Welcome to Meaningful Speech®

Calling all speech-language pathologists, parents, therapists, teachers, and related professionals!Our site is for anyone and everyone who is involved in supporting kids on their language development journey. It is our mission to educate you in child-led, neurodiversity affirming speech-language therapy,  gestalt language development and delayed echolalia (the first stage in this developmental process).

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We created a 2 page PDF handout to help you explain gestalt language development and delayed echolalia (the first stage in this developmental process) to parents, school staff, or your child's therapy team. 

Spanish version included!

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 Meaningful Speech® is the creator of courses and resources focused on child-led therapy, neurodiversity affirming speech-language therapy, gestalt language processing, and the Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) framework, developed by Marge Blanc (2012).

Watch our Free Masterclass: Echolalia & Child-led Therapy 

This free masterclass is designed for parents and professionals who are looking for a basic introduction to echolalia and gestalt language development (delayed echolalia is the first stage!). We will also discuss how child-led therapy can help support this type of language development.

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Welcome to Meaningful Speech® !

 

Meaningful Speech®  LLC was founded to educate speech-language professionals, parents, and those working in related fields about gestalt language development and delayed echolalia.  We teach you how to take the research and apply it directly to therapy or working at home with your child. We are on a mission to educate everyone about the “other” type of language development they never learned about in higher education.

What the Meaningful Speech® Community has to say about our courses and products:

 

S.D., Parent

This experience has opened my eyes that there is not just one way to learn language. Language development is not a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Finding the right therapist that understands how your child learns is key. I would encourage all parents and professionals to educate themselves about NLA and the benefits it can bring to children who need language support.

Melissa, Speech-Langauge Pathologist 

A MUST for all SLPs working with Autistic children. I have and will continue to recommend it. It gives vital information for us SLPs on how to work with a population prevalent in the pediatric world.

Bettina, Parent & Speech-Language Pathologist

I hit a wall with my son and his language development.  He was not diagnosed autistic yet when I found this course, but I realized how much of a GLP he was through my own deep dive of research and consulting with my grad school friend, Jamie Boyle. She recommended the Meaningful Speech IG. Through just some tips from social media I changed my approach, I saw progress and changes in my son when I began to really acknowledge his scripts,  and made me become more aware of my own childhood history as a GLP. Now we are both diagnosed autistic. This course has made me make so many changes in how I treat my own autistic and GLP patients at work. I’m so thankful for this course and am excited to continue learning and practicing what I’ve learned.

Get Started with The Meaningful Speech Course

"I want to change everything for you. I want you to experience the pure joy that comes from knowing and doing better."

~ Alexandria Zachos

Hello! I am Alexandria Zachos, MS, CCC-SLP/L

I am an SLP, a business owner, a wife, and a mom who is committed to learning and growing as a speech-language pathologist and sharing my knowledge and experience with my community. I am truly passionate about educating my fellow SLPs and parents with the knowledge that I WISH I had 20 years ago! I was never taught about gestalt language processing in graduate school, my externships, or during my clinical fellowship year. When it came to echolalia, I was taught to ignore and redirect.

It wasn't until much later in my career that I learned echolalia communicates - a serendipitous moment in 2016 when I was introduced to Marge Blanc’s book, Natural Language Acquisition on the Autism Spectrum: The Journey from Echolalia to Self-Generated Language. As soon as I heard about her book, I immediately bought it and read it cover to cover. That is when I truly began to understand gestalt language development and why my clients were communicating with delayed echolalia. Once I implemented my new knowledge into therapy, it was immediately obvious this approach was WORKING! I finally began to see tremendous growth in the most complex communicators. I reached out to Marge right away and began one of the most meaningful mentorships and collaborations of my career. Marge helped me every step of the way and has given her input, editing skills, and time to the Meaningful Speech® course.  Meaningful Speech® is now my way to spread the career-changing knowledge of the Natural Language Acquisition framework (Blanc, 2012) while helping parents, speech-language pathologists and related professionals turn their knowledge into action.

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The Meaningful Speech® Scholarship Program

Full scholarships to Meaningful Speech are available to Speech Therapists and other professionals working in under-resourced countries and communities. Scholarships are issued bi-annually in early January and June.

To apply, please use the link below to fill out the application.

Apply Today

Don't Miss This Freebie!

We created a PDF handout to help you explain gestalt language development and delayed echolalia (the first stage in this developmental process) to parents, school staff, or your child's therapy team. Now available in English AND Spanish!

Get Yours Today!

Advance your skillset quickly and deliver therapy (or work with your child at home) that will open up the world of spontaneous and natural communication for children who communicate with delayed echolalia.

Get Started Today

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Meaningful Speech® LLC is a partner of Social Butterfly Speech Therapy Inc.