Supporting GLPs starts with supporting the team around them.

Guest: Tara Phillips, MS, CCC-SLP

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In this episode of The Gestalt Get-Together, Corinne Zmoos, MS, CCC-SLP, is joined by Tara Phillips, MS, CCC-SLP, for a conversation about supporting educators and paraprofessionals who work with Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs). Together, they explore how SLPs can build collaborative relationships with school teams, explain echolalia in approachable, meaningful ways, and share GLP-informed strategies that carry over throughout the school day.

Corinne and Tara also discuss ways to track and interpret gestalts as a team, helping educators better understand what a student’s language is communicating and how to support language development across settings. You’ll walk away with ideas for strengthening communication with school staff, increasing consistency in support, and creating a more collaborative approach for GLP students.

About the Guest: Tara Phillips is a speech-language pathologist with over 25 years of experience working with young autistic children. After decades in the school setting, she saw how overwhelmed and under-supported preschool special educators often felt—and how hard it was to find meaningful, engaging resources for young autistic learners. So in 2019, she founded Autism Little Learners. Today, Tara supports educators around the world with practical, neurodiversity-affirming strategies that help them move from overwhelm to confidence.

Show Notes:

The Hanen Centre- It's "Owl" About Having Fun

Repeating purposefully: Empowering educators with functional communication models of echolalia in Autism

Meaningful Speech

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***Originally aired: 12/8/2025***

Guest: Cristina Easton, Educational Consultant

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Join Corinne Zmoos, MS, CCC-SLP, as she interviews Cristina Easton about raising a musical Gestalt Language Processor. Corinne and Cristina will discuss the family’s shift from speech-only interventions to a musical language approach rooted in the NLA framework (Blanc, 2012). Cristina will describe her son’s progress arc, including musical and melodic gestalts, her advocacy work, and where her family is headed to help their GLP thrive.

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. With extensive experience in education, Cristina has designed inclusive instructional models, founded a new school, developed strategic plans, implemented equitable grading systems, and enhanced student voice in course selection while leading teams as a school administrator. She emphasizes centering the voices of marginalized communities in decision-making processes. Cristina holds a B.A. in Sociology from Smith College, an M.S. in Special Education, as a New York City Teaching Fellow, and an M.A. in School Leadership from Bank Street College of Education. A 2024 graduate of the Arc of Maryland’s Partners in Policymaking, she actively works to foster a world that embraces equity and joy for her son and all of us. In 2021, Cristina and her husband learned that their son was autistic. This catapulted their family into Autism acceptance and family advocacy. Together, they founded the Embrace Play playgroup for families of neurodivergent children ages birth to ten. Through Embrace, the Eastons have provided spaces for families to enjoy where their children and their needs and gifts are validated, and where families can learn from and lean on one another. Cristina is a member of the 2025 Kennedy Krieger Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities program and the Arc of Maryland’s Partners in Policymaking 2024 cohort.

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Learn how gestalt-based approaches can transform feeding therapy for autistic children and their families.

Guest: Michelle Dawson, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, BCS-S, FNAP

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How can GLP-informed strategies support pediatric feeding therapy for autistic children? In this episode, Corinne Zmoos, MS, CCC-SLP, interviews Michelle Dawson, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, BCS-S, FNAP, host of the First Bite SLP podcast, to explore her work on pediatric feeding disorders in young autistic individuals. They discuss subtle, often overlooked signs of PFD, as well as medical factors that can impact feeding and swallowing. Together, they explore evidence-informed approaches to care, including how to incorporate linguistic and cognitive gestalts into therapy to support meaningful progress. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of how GLP-informed strategies align with feeding therapy to better support autistic children and their families.

About the Guest: Michelle Dawson, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, BCS-S, FNAP works for Augusta County Public School as a full-time early intervention speech-language pathologist with the Infant and Toddler Connection of Augusta-Highland in Staunton, VA, and as an adjunct professor at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham, NC. Additionally, she is the acclaimed host of “First Bite: Fed, Fun, Functional,” a weekly speech therapy podcast that addresses “all thangs” of pediatric speech therapy and is presented by Speech Therapy PD. Michelle authored Chasing the Swallow: Truth, Science, and Hope for Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing Disorders.

Show Notes:

Feeding Matters

Feeding Matters PFD pdf

Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ

Talk to Me Technologies

SOS Approach to Feeding

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