This dialog features SLPs Marge Blanc, Barry Prizant, and Alexandria Zachos, who discuss a language-based approach to managing echolalia. The discussion is a follow-up to the webinars “A Language-Based Approach to Managing Echolalia” and “From Echolalia to Self-Generated Language: Case Studies in Natural Language Acquisition.”

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• Summarize at least two new ideas, strategies, and/or perspectives you gained from the discussion 
• Describe at least one insight from the discussion that you can share with others in your work setting

Presenter Information

Marge Blanc, MA, CCC-SLP, has been an SLP for more than 40 years, working for 20 years as an SLP in public school settings and then as a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At the UW clinic, Blanc began applying the research of Barry Prizant and colleagues who first described gestalt language development in autism. Initial clinical successes prompted Blanc to begin collecting language samples that illustrated the progression. In 1997, Blanc founded the Communication Development Center in Madison, Wisconsin, which has provided specialized treatment for children and young adults with significant communication needs, including delayed gestalt language development, severe apraxia of speech, and whole body dyspraxia. Over the last 23 years, Blanc has presented numerous workshops and seminars on both topics. For 10 years, Blanc wrote regular articles and columns for the Autism Asperger’s Digest, and she is the author of Natural Language Acquisition on the Autism Spectrum: The Journey from Echolalia to Self-Generated Language (2012). All her articles are available on her clinic's website: www.communicatondevelopmentcenter.com. Blanc has presented at ASHA and Autism Society conventions on gestalt language processing and dyspraxia, and her courses on Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) are offered through Northern Speech Services..

Financial Disclosures:

• Founder and director of Communication Development Center, which receives author and presenter royalties from Northern Speech Services, Uncleft in India, and Natural Communication for the book Natural Language Acquisition on the Autism Spectrum: The Journey from Echolalia to Self-Generated Language (2012) and courses authored/co-authored/presented by the speaker

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• Author of Natural Language Acquisition on the Autism Spectrum: The Journey from Echolalia to Self-Generated Language (2012)

Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP, is recognized as among the world’s leading scholars on autism and neurodiversity as well as an innovator of respectful, person- and family-centered currently care. Barry is the Director of Childhood Communication Services, a private practice, an Adjunct Professor of Communicative Disorders at the University of Rhode Island, and has 50 years of experience as a scholar, researcher, and international consultant. He has served as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Brown University Medical School and has held tenured Professor appointments at Emerson College, Boston. Barry has published five books, more than 140 articles and chapters, and is a co-author of The SCERTS Model: A Comprehensive Educational Approach, now being implemented in more than a dozen countries. Barry has been a two-time featured presenter (2013, 2017) at the United Nations World Autism Awareness Day in New York City and has given close to 1,000 presentations in major universities across the U.S. and in more than 25 countries. Barry’s recent book, Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism (Simon & Schuster, 2022 expanded edition) has been the best-selling book on autism in the U.S. since 2015, with the audiobook version narrated by Barry. It is now published in 24 languages and was ranked by Book Authority as #1 of the “100 best books on autism of all time.” Barry also co-produces and hosts a podcast, Uniquely Human: The Podcast, with his friend Dave Finch, an autistic audio engineer and New York Times best-selling author.

Financial Disclosures:

• Adjunct Professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders, College of Health Sciences, University of Rhode Island
• Director of Childhood Communication Services (private practice)

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Alexandria Zachos, MS, CCC-SLP, is a licensed SLP in the state of Illinois and has been practicing since 2003. Over the past 19 years, she has provided intervention for all ages in a variety of clinical settings, including public schools, home settings, acute care, and outpatient clinics. She received her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston and her Bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Zachos founded Social Butterfly Inc. – a niche private practice specializing in the treatment of stuttering, social communication, delayed echolalia, and language – in 2009, and it has grown from a tiny summer program into a busy outpatient clinic. Zachos presented at the ASHA Convention in 2017 and 2018 on Natural Language Acquisition and delayed echolalia. In 2020, she developed the membership site meaningfulspeech.com to help SLPs learn how to identify gestalt language processors and treat delayed echolalia.

Financial Disclosures:

• Owner and paid employee of Social Butterfly Inc.
• Runs Meaningful Speech, a membership site where Social Butterfly Inc. receives payment for education provided to member SLPs

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• Provides free consultations to families and SLPs regarding delayed echolalia

Assessment Type

Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

To earn continuing education credit, you must complete and submit the learning assessment within 5 days of watching the live webinar, or June 2, 2028, whichever comes first.

Program History and CE Information

Live webinar date: May 31, 2023
End date: June 2, 2028

This course is offered for 0.05 ASHA CEUs (Intermediate level, Professional area).