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).
Gestalt, Echolalia, Hyperlexia, and Scripting
One of the defining features of neuro divergent learners can be found in the way language is processed. Typically, language is learned or processed via learning speech sounds (phonemes) and letter patterns (graphemes).
If you are autistic however, chances are you learn in a different way. Typically, language is learned in chunks (gestalts), that are stored as a whole and repeated (echolalia) in order to communicate.