STPD Episode rundown: ‘Brain-Based Language Networks and Individual Differences’ by Garrett Oyama, MS, CCC-SLP & Dr. Evelina Fedorenko, PhD
I’m known for being a little hyperbolic, but this podcast episode was legitimately the best I’ve listened to for a professional development hour
Here is my Course Rundown of Garrett’s Beyond Words episode Brain-Based Language Networks and Individual Differences available for .1 CEUs. If you aren’t already a member, of SpeechTherapyPD, you can use my code GESTALT33 to get this course for free.
What
What I Loved
Cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Federenko presented information that clarified and deepened how I think about speech & language. Some ideas I have held for over a decade were turned on their head, which was surprising and exciting. Something important to me when taking a PD is a balance between passion and solid education. Dr. Federenko clearly loves her work and explains it with enthusiasm, often using gesture & analogy to illustrate ideas.
What I Learned
I have never gotten this much from one episode in my entire life. I learned about the visual word form area, specific locations implicated in the stages of speech and language processing, and how musical, phonemic, and mechanical sound inputs are handled differently by the brain. I was exposed to the idea that semantic and syntactic processing are not considered distinct (the phrase “lexicalized syntax” stuck with me). Finally, hearing a cognitive neuroscientist reference the Usage-Based Theory of Language by Michael Tomasello had me pumping my fist in the air.
Who I Think Should Take This Course
I genuinely believe all speech-language therapists should take this course. There is a generalized, prevailing idea that Broca’s means expressive language and Wernicke’s means receptive language, but it (like anything in the brain) is not that simple. I also think that a lot clinicians who are interested in Gestalt Language Processing - and I say this neutrally and respectfully - don’t actually know much at all about what language processing entails. I certainly have a profound amount to learn, and this episode has me feeling motivated to keep going.