the gestalt get-together

What looks like “bad” behavior might be learning in action.
Guest: Mick Olds, OTR/L
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In this episode of The Gestalt Get-Together, host Corinne Zmoos, MS, CCC-SLP, talks with Mick Olds, OTR/L, known as “The Occuplaytional Therapist,” about schema play and the ways autistic children and gestalt language processors (GLPs) may use repeated patterns of play to learn about their world.
Corinne and Mick discuss eight common play schemas: connecting, orienting, transporting, trajectory, positioning, enveloping, enclosing, and rotation. Through examples, Mick explains how behaviors that adults may view as challenging or “bad” can actually reflect a child experimenting with objects, cause and effect, movement, space, and their environment.
The episode also looks at what these patterns can tell us about a child’s interests and development, and how recognizing schema play can help clinicians better understand and support a child’s play rather than redirecting it. Corinne and Mick connect these early play experiences to the development of skills children can build on throughout everyday life.
About the Guest: Mick Olds, OTR/L, also known as “The Occuplaytional Therapist,” is an occupational therapist who shares every day with thousands of people online—parents, teachers, fellow professionals, and adults healing their own childhoods—about the power of play in children's lives. Mick has worked with kids in all kinds of settings: from rural Oklahoma, to an Air Force base in England, to their current home in Geelong, Victoria. Their experiences across different countries and systems give them a unique perspective on how healthcare and education shape childhood.
Show Notes:
Contact Corinne Zmoos: Instagram, LinkedIn, Linktree
Contact Mick Olds: Instagram, The Occuplaytional Therapist
What are play schemas and why do they matter?
Schematic Driven Pedagogy (SDP): The Potential Impact for Autistic Children
Piaget’s Schema & Learning Theory: 3 Fascinating Experiments
12 Important Early Childhood Play Schemas

Tune into the connections between music, movement, and sensory processing.
Guest: Jessica Teich, PhD, MT-BC, MTA, NMT-F™
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In this episode of The Gestalt Get-Together, host Corinne Zmoos, MS, CCC-SLP, is joined by Jessi Teich, PhD, MT-BC, MTA, NMT-F™, to discuss music-based sensorimotor interventions for children with autism. Drawing from her work as a music therapist and researcher, Dr. Teich examines how music and rhythm can support sensory processing, motor control, and self-regulation.
Differences in sensory integration, motor coordination, and self-regulation can influence how autistic children engage, move, communicate, and participate in everyday activities. Dr. Teich explains how rhythm and structured musical input interact with the brain's motor, sensory, and timing networks, offering a closer look at the connections between music, movement, and sensory processing.
The episode also examines rhythm-based and music-based interventions designed to address individual sensory and motor needs. SLPs will better understand the science behind these approaches and how music-based sensorimotor interventions may fit within interdisciplinary support for autistic children.
About the Guest: Dr. Jessica Teich (pronounced teach) is the Founder and Director of Rhythma Health Solutions™, an Ontario-based clinic that provides individualized neurologic music therapy® clinical care for Neurodivergent individuals and people with complex sensory and motor-related barriers. She holds a PhD in Music and Health Sciences and is a Board-Certified Music Therapist and Neurologic Music Therapist®, Fellow. Her work integrates advanced clinical training, research expertise, and real-world music experience to support neurodivergent and neurologically complex individuals and families.
Show Notes:
Contact Corinne Zmoos: Instagram, LinkedIn, Linktree
Contact Jessica Teich: LinkedIn, Rhythma Health Solutions
Sensing echoes: temporal misalignment in auditory brainstem responses as the earliest marker of neurodevelopmental derailment
The Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy

From language modeling to play, refresh the tools you use every day.
Guest: Emily Byers Chaney, MS, CCC-SLP
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Whether you’re new to gestalt language processing or could use a refresher, this episode of The Gestalt Get-Together brings the basics back into focus. Host Corinne Zmoos, MS, CCC-SLP, is joined by Emily Byers Chaney, MS, CCC-SLP, to talk through echolalia, language modeling, play-based intervention, and how GLP discourse has evolved.
Using real-world clinical examples, Corinne and Emily make these ideas easier to understand and apply. You’ll come away with practical ways to expand language, encourage reciprocal interactions, and more confidently support gestalt language processors in your everyday practice.
About the Guest: Emily Byers Chaney, M.S., CCC-SLP is a a pediatric speech-language pathologist and the founder of Boundless Speech and Language, a private practice in Los Angeles offering both in-person and teletherapy services across California. With eight years of experience, Emily is dedicated to providing neurodiversity-affirming, child-led care, helping families move toward relationship-centered and co-regulating models of care. She is passionate about empowering families through strengths-based approaches and regularly shares educational content for both parents and professionals focused on practical, evidence-informed ways to support neurodivergent children while honoring their individual communication styles, support needs, and strengths.

