Gestalt, Echolalia, Hyperlexia, and Scripting
In my previous blog I talked about gestalt processing. A gestalt is a multi-word chunk that a speaker hears, stores, and uses as a whole before having knowledge or awareness of its internal structures e.g., phonemes or meaning. Autistic learners are likely to be gestalt processors repeating language in chunks to communicate (echolalia) and also are likely to be able to recognise words as whole words without having to break them down into sounds (hyperlexia).
Neurodiverse Affirming Teaching Practices - Part 2
Neurodiverse Affirming Teaching Practice is synonymous with developmentally appropriate teaching practice. When the focus of learning shifts away from chronological age expectations to developmental stage understanding learning becomes more relevant, appropriate, and engaging.
Read Part 2 to look into how Rachel’s classroom experience could have been different…
Neurodiverse Affirming Teaching Practices - Part 1
On her second day in the class, Rachel’s teacher explained that the class will ‘write’ about their holidays. The class was provided with ‘writing’ books that consisted of blue lined A4 exercise books.
Rachel stared out the window remembering her holiday at the beach with her family. Her teacher’s loud reminder to start writing abruptly brought Rachel back to her classroom. She looked down at her page and saw a sea of blue lines.
Becoming an Ed/Dev Psychologist
Today I celebrated my official endorsement as an Educational and Developmental Psychologist. This is a significant step in my professional development and has been over 2 years in the making.
Helping To Understand Our ADHD Kiddos
Parents quite understandably want their kiddos to get on with their day, not be bothered by others or seemingly little distractions, to concentrate on the ‘important’ stuff like learning and following the teacher’s direction. They want their kiddos to have friends and to ‘fight or disagree’ less with their peers or siblings and to switch off and sleep when it is ‘time’ to go to bed.
In this blog post, Belinda explores how to help parents and teachers to understand and support ADHD children.