the gestalt get-together

Put identity at the heart of communication.
Guest: Christina Royster, EdD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL
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In this episode of The Gestalt Get-Together podcast, host Corinne Zmoos welcomes Christina Royster, EdD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, to discuss the importance of cultural representation and customization in pediatric augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). They examine how biases and barriers within AAC apps and programs can limit representation for children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds and why personalization matters when creating meaningful communication experiences.
AAC should do more than support communication. It should also reflect the identity, experiences, and culture of the person using it. Christina shares practical ideas for customizing AAC systems to better represent a child's language, family, cultural background, and everyday life, helping SLPs think beyond standard vocabulary and system features.
Corinne also connects these considerations to the communication needs of multilingual and multicultural gestalt language processors, highlighting how thoughtful AAC selection and customization can better reflect each child's unique identity and communication needs.
About the Guest: Dr. Christina Royster is the owner/founder of Play on Words Therapy (MD/DC). She has been practicing for fifteen years, specializing in working with individuals with various language differences and AAC. She is a Board Certified Specialist in both AAC and Child Language. Christina currently works in a variety of settings, including private practice, schools, adult group homes, and academia. She has also run an award-winning, language-based summer program for the past ten years. Christina advocates for increased diversity and inclusivity in the SLP field through DiverCity SLP and DiverseAAC.
Show Notes:
Contact Corinne Zmoos: Instagram, LinkedIn, Linktree
Contact Christina Royster: LinkedIn
Practical Resources for Provision of Services to Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Users of AAC
Training Partners in AAC in Culturally Diverse Families
Lending Libraries
Universal Core Vocabulary
Diverse AAC

How can SLPs, educators, and caregivers of autistic individuals intentionally model more sensitive language related to gender and sexuality?
Guest: Dr. Kelly Coburn, PhD, CCC-SLP
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In this episode of The Gestalt Get-Together, Corinne Zmoos, MS, CCC-SLP, interviews Kelly Coburn, PhD, about their research on communication patterns among autistic adults whose genders have been underrepresented in the literature. Dr. Coburn discusses how patterns of language use may contribute to camouflaging, which can play a role in missed or delayed autism diagnoses.
Corinne and Dr. Coburn also discuss the current debate surrounding gestalt language processing (GLP) and Natural Language Acquisition (NLA). As a clinician, Dr. Coburn has used some of these principles in practice and has seen clients make progress. As a researcher, however, they share concerns about the lack of peer-reviewed, data-based evidence supporting GLP as a distinct language processing profile and NLA as a framework for intervention.
Dr. Coburn also discusses what clinicians can learn from research published in the 1970s and 1980s and how future research could examine different language processing profiles to identify sound intervention strategies.
About the Guest: Dr. Kelly Coburn (they/them) is an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist and an Assistant Professor in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Clinically, they specialize in augmentative/alternative communication (AAC), autism, and developmental disabilities. Kelly’s research addresses communication by autistic people, with a focus on adults whose genders have been under-represented in prior literature. Kelly’s interest in autism is both professional and personal, motivated by their experiences as a pediatric clinician and as a member of autistic families. They take a neurodiversity-affirming approach to research, teaching, and clinical practice. Kelly particularly enjoys qualitative and mixed-methods research, mentoring student researchers, and collaborating with community partners.
Show Notes:
Contact Corinne Zmoos: Instagram, LinkedIn, Linktree
Contact Dr. Kelly Coburn: LinkedIn
Quantitative Analysis of Narrative Discourse by Autistic Adults of Underrepresented Genders
Self-Diagnosis of Autism: What Is the Speech-Language Pathologist's Role?
Thematic Analysis of Personal Narratives Spoken by Autistic Adults of Underrepresented Genders

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.