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Autism Spectrum Disorder
& Natural Language Acquisition
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
"a complex developmental condition involving persistent challenges with social communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behavior. While autism is considered a lifelong disorder, the degree of impairment in functioning because of these challenges varies between individuals with autism." - American Psychiatric Association
Also referred to as Gestalt Language Processing, GLP is a form of language processing/learning studied by Marge Blanc. Compared to Analytical Language Processing where children learn and process language one "unit" at a time, which is typically one single word. For NLA/GLP, children learn language in "chunks" or gestalts. This can demonstrate itself as a whole sentence or even the words to an entire song. These gestalts convey meaning just as single words do. Eventually the child will mitigate larger gestalts into smaller ones, combine gestalts, and begin to use spontaneous grammar as they progress through the stages of NLA. Many autistic children are GLPs, but not all GLPs are autistic.
The Communication Development Center and Meaningful Speech are two resources with a wide variety of information regarding NLA/GLP and autism. Click the hyperlinks above or watch the videos below for more information.
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