December 29, 2025
Embracing Growth
I met my little autistic friend when he was 22 months old. His family and therapists had been working diligently to build his communication skills with little success. Two single switch buttons were placed in the kitchen and programmed “Mama” and “Dada” but sat untouched, as he had not attached meaning to those very important first words. I introduced the idea of the Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) framework to his parents. NLA offers a different approach to gaining language by starting with modeling phrases instead of single words. These little steps were practiced over time, until I watched him run with it! In 2025 my little friend went through the first few stages, and is currently in Stage 4 and 5.
This is what his journey looks like so far:
Stage 1 – Echolalia From Modeled Phrases
“It’s Mama.” “Time for bed.” “Let’s go.”
Stage 2 – Mitigated Echolalia
“It’s Dada.” “Time to eat.” “Let’s go to bed.”
Stage 3 – Isolation & Recombination of Single Words
“A tree.” “A car.” “A triangle.” “Red triangle.” “Blue car.”
Stage 4 – Self-generated Grammar (characterized by incorrect grammar)
“It jump a bunny.” “I need help for me.“
Stage 5 – Intermediate Grammar
“Nessa, I went pee pee.” “No, I want some numbers.”
I reflected on my little friend’s progress where many seeds were planted, and then having the privilege of watching those seeds grow in so many fun directions into an amazing garden. I have also had the privilege of watching Peek-a-Boo Speech grow over the course of 2025. I started the year with 6 clients, and I am ending the year having seen 28 clients. It has been a tremendous year, and I am looking forward to what is in store for 2026!
Happy New Year to you all!