Today’s episode critiques the widespread “meme-ification” of autism on social media, arguing that these simplified portrayals collapse the distinct concept of gestalt language processing (GLP) into a generic understanding of autism. The author of the source article, Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, explains that GLP is a specific language pathway where individuals process and store language in whole phrases or “gestalts,” often manifesting as literal interpretation, scripting, and echolalia. This is often mislabeled as solely “autistic traits,” despite a majority of autistic people being GLPs and a significant minority of neurotypicals also exhibiting GLP. Dr. Hoerricks contends that this erasure of GLP has severe consequences for literacy education, as traditional analytical teaching methods fail GLPs and can lead to misdiagnosis as a learning disability, ultimately blaming the individual rather than the unsuitable system. She advocates for reframing these traits as a legitimate communication pathway and for the implementation of literacy instruction that respects the GLP pathway, moving beyond mere recognition to provide essential tools and understanding.
Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-meme-ification-of-autism-and
Let me know what you think.
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