A Response to Blanc and Colleagues' Viewpoint on Gestalt Language Processing and the Natural Language Acquisition Protocol: Concerns and Common Ground

December 1, 2025

Our Lingo Lab just published an open-access article in ASHA Perspectives! https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2025_PERSP-25-00055

The article is a concise response to Marge Blanc & colleagues' 2023 Perspectives article, which described the theory of Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) and the proposed Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) protocol. In this newly published response, the authors express five concerns they have about GLP/NLA, including its underestimation of autistic children’s language comprehension. They also describe the aspects of GLP/NLA they do agree with, such as honoring echolalia and taking a child-led, play-based approach to therapy.