym, you go to a small room where it's quiet, the lights are dimmer, there's not as much going on, and you'll be able to connect with them a little bit because overstimulated.
Rachel:That was really insightful, thank you.
Jessica:I hope so.
Rachel:All right. If this episode resonated with you, if you learned something from it, please take a minute, share it, screenshot it, tag us on Instagram, share it to your stories. Just let us know and spread the word because obviously this information is needed and we gotta get out there.
Jessica:Well, hopefully it's helpful. I would love to hear from speech therapists or occupational therapists on like things you are doing that are working. Things you're doing that's not working. I think this conversation is really important because so many of our kids just need us to be there for them to like open up that opportunity for them to communicate.
Rachel:That was it.
Jessica:That was it.
Rachel:We'll, we'll plan on chatting with y'all next Wednesday.
Jessica:Okay. Bye.
Rachel:Thank you so much for listening to All Things Sensory by Harkla.
Jessica:If you want more information on anything mentioned in the show, head over to Harkla.co/podcast to get the show notes.
Rachel:If you have any followup questions, the best place to ask those is in the comments on the show notes or message us on our Instagram account, which is at Harkla_family or at all things sensory podcast. If you just search Harkla, you'll find us there.
Jessica:Like we mentioned before, our podcast listeners get 10 percent off their first order at Harkla. Whether it's for one of our digital courses or one of our sensory swings, the discount code sensory will get you 10 percent off. That's S E N S O R Y.
Rachel:Head to Harkla. co/sensory to use that discount code right now.
Jessica:We are so excited to work together to help create confident kids all over the world. While we make every effort to share correct information, we're still learning.
Rachel:We will double check all of our facts, but realize that medicine is a constantly changing science and art.
Jessica:One doctor or therapist may have a different way of doing things from another.
Rachel:We are simply presenting our views and opinions on how to address common sensory challenges, health related difficulties, and what we have found to be beneficial that will be as evidence-based as possible.
Jessica:By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or your child.
Rachel:Consult your child's pediatrician or therapist for any medical issues that he or she may be having.
Jessica:This entire disclaimer also applies to any guests or contributors to the podcast.
Rachel:Thanks so much for listening.