The Speech Den

04/02/2026

What a joy to be part of Children Lead The Way C.I.C
🩵

🤝✨ Together, We Are Stronger ✨🤝
There is something truly special about the power of community — especially when it’s rooted in compassion, connection, and shared purpose.

At Children Lead the Way, we believe that when we learn with one another, sharing together, amazing things happen. Our journey to better support children has been made richer, kinder, and more hopeful because of the collaborations we are a part of.

A heartfelt thank you to Cathy Shilling and everyone at The Speech Den — your generosity, wisdom, and openness have not only deepened our understanding of GLPs, but have given us a genuine sense of wider family and belonging. 💗

Learning together. Growing together. Advocating together.
That’s what community feels like — and we’re so grateful to walk this path alongside you all.

Here’s to shared knowledge, shared strength, and shared heart. ❤️

01/02/2026

The podcast episode focuses on the intersection of autism and OCD, featuring the amazing speaker Dean Beadle sharing his personal experiences and insights. Dean explained how OCD manifests differen...

01/02/2026

Jaime described an experience, something that wasn’t a meltdown or shutdown or a panic attack.

It felt like a sudden loss of emotional connection, like the world went quiet on the inside. Usual connection disappeared. For a while, objects felt like just objects, and connection to people felt distant. 

After rest and sleep, that sense of connection slowly returned.

Reflecting on the impact for Gestalt Processors. Some people experience the world in big “wholes”. First through feelings, relationships, and patterns, before breaking things into words or details. 

Language is often a way of translating those whole experiences into spoken words, but is only part of the experience..

When the world becomes too overwhelming or disconnected, that sense of “wholeness” can sometimes disappear. Many autistic people describe experiences like this, but there isn’t always language or support to explain them.

Understanding different ways of processing the world helps us offer better support, compassion, and inclusion ❤️

01/02/2026

This is such a brilliant post 💛

31/01/2026

If your child uses scripts or repeated phrases, it can be confusing and sometimes worrying.

But gestalts are not random, lazy, or meaningless.

They are one way children make sense of language and the world around them.

You don’t need to stop them.

You need support to understand what they’re communicating ❤️

✨ Save this if it helped.
✨ Share with someone who’s been told to “stop the scripting”

30/01/2026

When we talk about gestalts, we’re talking about whole chunks of meaningful language, not random repetition.

They’re shaped by intonation, emotion, and experience and they tell us a lot when we slow down and listen.

Different doesn’t mean disordered.

It means different pathways to communication ❤️

🔑

28/01/2026

Some of the ideas I’ve been exploring with Jaime during our Saturday conversations…

The more we talk about Gestalt Language Processing, the clearer it becomes that it whilst I may be supporting children and families, gestalt processing is that child for life, not just a way of their language development.

It shapes how people experience language, connection, and work across a lifetime.

There’s so much to reflect on, and even more to learn ❤️

23/01/2026

Some post-training reflections...

After we run a training session, we always ask attendees to reflect back on the session, this isn’t just to tick a box…but to hear what the most valuable take homes to them were, so we can all continue to learn and grow together ❤️