Go Talking Ways

17/12/2025

Last Saturday night was the the UK Small Business Awards 2025 and I was a finalist for Small Business of the Year, something I still can’t quite believe I get to say.

While I didn’t take home the top award, I was incredibly proud to receive Highly Recommended recognition, acknowledging my business as one of the UK’s best small businesses in my category. With such strong competition this year, this recognition truly means the world. Being named a finalist alone was an honour, to then be recognised at this level felt deeply validating.

I love being a paediatric speech and language therapist… it was always something I wanted to do, but I wasn’t born knowing how to run a business.

Building a practice has meant learning everything, systems, strategy, resilience, confidence… alongside doing the work I care so deeply about. And that work is, and always will be, about people.

I am a neurodiversity-affirming therapist, a passionate advocate for SEND, and someone with both personal and professional experience of neurodivergence. I believe in holistic therapy, seeing the whole child, not just a checklist. I believe communication should be functional, meaningful, and empowering, not drilled or forced to fit standardised boxes.

I’m especially passionate about gestalt language processing… a natural, valid, and often misunderstood way of developing language. My mission is to educate, advocate, and support families so communication feels safe, respectful, and truly useful for the individual.

At the heart of everything I do is this:
communication and connection are inseparable.

When we experience meaningful connection, communication grows. Our relationships deepen. Our lives become richer. And that belief shapes not only how I work with children and families, but how I show up in the world.

This recognition isn’t just about business.
It’s about values, advocacy, and the power of doing things differently… and doing them with care.

Thank you to every family, child, colleague, and supporter who has trusted me to walk alongside them on their communication journey. This one really is for you.

Steph | Go Talking Ways

16/12/2025

If your child repeats the same phrase again and again, it’s easy to worry they’re not making progress.

But for many Gestalt Language Processors, repetition is not regression… it’s processing.

That repeated phrase may be:
• regulating their nervous system
• holding emotional meaning
• providing predictability
• supporting memory and safety

This links closely to monotropism… a cognitive style where the brain focuses deeply on one thing at a time.

That deep focus is how many neurodivergent children:
• learn
• organise information
• feel safe enough to communicate

Interrupting this play or scripting often breaks regulation.
Following it builds connection… and that’s where language grows.

The goal isn’t to stop repetition.
It’s to join it, understand it, and model gently from within it.

Save this if you’ve been told to “distract” your child or to “stop them repeating”.
Follow for GLP-affirming speech and language support.

Steph | Go Talking Ways
______

09/12/2025

“They only ever play with the same thing.”
Here’s why that’s not a problem … it’s the clue.

When a child returns to the same toy, the same scene, the same sequence again and again…
this is often ‘monotropism’.

🧠 Monotropism = the deep intense interest to a topic or activity at a time.
It’s a cognitive style and a regulation strategy.
It’s how the brain creates:
▪️ safety
▪️ predictability
▪️ memory
▪️ emotional processing
▪️ nervous system settling
▪️ language storage

This is also why we see it so often in Gestalt language processors… repetition is how the brain organises experience before it can organise language.

And here’s the key shift ⬇️
Interrupting this play breaks regulation.
Following it builds communication.

When you stop redirecting and start joining:
✨ scripts evolve
✨ attention softens
✨ emotional safety deepens
✨ spontaneous communication grows

This isn’t “stuck”.
This is a brain doing exactly what it needs to do to feel safe enough to learn.

If your child repeats play again and again…
don’t stop it.
That’s where the real wiring happens.

💾 Save this if repetitive play has ever worried you.
💬 Comment “ONE” if you want me to unpack this more.
👀 Follow for neuroaffirming speech & language therapy insights.

⸻

Steph | Go Talking Ways

07/12/2025

04/12/2025

I had a parent ask me this recently and honestly, it’s one of the BEST Gestalt Language Processing questions asked!!

Here’s the truth ⬇️

🟡 YES, a child can absolutely be a GLP even with no language delay.

Not every GLP has a long, obvious echolalic stage.
Not every GLP scripts whole phrases.
Not every GLP gets “stuck” in Stage 1.

Some children move through the GLP stages very quickly, so the echolalia is short, subtle, or simply missed.

🟡 What might it look like instead?

You might see tiny clues like:
✨ A sing-songy tone or melodic prosody
✨ Bursting into familiar theme tunes or lines from books
✨ Quoting phrases they love (but less obviously)
✨ Re-enacting whole routines or scenes in play instead of building things step-by-step
✨ Early full sentences that sound “too polished” for their age
✨ Very emotionally-charged language or rhythm-based speech

These are all GLP communication patterns… just without the classic long echolalic phase.

🟡 So why does it matter?

Because GLPs thrive with:
– Natural Language Models
– Declarative language
– Emotion-rich modelling
– Play-based, child-led interaction
– Reduced questioning
– Sensory-supportive environments

And when parents don’t realise their child is a GLP, they often use analytic language strategies… which don’t always land.

🟡 The big takeaway:

Not all Gestalt Language Processors look the same.
Some script loudly.
Some script quietly.
Some move through the stages so fast that nobody notices.
And some only stand out later, when language becomes more complex or emotionally charged.

If you’re listening to your child and thinking…
“Hmm… this feels GLP but I’m not seeing echolalia…”
You’re not imagining it.
You’re noticing the deeper pattern.
And that’s exactly where support begins. 💛

If you want help working out whether your child is a GLP, especially if they’re verbal, chatty, or have no language delay, drop me a message or book a Parent Power Hour. I’ll help you understand your child’s natural, organic communication journey.

Steph | Go Talking Ways