Welcome!

Matthew: I want to ask everyone what they want to say to people who don’t believe in spelling as valid communication. I am curious about your personal experiences with people who don’t believe in your intelligence and understanding. Joe: The best thing I can say to those who don’t believe is why you have not tried for yourself. I think all who doubt spelling should go observe in real time. Not a video. Watch a speller in action. Jack: I agree because I think it is this pr

2026 Goal Setting Rose: All time best resolution is to make each year better than the last Maudey: I want to feel more joy this year Jack: I promise to be more motivated towards progress Joe: I am excited to work on my health this year Christopher: I am challenging myself to write more Chad: I want to make real progress on my OCD Matthew: I want to connect with more spellers this year Sam: Hoping teaching more people about spellers has a positive effect on the world Alex:

"We can accomplish a truly new community and way of life where we are in charge of our future." - Maudey

"Helping spread this information is essential to help our fellow nonspeakers to have hope and a better life."

We're back and ready to begin another year with our spellers! After a fun-filled summer, we are happy to get back to writing and and...

Rose: My question is what is your heart and mind thinking about your future? Very much want to know how you see your futures. Joe: My...

For this post, Danny suggested that we give our readers a chance to learn more about each speller. From there, the idea evolved into an interview where spellers got a chance to ask each other questions. Some questions sparked such big conversations that we'll save them for future posts of their own and the rest are presented here as a Q&A. We had so much fun learning more about our spellers and hope you enjoy their questions, answers, and insights!

When we came back from our holiday break in January, we started working on a blog post about New Year's Resolutions. Overwhelmingly, our...

Christopher: I want to talk about challenges we have overcome. It will be a way to inspire other spellers and each other. All people...

Maudey: Hi, everyone. I want to thank you all for supporting our blog. I have to ask for support with one more thing. My mom has cancer....

In the spirit of turning our program over to our coalition of spellers (if you haven't already, read our Blog Re-Launch Post about this...

In our last post , we asked our spellers what they want the goals for our program to be. They told us that they don't feel like our...

Welcome to The Speller Space ! For the past four years, we’ve been working to build a program for non-speaking, minimally-speaking, and...

Jack: We want to thank everyone for supporting our 5K Fun Run and fundraiser. I love how many people decided to be there. You helped us raise so much money for our new building. That is so exciting mainly because it is so exciting that we need a new building. The Phoenix Studio is growing so fast. You reading and sharing our blog has helped make that happiness happen. Thank you thank you thank you! Dylan: Everyone loved the 5K. Happy to see so many people there to support us.

Any ideas for our next blog post? Christopher: I want to ask everyone what they like to do for fun. It would be good to talk about how some of the things I do are just loops and not really something I like. Like I listen to kids music a lot but I mostly hate it. Part of my brain gets stuck in the routine of it. It is a loop only. For my own real enjoyment, I like to listen to rap. Joe: I have similar loops for me it is Barney. I like how you explained it like part of the br

Christopher: One thing people don't understand is how we have such understanding when appropriate education is denied to us. Really I was never taught more than basics in school. But I am always listening. You can hear a lot when you don't talk. I am always paying attention even when it does not look like it. Joe: Yes it is interesting to me that people think we didn't learn if we didn't have a traditional school experience. I have learned so much because I absorb all that i

Our spellers had the idea to talk about their unique sensory experiences. To kick off our discussion, we read the lesson "Got Glimmer?" by Debbie Spengler about the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the "autonomic ladder" representation created by therapist Deb Dana. Here is a summary of what we learned: Maudey: We learned about the autonomic ladder. That is a representation of how the nervous system works. Joe: The ventral vagal pathway is the top of the autonomic ladder.

We spent some time learning about the two language models most commonly used when speaking about autistic individuals. Our spellers summarized each model and had some thoughts to share about their own preferences! Describe person-first language: Maudey: Person-first language puts the person before the diagnosis. Dylan: Like "a man with autism." Jack: It is meant to recognize the equal value of all people Why did autistic self-advocate Jim Sinclair dislike person-first languag

What is an assumption people make about you when you're socializing? Maudey: People think I am mentally challenged because my body and voice work differently. Joe: Yes. People don't understand that we understand. Dylan: Just cause I look different does not mean I think or feel different. Jack: People assume I don't want friends because I look like I am only in my own head. Christopher: Even though I want to say some people are very open, mainly people judge by appearances. It

Joe: My life makes me so happy now in ways I could never have imagined before. I am happy now because I have agency over my life. This agency is because I can now communicate. I loved learning how to spell. I mean building the neural motor pathways that let me untangle the messages that go between my brain and body. I have always had full thought and language. Before when I had no way to express it I felt so frustrated and alone. Alex D.: I had similar feelings. Having no way