Natural Language Acquisition in Autism: Echolalia to Self-Generated Language Level 3

Course overview

This course is an all-new look at Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) treatment, with strategies for individualizing treatment for gestalt language processors of any age: 18 months to 28 years. In its 10.5 hours, it includes every aspect of supporting gestalt language development, including physical supports for self-regulation. After a short review of the Stages of Natural Language Acquisition, four case examples illustrate the variety of considerations in individualizing treatment. Extensive videos, language samples, and goal-writing are included, complemented by a look at the groundbreaking work in the neuroscience of relationship. An in-depth study of the juxtaposition of NLA Stage 3 and the pre-sentence grammatical structures that support self-generated language provides the SLP with a solid foundation for supporting developmental grammar. A separate section addresses language gestalts as carriers of meaning and emotion, and the final section features comments from a variety of people about their experiences with NLA and their hopes for the future. The resounding feeling is of optimism, and a future in which gestalt language acquisition is well-understood as simply one kind of natural language acquisition - so that treatment can more fully-address clients' individual profiles.