The language development and usage of autistic individuals has become a controversial topic in many of the disciplines and professions providing support to these individuals. As a result, two theories of language processing have been proposed. Analytical language processing suggests that children process and develop language from its most simple form, a phoneme, to its most complex form, a word or phrase. However, the theory of gestalt language processing proposes that some children may instead extract larger, more complex language such as whole words and phrases first and break it down to the simpler language. Gestalt language processing is often mentioned when discussing the language system of autistic individuals as the research suggest that many neurodivergent individuals are primarily gestalt language processers. The theory itself has been well researched and the very idea of it has been around for over a decade, however it does not seem to be as well-known as analytical language processing. In this study, a digital survey was created to investigate the knowledge level, opinions, and teaching practices pertaining to gestalt language processing and associated principles of educators in accredited communication sciences and disorders programs. The data from the study suggests that many educators do not consider themselves familiar with this topic, and about half of them teach about this topic. However, despite their level of knowledge it seems that most educators are in agreement with the core principles and clinical implications of gestalt language processing.
","abstract_html":"<p>The language development and usage of autistic individuals has become a controversial topic in many of the disciplines and professions providing support to these individuals. As a result, two theories of language processing have been proposed. Analytical language processing suggests that children process and develop language from its most simple form, a phoneme, to its most complex form, a word or phrase. However, the theory of gestalt language processing proposes that some children may instead extract larger, more complex language such as whole words and phrases first and break it down to the simpler language. Gestalt language processing is often mentioned when discussing the language system of autistic individuals as the research suggest that many neurodivergent individuals are primarily gestalt language processers. The theory itself has been well researched and the very idea of it has been around for over a decade, however it does not seem to be as well-known as analytical language processing. In this study, a digital survey was created to investigate the knowledge level, opinions, and teaching practices pertaining to gestalt language processing and associated principles of educators in accredited communication sciences and disorders programs. The data from the study suggests that many educators do not consider themselves familiar with this topic, and about half of them teach about this topic. However, despite their level of knowledge it seems that most educators are in agreement with the core principles and clinical implications of gestalt language processing.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Harris, William"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Amanda Mathews","Mrs. Mary Schaub","Dr. Amy LeBert"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:47Z","subjects":["autism","language processing","echolalia","neurodivergent","speech language pathology","allistic","Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics","Speech and Hearing Science","Speech Pathology and Audiology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1030","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Amanda Mathews","Mrs. Mary Schaub","Dr. Amy LeBert"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Harris, William"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-05-09T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["autism","language processing","echolalia","neurodivergent","speech language pathology","allistic","Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics","Speech and Hearing Science","Speech Pathology and Audiology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1030"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The language development and usage of autistic individuals has become a controversial topic in many of the disciplines and professions providing support to these individuals. As a result, two theories of language processing have been proposed. Analytical language processing suggests that children process and develop language from its most simple form, a phoneme, to its most complex form, a word or phrase. However, the theory of gestalt language processing proposes that some children may instead extract larger, more complex language such as whole words and phrases first and break it down to the simpler language. Gestalt language processing is often mentioned when discussing the language system of autistic individuals as the research suggest that many neurodivergent individuals are primarily gestalt language processers. The theory itself has been well researched and the very idea of it has been around for over a decade, however it does not seem to be as well-known as analytical language processing. In this study, a digital survey was created to investigate the knowledge level, opinions, and teaching practices pertaining to gestalt language processing and associated principles of educators in accredited communication sciences and disorders programs. The data from the study suggests that many educators do not consider themselves familiar with this topic, and about half of them teach about this topic. However, despite their level of knowledge it seems that most educators are in agreement with the core principles and clinical implications of gestalt language processing.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Gestalt Language Processing in Accredited Communication Sciences and Disorders Programs"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Amanda Mathews","Mrs. Mary Schaub","Dr. Amy LeBert"],"dc:creator":["Harris, William"],"dc:date.available":["2024-05-09T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The language development and usage of autistic individuals has become a controversial topic in many of the disciplines and professions providing support to these individuals. As a result, two theories of language processing have been proposed. Analytical language processing suggests that children process and develop language from its most simple form, a phoneme, to its most complex form, a word or phrase. However, the theory of gestalt language processing proposes that some children may instead extract larger, more complex language such as whole words and phrases first and break it down to the simpler language. Gestalt language processing is often mentioned when discussing the language system of autistic individuals as the research suggest that many neurodivergent individuals are primarily gestalt language processers. The theory itself has been well researched and the very idea of it has been around for over a decade, however it does not seem to be as well-known as analytical language processing. In this study, a digital survey was created to investigate the knowledge level, opinions, and teaching practices pertaining to gestalt language processing and associated principles of educators in accredited communication sciences and disorders programs. The data from the study suggests that many educators do not consider themselves familiar with this topic, and about half of them teach about this topic. However, despite their level of knowledge it seems that most educators are in agreement with the core principles and clinical implications of gestalt language processing.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1030"],"dc:subject":["autism","language processing","echolalia","neurodivergent","speech language pathology","allistic","Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics","Speech and Hearing Science","Speech Pathology and Audiology"],"dc:title":["Gestalt Language Processing in Accredited Communication Sciences and Disorders Programs"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:47Z"}