Autism and Language: What Every Parent Needs to Know with Laura Bierck, SLP-BCBA

In this episode, I'm taking you inside one of the most misunderstood topics in autism: how speech and language actually develop. If your child isn't talking the way you expected, or speaks in scripts and echoes, or can read words but struggles to have a conversation, this episode will give you the framework you've been searching for. I'm joined by Laura Bierck, speech language pathologist, board certified behavior analyst, and our Senior Manager of Clinical Excellence at Cortica, to walk through what the science actually says about autistic communication.I walk you through the brain science that explains why so many autistic children process language differently (many have stronger visual brain networks than auditory ones, which is why some children can read words before they ever speak them), and more importantly, what that means for how you support your child every single day. We break down Gestalt language processing and the 2025 research showing up to 90% of autistic individuals use echolalia at some point, hyperlexia and the surprising power of written words, the simple 9-to-1 language shift that changes everything, and why AAC is never a last resort.This episode is for you if: your child communicates in ways that don't match the typical milestones chart, you've been told to "wait and see" but something in you wants to do more, or you simply want to understand how your child's brain is approaching language so you can meet them there. Throughout, I want you to remember this: communication is something we build with our children. When you shift from trying to pull language out of your child to creating opportunities for connection, everything changes.