Does anyone have a gestalt language processor DC?

[rainingat3pm]

Worried about my DS3. He has a speech delay and receiving therapy. I’m worried he’ll never talk. He says up to 5 word gestalts but never answers questions.

We have some concerns over his development (mostly speech and communication) in general and we’re waiting for a referral.

I just can’t imagine ever having a conversation with him.

Has anyone else DC been like this and developed normally?

Yep. My DS is 5 and is a GLP. He’s just about reached stage 3 so is currently starting to string sentences together finally and is asking questions but largely doesn’t answer still. He can read fluently so the vocabulary is there but as I say, doesn’t really answer questions so we don't know how he feels unless he chooses to tell us.

At 3 he only said single words and most often not in context. He labelled things a lot so would point and say what they were. I guess every child is different but we were told not to ask questions too much, to sing to him as we talked (apparently they learn better through song) and also to model sentences to him so if he said let’s go we’d say yes let’s go to school or if he said smoothie we’d say I want a smoothie please.

@Sartre Thanks, that’s reassuring to know. My DS says single words and also phrases so I hope we’re making progress. I need to look into the stages a bit more to get a better understanding. Did your DS have speech therapy?

Do you mind me asking whether he’s autistic?

He isn’t diagnosed but I haven’t pursued diagnosis because I find it a little unnecessary to add a label, especially when he’s so young. I’m keen to see how he develops over time and he’s doing well at school.

He’s had some speech therapy but honestly didn’t find it overly helpful. Once they broke down how we should interact with him, we stuck to that and they always said he would progress in his own time which he has.

Found the speech therapy methods a little patronising tbh- a lot of baby toys laid out which he had no interest in! Plus a weird game with toys in a closed box and she would sing a song and get one toy out at a time but he just got irritated and wanted to see inside the box.

He learns lots through books, he reads by sight. He likes to read labels and road signs too! You just have to believe they’ll get there in their own time really, I don’t think it’s something that can be forced.

@Sartre That’s great he’s doing so well at school. Totally agree with having no need to label it. We do have other concerns like not always responding to his name, not the best eye contact etc. He also doesn’t follow instructions that well either so I think there’s more to it than a speech delay. We’ll hopefully get an assessment by the end of the year 🤞🏻

Anyone else?

My son is also a GLP - he’s nearly 7 and it’s obvious he still has a communication delay but his vocabulary and sentences are growing by the day and he appears to becoming more ‘aware’ of his surroundings if that makes sense? Never would have imagined him speaking in full sentences (though still pretty limited, progress nonetheless!) also as another poster mentioned - my son also struggles with answering questions and having a proper conversation but I’m confident it will come. He can also read and write.

Not all glp is related to autism, although there is a strong correlation. To question back, does your child show other traits of autism, or just this? I believe one of my kids is, but they are both autistic. Also "developed normally" is a bit of an inflammatory statement, when there are plenty of successful autistic adults.

Things that helped my ds who tested at the bottom .1 percent for language development at GOS when he was four.

ABA therapy - the VB -MAPP for speech therapy particularly. The skills ladder for human communication is wonderful and so much better than anything conventional speech therapy offered us.

Calcium Folinate - he tested positive for Binding FRAA and has been taking Calcium folinate, prescribed by the NHS for five years. We saw an immediate improvement in shared attention, followed by more words and willingness to communicate beyond basic needs (gained from ABA).

I understand that taking a hands off approach is right for some children but if I had left my ds to find his own way he wouldn’t have much language, or in fact possibly ANY language. And I must make clear that the ABA was in no way abusive - we used bubble, smarties, stomp rockets and lots of other fun things to incentivise his learning.

@SemiSober sounds like your DS is doing well. Does he go to a mainstream school?

@HarryVanderspeigle Yes he does show some other signs. Not the best eye contact and not great at following instructions. He doesn’t really point or wave. But yes not always related to autism.

@HumphreyCobblers thanks for this. I hadn’t heard of ABA therapy. Is that something you do yourself at home? I’m not seeing a huge improvement since starting speech therapy a few months ago.

My DS3 is a gestalt learner and autistic. We are lucky to have an incredible speech therapist, she’s worth her weight in gold. Without her he’d still be stuck on single words but now he has so many useful phrases. He hugely lacks confidence to talk at nursery or other situations when I’m not there though. And DD2 is non-verbal so no idea yet whether she’ll be a gestalt learner too (it often appears in siblings) or if she’ll ever talk at all. I do envy parents who don’t have to think so hard about all these extra development activities and thinking about everything you say and how to say it.

For the Calcium Folinate - where did your son get tested for this? I would be interested into looking into this

ABA therapy is expensive unfortunately and you have to find a practitioner to develop a programme but yes you can administer the programme yourself. It is controversial for some due to the fact it was woefully misused in the fifties in dangerous and damaging ways and the stigma still clings. However the rhetoric around it sounds, it is life changing for non verbal children.

as for the calcium folinate - it is a b vitamin and not harmful although had to get hold of in this country. It is the same as the leucovorine that Donald trump has just been talking about but don’t let that put you off. It is legitimate and as I said, prescribed to us by the NHS.

SALT who is a GL practitioner. Hold your nerve. They won't answer questions until stage 4. By knowing your child is a GLP you are already doing amazing things by giving them language in a way they can access.

Yes he goes to mainstream for now, not sure if this will be the case for secondary

The test for Folate Receptor Autoimmune Antibodies is called the FRAT and I think is now available in this country. My son tested highly positive to the binding form. I wish I had known about it earlier as the younger the child the more likely it is to help. However people do see benefits much later. And it is a b vitamin, not a drug as such, and unlikely to harm.

any tips on how to carry out speech therapy at home with a GLP child? We currently use the colourful semantics model for ‘who’ ‘what’ ‘where’ ‘when’ questions/ scenarios and will eventually introduce the ‘why’ - very hard to keep my son engaged though as he has a very short attention span!

thank you for this info - do you mind me asking how he takes it eg in liquid or tablet form?

He takes tablets but you can get it in powder form and liquid form. It has become a little scarce for private buyers due to the massive increase in demand of late but I am on several Facebook groups where people are using it for autism/ speech and language issues and they can get hold of it

@rainingat3pm there might be a better category that gets more responses rather than AIBU that this could be moved to for you? Sounds like you’ve had some good ones so far. Good luck with everything.

My DS12 is a GLP. He is hyperlexic and has memorised huge chunks of films/TV/songs but developing conversation is much tougher.

Excuse my pedantry - it's a modified or 'activated' derivative of folate (vit B9). The body normally makes it as a step in its processing of folic acid. Taking calcium folinate bypasses the preceding steps.

While taking intermediate bio-active substances can be harmless or helpful, eg probiotics (bacteria) instead of prebiotics (fermented and fibrous foods), they knock out some natural processes and aren't always the best way of dealing with a deficiency: if they were, we'd all be eating partially pre-digested food!

Calcium folinate isn't known to be harmful. It hasn't been widely researched outside of its usual applications in chemotherapy. The body does convert it efficiently to folate, which is very helpful to people who can't process folic acid.

I'm enthusiastic about applied behaviour analysis in general. It's marvellous to read that you've been able to access such high-quality training for your son, and that it's working so well for him. Wishing him all the goodness as he grows and matures.