Stages 1 and 2 in gestalt language processing

There are 6 stages of gestalt language development. This webpage looks at stage 1 and 2.

Stage 1

At stage 1, children use scripts that they have copied from other people or places. These are often linked to times when they were feeling big emotions like excitement or frustration.

They might echo words or phrases or use strings of language that we cannot understand. Their intonation usually sounds the same as where the language or tune originally came from.

What are the signs that my child is at stage 1?

At stage 1, children might not be talking yet, or sound like they are using a ‘made up language’ where you cannot understand tell what they are saying.

They might really enjoy music, songs or video clips. They might like listening or watching to the same videos or TV shows over and over.

These children often enjoy singing along to songs or humming in tune. They might love it when you sing nursery rhymes. But some children might hate it and try to get you to stop because you do not sound exactly like their favourite YouTube channel! This is because they are very sensitive to hearing exactly the right pitch and intonation.

They might be really interested in things like letters, numbers and shapes.

They might have words or phrases that they say, which they have learnt from somewhere. This could be things that you always say in your routine, or that staff always say at nursery or school. Or they might copy scripts that they have heard from TV or YouTube, like “to infinity and beyond” or “paw patrol are on a roll”.

They might copy the same intonation (up and down melody) as the TV or YouTube show when they say the scripts they have learnt.

These child often use lots of single words to name things such as pointing at pictures in a book and saying “apple” or “banana”. They might not be using these words with other people or making progress with joining words together.

How can I help my child at stage 1?

At stage 1, the aim is for a child to learn more gestalts. It is helpful if the scripts will be easy to mix and match later on. To support your child with their communication at this stage, the main things you should do are:

• Model lots of functional, flexible and easy-to-mitigate gestalts

• Use phrases with engaging intonation during play

• Use the general strategies to support gestalt language processors

• Do the detective work. We cannot always take gestalts at face value because often they are not literal. The meaning is tied to an experience instead. We need to think about where the gestalt has come from and what the child was doing at the time. This can help us know what the child is trying to communicate.

Stage 2

Children at stage 2 are starting to break gestalts down. This might involve using one part of the script, or mixing and matching 2 gestalts to make a new phrase. This is called mitigation.

What are the signs that my child is at stage 2?

There are a few things you might notice your child trying out.

They might try to insert or swap a word at the beginning or end of a gestalt, for example, “here comes the bird” becomes “here comes the squirrel”. This is called mitigation.

They might take pieces out of an original gestalt and trimming it down, for example, “London bridge is falling down” becomes “falling down”.

They may try to change the words in favourite songs for example, they might name new characters in the finger family song. They might use different names when singing happy birthday to different people.

How can I help my child at stage 2?

In stage 2, our aim is for the child to mitigate (mix and match) partial gestalts or trim down longer gestalts. To support your child with their communication at this stage, the main things you should do are:

• listen to what they say then model a mitigation. We can demonstrate little changes to your child’s gestalts while playing together. For example if they say “I love jumping” you could say “I love tickling”. If they say “it’s so fun” you could say “it’s so fun, it’s so cold”. If a child called James says “Paw Patrol are on a roll” you could say “James is on a roll”.

• continue to support them to learn more functional, flexible and easy-to-mitigate gestalts

• continue to use the general strategies to support gestalt language processors