The AutSide Podcast

Today’s episode provides a detailed, first-person narrative and analysis of the challenges faced by an AuDHD gestalt language processor (GLP) during routine cognitive health screening for aging. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that standard assessments like the MMSE and MoCA are designed for neurotypical, analytical processing and thus fail to accurately measure the c...

Today’s episode argues that demanding Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) for Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) is ethically flawed because it would require withholding necessary support from GLP children, thereby demanding harm as a precondition for evidence. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, contends that the behaviorist-oriented standards (such as those used in ABA research) f...

Today’s episode provides a critical re-examination of hyperlexia, arguing it should be understood not as a deficit but as a manifestation of Gestalt Language Processing (GLP). Traditionally defined as “precocious decoding with poor comprehension,” the author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, asserts that this comprehension lag is simply a deferred timeline characteristic of the gestalt s...

Today’s episode features an essay by Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, a Gestalt Language Processor (GLP), tracing her painful yet transformative path to literacy. Though raised in what educators call a “print-rich environment,” she found the endless shelves of books less an invitation than a taunt. In school, phonics-based instruction left her humiliated, her gestalt way of processing language—as echoes, melo...

Today’s episode strongly critiques the theoretical National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 (NSPM-7) of 2025. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, an autistic trans femme, argues that NSPM-7 is an example of authoritarian fragility because it allegedly collapses legitimate critique and dissent—such as anti-capitalism, secularism, and trans existence—into indicators of violence...

Today’s episode provides a detailed critique, written by Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, of a prior academic article by Katharine Beals that dismissed Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) and Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) as “implausible.” Dr. Hoerricks argues that Beals’ critique is less a neutral linguistic analysis and more an act of “analytic enclosure” and “gatekeeping,” aimed at defending the profes...

Today’s episode provides a critical commentary on the push for “patriotic education” by the U.S. Department of Education, viewing it as a thinly veiled effort by the Regime and conservative think-tanks to erase marginalised histories and impose a singular, celebratory narrative of American heritage. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, employs the metaphor of decay and rot, compa...

Today’s episode draws a powerful analogy between the historical struggle of the Russian peasant commune (the obshchina) against capitalist enclosure and the contemporary experience of the autistic community. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, frames autism not as a pathology or a problem to be solved, but as a “living commons” under continuous siege by societal forces and regim...

Today’s episode argues for the crucial necessity of psychoeducational reports in special education, asserting that without them, support plans for students with Individualised Education Programs (IEPs) are based on guesswork rather than understanding. Written by a Resource Specialist Programme (RSP) teacher, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, the source article details how funding shortages for school psycholog...

Today’s episode provides a critical examination of how academic grading practices often disadvantage Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs) by prioritising Analytic Language Processors (ALPs) methodologies. Specifically, the author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that college settings mistakenly equate deep “analysis” with eisegesis (imposing external frameworks onto a text) whilst...

Today’s episode offers a comprehensive guide on integrating phonics instruction for gestalt language processors (GLPs), advocating for its use as a supportive tool rather than a rigid requirement. It emphasises the crucial importance of child-led readiness, suggesting phonics should only be introduced when the child actively demonstrates curiosity and a stable grasp of language at Stage 4. The aut...

Today’s episode argues against the universal imposition of phonics instruction, particularly for Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs), asserting that it is often presented as a necessary gatekeeper to literacy. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, contends that this analytic approach to language, focused on segmentation and drills, misunderstands GLPs’ natural pathways to literacy,...

Today’s episode critically examines a systematic review by Bryant et al. concerning Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) and Natural Language Acquisition (NLA), arguing that the review intentionally narrows its definition of acceptable evidence to exclude the majority of relevant research. It asserts that the authors’ methodology, which prioritises randomized control trials (RCTs) and similar designs...

In today’s episode, the author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, explains her intentional choice to omit photographs and selfies from her online presence, particularly in discussions of her transgender experience, favoring written language as a form of self-documentation. This decision is presented as both a personal preference and a political statement, serving as protection against onl...

Today’s episode argues that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) functions as a restrictive border, limiting who receives care by prioritising a narrow, often cisgender, white, and male-centric understanding of neurodivergence, particularly autism. It highlights how the DSM’s criteria are inherently biased, leading to the misdiagnosis or invisibility of individuals, espe...

Today’s episode explores the challenges faced by gestalt language processors (GLPs) and non-conforming educators within an educational system that prioritises “normative” benchmarks and analytic processing. The author of the source article, Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, outlines “The Autistic Heroine’s Journey,” a framework illustrating how individuals are pressured to mask their authentic language and pe...

Today’s episode offers guidance to parents of gestalt language processors (GLPs), emphasising that their children’s literacy development may follow a different, often slower, timeline compared to analytic language processors. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, drawing on personal experience as a GLP, argues against societal and educational pressures that equate speed with intel...

Today’s episode argues that the current education system primarily supports an analytic pathway to literacy, where language is broken down into segments, effectively marginalising gestalt learners who process language as whole phrases and rhythms. This creates a false universal of literacy, as the system's design excludes those who don't conform to the dominant method. The author of the source art...

Today’s episode advocates for a relational and holistic approach to literacy for Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs). The author of the source article, Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, a literacy specialist and autistic GLP, argues against traditional, drill-based phonics instruction, emphasising that language acquisition for GLPs is social, lived, and creative. Dr. Hoerricks outlines three core strategies fo...

Today’s episode critiques the "Science of Reading" (SoR) as a marketing slogan and industry rather than genuine science, asserting it's a corporate-industrial project designed to mandate phonics-based instruction. This framework, the author of the source article argues, systematically excludes and pathologises Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs), who acquire language in patterns and meaning rather...

Today’s episode explores the concept of gestalt language processing (GLP), a way individuals acquire and use language. The author of the source article, Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, who is an AuDHD GLP, shares her insights on how to recognise GLP in students, often at early stages, even when traditional assessment methods fail to do so. She emphasises that GLPs process language in "chunks" or "scripts",...

Today’s episode explores the challenges faced by gestalt language processors (GLPs) within an educational system designed for analytic processors. The author of the source article, Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, shares her personal experiences of being misunderstood and mislabeled as a child due to her use of scripts as a form of language acquisition. She argues that schools systemically refuse to acknowle...

Today’s episode critiques the widespread “meme-ification” of autism on social media, arguing that these simplified portrayals collapse the distinct concept of gestalt language processing (GLP) into a generic understanding of autism. The author of the source article, Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, explains that GLP is a specific language pathway where individuals process and store language in whole phrases...

Today’s episode explores the historical and contemporary challenges of housing and urban planning, centring on the concept of a ‘non-sexist city’ proposed by Dolores Hayden. It contrasts Hayden’s vision for collectivised care and shared resources within communities with the isolating and consumerist design of suburban living, and also examines the Soviet Union’s post-WWII housing program, which pr...

Today’s episode critiques the prevailing narrative of autism as a deficit, particularly the concept of “context blindness.” It argues that this label reflects neurotypical reliance on vague and indirect communication rather than an inherent autistic failing. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, asserts that autistic directness and a preference for clarity are often misinterpreted...