Another way of viewing echolalia
What the research says about echolalia as a form gestalt language development
I’ve been working with my non-verbal autistic system for the entirety of my life. I’ve not been shy about sharing my struggles with language. I’ve written about teaching language to non-verbal populations. I’ve asked how we should frame language instruction in non-verbal populations? I’ve also asked how language acquisition works if you're non-verbal? There’s even a thread in my book, No Place for Autism?, that deals with this topic on a more personal basis - my journey with language is used to frame the discussion of communication in general and echolalia in particular.
To catch us up, what do we know about language acquisition? As usual, when we don’t know, we turn to The Book of Knowledge (aka wikipedia). The Book of Knowledge’s page on language acquisition features everything you need to know about neurotypical language acquisition, but precious little about special populations like ours. So, we’ll keep looking.
The trouble is, how do you search for something when you don’t know what you’re looking for? That’s why I’m here, serving as your humble guide.
Have you ever heard of Natural Language Acquisition (NLA)? NLA describes the process in which humans naturally develop language - all humans. NLA, and the decades of research that has been happening around the topic, shows us that typical language development is not just the milestones we are used to. It’s not just the binary of either single words turning into 2 and 3 word combinations and then sentences, or no language at all.
Humans, it seems, have two types of ways to develop language:
Analytic Language Processing (ALP) (neurotypical language acquisition).
Gestalt Language Processors (GLP) (typically seen as echolalia)
There’s a lot more that goes into explaining GLPs of course, but for right now, it’s important to know that the research around NLA shows us that our gestalt processors are naturally going through their own stages. Stages that are not featured in most teacher prep courses, or even Speech Pathology schools. The knowledge and understanding of NLA and GLPs is what can help us explain and support the different types of language development in humans.
What follows below are the details about NLA, and a ton of links to further information (this is the value of a paid subscription - value for value).
What I'm going to share with you about NLA is based upon the research of Barry Prizant (1983) and Ann Peters (1984) and the studies that brought us Marg Blanc's 2012 book, Natural Language Acquisition on the Autism Spectrum: The Journey from Echolalia to Self-Generated Language. If you try to find a used copy of Blanc’s book, it will set you back over US$125.00. But, here are a few resources from that book that are free (here) and (here).
NLA explains how humans naturally develop language in one of two ways.
Analytic (ALP): These are the "typical" language learners that follow our more well known processes of developing language by starting with single words and moving toward two and three word utterances.
Gestalt (GLP): These are the humans that learn language starting in chunks, or whole units, and often start with multiple word phrases and sentences. Their language may start off less flexible and many have a lot of intonation.
NLA gives us a detailed description of the stages that our GLPs go through in developing language:
As it relates to autism, GLP may be rooted in the way our minds process the world. As Blanc notes:
“Holistic patterns of speech are more pronounced in autistic children than in normal children and have parallels in inflexible behavioral patterns, which have been regarded as defining characteristics of autism (DeMyer, Hingtgen, & Jackson, 1981; Rutter, 1978). These findings suggest that the patterns may be manifestations of a particular mode of processing that may stem from an inability to segment experiences into smaller, constituent components.”
Kanner (1973) describes this characteristic of autistic children:
“Their world must seem to them to be made up of elements that, once they have been experienced in a certain setting or sequence, cannot be tolerated in any other setting or sequence; nor can the setting or sequence be tolerated without all the original ingredients in the identical … order. (p. 41)”
Blanc continues, “Kanner seems to be referring to one kind of gestalt, that for situational understandings. Gestalt processing preference is also evident in the multiword units used in language production. The language behavior of autistic individuals is replete with immediate echolalia, delayed echolalia, incessant questioning, and demands for specific responses from others. These characteristics can all be viewed as reflecting autistic speakers’ inability to produce and use language flexibly; immediate and delayed echolalia are indicative of a lack of appreciation of internal linguistic structure, and ritualized questioning may be indicative of a lack of appreciation of internal, interactive structure. Each of these characteristics of the language of autistic individuals can be understood as manifestations of gestalt processing.”
Another aspect of language acquisition and echolalia has to do with accents. Baron-Cohen’s research on this provides me with answers as to where my own accent comes from, and why my speech therapy and speech coaching experiences were a struggle:
“Normal children whose parents have different native languages tend to develop an accent which is closer to their peers than to either parent. It was predicted that children with autism, because of their social deficits, might not acquire the accent of their peers, perhaps because of the lack of the normal drive to identify with peers. Bilingualism was used as a window into such social factors in language acquisition. Using audiotaped speech samples, the study found that in a sample of children with autism who were brought up in England and whose mothers were not English, 83.3% acquired their mother's (non-English) accent. In contrast, among normally- developing siblings of children with autism who were brought up in England and whose mothers were not English, only 12.5% acquired their mother's (non-English) accent. We suggest that such studies of unusual populations are of value in furthering our understanding of the larger population of children with autism, and the influences on normal social development.”
NLA and GLP explains this phenomenon perfectly. Using my own upbringing as an example, the gestalts that I acquired (the scripts that I built from the language around me) were not based upon my work with my parents. There wasn’t a lot of talking in my house when I grew up. Language samples, as I’ve noted before, came from the television. In my case, my Canadian-Scottish grandmother and her fondness for the BBC shows on our local public broadcaster. It also explains why, when I speak German, I do it with the accent of rural Baden-Württemberg … where I lived and worked for a time in my 20’s, and not with a German-tinged Canadian-Scottish accent. The gestalts that I built were from authentic speech, there in context. They built upon the scripts that I built in my youth, hanging out with my German-American friends and their families in my community.
Back to Blanc, “Language develops naturally if we recognize the processes involved and partner with our children. That means recognizing analytic processing vs gestalt processing, knowing the stages of language development for each, and allowing each individual adequate time at each stage. But the foundation also includes deeper principles of child development. It all begins with trust. Trust defines a supportive relationship with the child, and it is up to us to earn and keep that trust. Without trust, we have little right to try to second-guess (and model) language the child might want to keep as their own. Trust comes first, and allows true partnership to evolve. Within partnership, we can observe the child’s natural inclinations, and ‘follow the child’s lead’ even as we supply the ‘ramps’ for them to demonstrate it through motoric means. Coregulation means we figure out how we both can feel good, and can play freely together. With self-regulation as a long-term goal, we watch all aspects of physical development and coordination, and make sure they continue as the child gets older.”
Unfortunately, much of the work noted above deals with parenting and clinical settings. I’ve yet to find a commercial source that outlines how to do this work in an inclusive education setting. Thus, the writings I noted above … which serve as my thinking out loud. I still tend to think that the non-verbal autistic brain can work with these gestalts, as I have, but will always be a “foreigner in a foreign land” when it comes to language. That’s why, for example, I’ve approached my teaching of English to my high schoolers as a Teaching English as a Foreign Language function.
As for me, professionally, I still very much rely upon gestalts (scripts) in my day to day work. I still script out, for example, each IEP meeting - literally script out in an MS Word doc everything that I will say. I try to anticipate questions and build in the answers as part of my various monologues.
That’s enough for now. There’s a ton of information in the links that I’ve included in this article. I thank you for your continued support. If you’ve found value here, please feel free to comment below. You can also help me by letting others know about this substack and the work I do here in sharing information and resources.
— December 16, 2023 Note —
Some of the materials herein have made it into my latest book, Holistic Language Instruction. It will be out in 2024 from Lived Places Publishing and available at major book retailers worldwide.