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184: Gestalt, Scripting, Echolalia and the Speech vs Language problem!

Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

Release Date: 06/27/2025

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Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

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Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

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Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

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Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

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Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

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Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

This may be the most heartfelt episode I’ve ever recorded. In this deeply human conversation, Maxwell Ivey: The Blind Blogger, and I talk about what it means to keep moving when life doesn’t hand you easy options. Maxwell lost his sight as a child, taught himself to code, built a business, and learned to ask for help without shame.   We talk about the quiet power of asking, the courage to act before conditions are perfect, and a rare take on gratitude-not as politeness, but as the willingness to use what’s been given.   Somewhere along the way, we find ourselves...

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Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

before doors close (Friday 11:59 PM PT)  

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Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

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Non Linear Learning - Rethinking Education for Neurodivergent Learners

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Is your child's speech meaningful?

In this unfiltered episode of Non Linear Learning, co-hosts Dr. Vaish Sarathy and Searmi Park talk about the difference between speech and language, and why that may be everything in educating our kids with disabilities.

 

Here's what they talk about:

  1. Why scripting and echolalia aren’t proof of limited cognition

  2. The danger of over-labeling learners as "gestalt processors"

  3. How presumed competence starts where speech ends

  4. Why academics—not behavior—is the best way to detect intention

 

This is the episode for you if you’ve ever wondered:

  1. Is my child’s speech meaningful?

  2. How do I know if they understand but can’t express it?

  3. What should I do when I don’t know what’s motor, comprehension, or behavior?

 

👉 If this episode made you think or gave you hope, please leave a review so others can find us. It makes all the difference.