Free Resources on Gestalt Language Development and Natural Language Acquisition

Are you interested in learning more about gestalt language development, natural language acquisition and child-led therapy but want to comb through the free resources that are available to you before investing money to dive deeper? We’ve rounded up some great free resources for you! 

Download our freebie handout

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. This handout is currently available in English and Spanish! Signing up for this freebie handout will also add you to our email list. Joining our email list allows you to be the first one to know when we release new courses or products (or updates to our current courses/products!), blog posts, sales, events/trainings, and more! This freebie/email sign up is available right on the home pages of our website. 

Check out our Instagram Page

Our Instagram is filled with educational posts and short videos (reels) on gestalt language development, natural language acquisition, and child-led therapy. It’s a great start to learning more about our most-asked questions in a shorter format than our courses/products/blog. We show therapy in-action, examples of each stage, provide course and product updates, as well weekly Q&A’s. We have highlights at the top of our profile that round-up our top posts organized by topic, and have pinned some of our most helpful posts for getting started.

Read through our blog posts

Our blog is another great free resource that covers many of our most-asked questions in a longer format than our Instagram. It’s a great resource to print out or share with families you’re supporting as a clinician or with family members or professionals as a parent of a gestalt language processor. We release a new blog post every Thursday. We’ve covered many topics in relation to gestalt language development so far such as basic introductory information about gestalt language development and the stages, school supports and IEP goals, AAC, receptive language and comprehension, music supports, literacy, bilingualism, compliance-based therapy, potty training and more! Sign up for our email list to be notified each week. 

Listen to podcast episodes

The founder of Meaningful Speech, Alexandria Zachos, has done many podcast interviews about gestalt language development. We have compiled all of these interviews into one place on our website, to make them easy to find and access at any time. 

Watch our Lunch & Learn Interviews on Youtube 

We have "lunch and learn" interviews available on the Meaningful Speech YouTube channel where we have had discussions on a variety of topics such as parenting GLPs, AAC, school supports, ABA perspectives, recorded Q&As and more! 

Check out the Communication Development Center

Marge Blanc’s website has free information on all of the stages of gestalt language development, Natural Language Acquisition framework and other topics such as speech, regulation, multimodal communication and musical support. You can also find links to articles she has written and videos discussions/stories. Information is available in the following languages: English, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, French and Hindi. 

Watch this free 1-hour Introduction

This is a pre-recorded introductory presentation that covers the concept of gestalt language processing, some of the history behind it, and briefly reviews the stages of gestalt language development. You can find the recording here.

Want to learn more in-depth information about how to support gestalt language processors?

• Consider taking the Meaningful Speech course to learn more about how your child or client processes language, how you can help support them from echolalia to self-generated (original flexible) language, child-led therapy, and neurodiversity-affirming practices. 

• Consider taking our AAC + Gestalt Language Processing course. It will teach you how to identify, evaluate and support gestalt language processors who use AAC or who you think might benefit from AAC.

• Consider purchasing our GLP Handbook for Coaching and Education. This comprehensive resource was designed by Meaningful Speech team member Katie Arnold for clinicians and parents! The GLP Handbook is filled with tools to educate about and advocate for a Gestalt Language Processor in your life (or on your caseload).

• Consider taking one of Marge Blanc’s courses on Natural Language Acquisition or purchasing her book. Both can be found on her website: www.communicationdevelopmentcenter.com. 
•  Look for a speech-language pathologist (SLP) who "gets it" and can help you in supporting your child's language development. Check out our world-wide registry for SLPs who understand gestalt language processing and child-led therapy.