WRITTEN AND ORAL
LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION

The Problems

• reads the same material over and over and still does not understand it
• writing is unorganized and unfocused
• has difficulty following directions
• has difficulty connecting to conversation and responding appropriately
• has difficulty with logic and critical thinking
• is labeled a poor listener who doesn't apply him or herself

Identify the cause
A primary cause of receptive and expressive language problems is difficulty creating an image for the whole concept or 'gestalt' contained in a unit of language. This causes individuals to get only part of the information rather than the whole idea.

Provide specific treatment
Gestalt imagery can be stimulated and applied to language comprehension and expression. Individuals are trained to visualize and verbalize about images created from very simple through increasingly more complex and abstract types of language.

The results applied
As the ability to form appropriate images corresponding to language develops, individuals are better able to respond to tasks that require recall of facts or expression of more interpretive thinking. Because they can get the main idea, they can take class notes or outline a chapter in a textbook. They are able to generalize from what they studied in order to answer "tricky" test questions. Vocabulary is more easily developed, and both written and spoken expression are more organized.