Show Notes:
Contact Corinne Zmoos: LinkedIn, Instagram, Linktree
Contact Erin Forward: Instagram
Communication Development Center
Natural Language Acquisition on the Autism Spectrum
Meaningful Speech
Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition
The functions of immediate echolalia in autistic children.

Turn connection into communication with practical DIR Floortime® strategies for supporting GLPs.
Guest: Erin Forward, MSP, CCC-SLP, CLC
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In this episode of The Gestalt Get-Together podcast, host Corinne Zmoos, MS, CCC-SLP, is joined by Erin Forward, MSP, CCC-SLP, CLC, to discuss how the DIR Floortime® approach can enhance clinical practice with gestalt language processors (GLPs). Together, they examine how understanding individual differences through the Floortime model can strengthen communication, relationships, and language development.
Corinne and Erin explore functional emotional developmental capacities, circles of communication, and the role these concepts play in supporting children who use gestalt language processing. They also discuss how gestalt language processing can be understood as an individual difference within the DIR Floortime approach, offering practical insights to help SLPs foster meaningful interactions and support the growth of authentic communication.
About the Guest: Erin Forward, MSP, CCC-SLP, CLC, is a speech-language pathologist, DIR/Floortime® Expert Provider, and founder of Nourishing Connection LLC. She is newly a full time Expert DIR/Floortime staff member for ICDL. She specializes in relationship-based, neurodiversity-affirming support for children and families with feeding and communication differences. Erin is an international speaker and host of the Rooted in Connection podcast, where she explores the power of relationships in healthcare, parenting, and everyday life. She believes that relationship based care is the core of what helps children and families thrive.
Show Notes:
Contact Corinne Zmoos: LinkedIn, Linktree
Contact Erin Forward: LinkedIn, Nourishing Connection
Zero To Three
Home of DIRFloortime - What is DIR
Home of DIRFloortime - Affect Diathesis Hypothesis
Home of DIRFloortime - Child Development
Music and Early Language Acquisition
Searching for Roots of Entrainment and Joint Action in Early Musical Interactions
Developmental Pathways for Kids - Ideation
Affect Autism
Rooted in Conntection Podcast - Erin Forward

Small shifts in your coaching can make a lasting impact at home.
Guest: Cristina J. Easton, Educational Consultant
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In this episode of The Gestalt Get-Together, host Corinne Zmoos, MS, CCC-SLP, welcomes back Cristina Easton to discuss what effective parent coaching looks like through the eyes of a parent of a Gestalt Language Processor. Drawing from her own experiences, Cristina shares what helped her feel supported, what created barriers to learning, and how clinicians can build stronger partnerships with families throughout the therapy process.
Together, Corinne and Cristina discuss practical coaching strategies that encourage collaboration, confidence, and meaningful carryover beyond the therapy room. You'll learn ways to provide education and feedback that feel supportive rather than overwhelming, helping families become active, empowered members of the therapeutic team.
Whether you're new to parent coaching or looking to strengthen your approach, this episode offers thoughtful insights and real-world perspectives that can help you create more effective, family-centered therapy for Gestalt Language Processors.
About the Guest: Cristina J. Easton is the founder of imPACT Educational Consulting, LLC, Director at Educator Support Collaborative, and Program Strategy Manager at AdoptAClassroom.org. She majored in Sociology at Smith College, earned her Master's in Teaching as a New York City Teaching Fellow in Special Education, and her Master's in Education Leadership at Bank Street College of Education. Her mission is to guide projects from promise to impact, focusing on measurable actions that promote voice, equity, and joy for youth, families, educators, and institutions.

Show Notes:
In Vivo Feedback Predicts Parent Behavior Change in the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up Intervention
The Early Childhood Coaching Handbook - Dathan D. Rush & M'Lisa L. Shelden
Therapeutic Climbing: A Pediatric Top-Rope Rock Climbing Program for Sensory Integration Through Social Prescribing
Neurodivergent Climbers: Finding Balance On and Off the Wall
Effect of an indoor climbing program on selective attention of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Reflection Questions