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1 %u00a9 Elklan Training Limited 2025Elklan Supporting Gestalt Language Processing %u2013 a Total Communication ApproachINTRODUCTIONThis book provides a guide for readers who may be a professional, carer or parent supporting a child or young person identified as a Gestalt Language Processor, or someone who has heard of Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) and wants to find out more.Like other Elklan resources, this book is intended to be of practical help. Those working with a child or young person can apply their shared knowledge on Gestalt Language Processing and provide valuable direct or indirect support, aiming for the best outcomes for the child or young person. Firstly, it is important to understand some of the theoretical background.Background and researchThe complexities of language development include phonology (study of speech sounds), morphology (study of words), syntax (grammar), semantics (meaning) and pragmatics (the social use and social understanding of language). Most of our foundations of the understanding of these components of communication are based on early work by Skinner (1957) and Chomsky (1975) and the extensive research which then followed and informed psycholinguistic theories of language development. For more information, see the review by Sudrajat (2021). Two possible pathways to language acquisitionOne pathway is %u2018analytical%u2019 in nature. It describes the pattern of change from a baby using babble patterns to approximate word forms which usually refer to specific objects, people or actions. These approximate word forms become more recognisable and child combines them to create phrases and sentences. In this book this pathway will be referred to as Analytical Language Processing or ALP. Until recently, this %u2018Analytical%u2019 approach was used as the main way of monitoring children%u2019s language development and many support strategies and interventions are based on the Analytical Language Processing pattern of development.Another pathway is based on the theory that an utterance together with the associated experience, namely a gestalt, is heard, processed and stored as one whole meaning. Ann Peters (1983) describes how a child acquires gestalts as units of meaning from the stream of language that they hear. Ann Peters was the first person to use the term Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) to describe an alternative pathway for developing language. Barry Prizant was observing similar patterns at around the same time and summarised the understanding of clinicians and researchers at the time in a paper %u2018Language acquisition and communicative behaviour in autism: toward an understanding of the %u2018whole%u2019 of it%u2019 which was published in 1983.