Why Having A GLP-Trained Speech Therapist Is Essential

If your child is a gestalt language processor (GLP), you’ve probably noticed that their speech and language development doesn’t always follow the “typical” path you’ve read about in parenting books. Instead of starting with single words and gradually combining them into phrases, GLPs often learn language in chunks or scripts—sometimes repeating lines from favorite shows, songs, or conversations they’ve heard.

While this way of developing language is completely natural for them, supporting a GLP requires a specialized approach—and that’s where a GLP-trained speech therapist makes all the difference.

Why GLP Training Matters for Speech Therapists

A GLP-trained speech therapist knows:

• Scripts are communication. They’re not “wrong” or “meaningless”—they’re the foundation of a GLP’s language journey.

• The goal isn’t to eliminate scripts, but to help children move naturally from one stage to the next.

• Context matters. A child’s scripts often carry rich emotional meaning that we can build on for connection and language growth.

• Play, connection, and responsiveness are the most effective tools for progress—not rigid drills.

Without this training, a therapist may unknowingly work against a GLP’s natural development, slowing their progress and risking communication breakdowns.

The Rooted Therapies Approach

At Rooted Therapies, our GLP-trained therapists:

• Meet your child where they are in their language journey.

• Use meaningful movement and child-led play to spark authentic communication.

• Support caregivers in recognizing and responding to scripts in a way that builds language.

• Create a safe, validating space for your child to communicate in the way that feels most natural.

We believe every GLP deserves a therapist who understands not just how they communicate, but why—and who can guide them toward richer, more flexible language without losing their unique voice along the way.

The Bottom Line

If your child is a gestalt language processor, working with a GLP-trained speech therapist is not just helpful—it’s essential. It ensures that therapy honors their natural language learning style, builds on their strengths, and supports them in progressing through each stage of development with confidence and connection.

💬 Want to know if your child is a GLP? Contact Rooted Therapies today to learn more about our evaluation process and specialized support.

Helpful to know:

Speech therapists are not taught about gestalt language processing during their undergrad and graduate schooling. Instead, they were taught to provide language instruction using only an analytic language approach - providing language models starting with single words and building words like blocks to communicate in phrases, then sentences. Speech students are taught that echolalia is intentional, but it is not presented as the foundational component to natural language acquisition (gestalt language processing). 

The problem is that it disregards a whole other group of children - the gestalt language processors. And, while not all GLPs are autistic, most autistic and neurodivergent children ARE gestalt language processors. 

As a speech therapist who was trained in only analytic processing, I was taught to only communicate to autistic learners using one to two words because that was all their brain could process. Autistic children were labeled as “lifers” because they would be in speech therapy for life. These children would participate in decades of speech therapy using a compliance-based analytic language approach, making minuscule amounts of progress each year, and we were happy with the minimal amount of progress we made because we were taught that was all autistic children were capable of. 

But, everything we were taught about autistic children and the way they develop language is a LIE!! If I’m not the first person to tell you this, I’m overjoyed. If you take one thing away from this post, I hope it is that autistic minds and gestalt language processors are BRILLIANT. They are so smart and capable, and their brains THRIVE on processing large chunks of language at once. Since specializing in GLP, I have made progress with children in 12-18 months that would have taken them 5-10 years in traditional, analytic speech therapy!

Now, based on my training and experience treating GLPs, I can confidently say that speech therapists who are not trained in GLP have no business giving therapy to your gestalt language processing child! GLP is drastically different from analytic language development, which means the therapeutic techniques used for both types of language learning should be drastically different as well. 

Understanding gestalt processing is like learning a new language. So, a traditional speech-language therapist, who has no GLP training, is not the appropriate person to help your child communicate when they can’t even understand the language your child is using. Only a GLP-trained speech therapist can help your child - progressing from the first GLP stage of echolalia to the final stage of spontaneous, self-generated speech. 

Children across the globe are finally making incredible progress in significantly shorter periods because they were first correctly identified as a GLP and then participated in speech therapy with a GLP-trained SLP. And you want the speech therapist working with your child to KNOW how your child processes language and the world around them! 

To learn more about gestalt language processing, and see if your child might process language this way, check out our GLP resource page.

If you’re looking for a GLP-trained SLP in your area, check out the registry: https://www.meaningfulspeechregistry.com/.