Spelling
Spelling is a method that allows nonspeaking individuals to point to letters and form words, giving them a way to share their thoughts and connect with others. Below are some recommended resources to learn more about spelling.
(More resources for “Spelling” to come).
Underestimated: An Autism Miracle
Underestimated: An Autism Miracle by J.B. and Jamie Handley — A father shares the journey of discovering his son’s voice through spelling.
Spellers (2023 documentary)
Spellers (2023 documentary) – A powerful film showing the breakthroughs of nonspeaking individuals who learn to spell.
Josiah’s Fire
Josiah’s Fire tells the story of Josiah Cullen, a non-verbal boy with autism who begins communicating profound thoughts through a spell board. Written by his mother, it shares the family’s journey of hope, faith, and the unexpected ways God works in their lives.
Spelling to Communicate – Training Options
There are several options for spelling-to-communicate training and certification, including:
FREE spelling-to-communicate training for parents and caregivers:
https://communication4all.org/c4a-academy/
Equips parents and caregivers to support nonspeaking individuals in communicating and thriving. Every voice matters, and every loved one deserves to be heard. C4A Academy is offered free of charge as part of their mission to honor the God-given potential in every individual and to help families discover the hidden gifts within their own homes.
Spell2Communicate
Let me spell it out for you
- Empowers nonspeaking individuals to communicate by teaching purposeful motor skills to point to letters on a board as an alternative to speech.
- Focuses on presuming competence and building motor and communication skills so thoughts and ideas can be expressed quickly and accurately.
- Offers a structured method taught by trained practitioners to support reliable and meaningful communication for people with motor‑sensory challenges.
Spellers Method
Spelling as Communication
- A multidisciplinary approach that supports nonspeaking individuals to communicate by spelling or typing with individualized support.
- Focuses on coaching communication partners, intentional movement skills, and vision/ocular‑motor development.
- Helps users build communication confidence and autonomy by progressing toward effective, meaningful expression.
SpellerZona
Delivering hope, one speller at a time.
- Helps individuals with Down syndrome and other communication challenges express themselves effectively using spelling as a primary method.
- Provides coaching to develop motor skills and techniques that enable users to accurately and confidently communicate their thoughts and ideas.
- Offers guidance, tools, and resources for families and caregivers to support meaningful communication breakthroughs.
Spelling Lessons Created by You!
Our son Cody loves these lessons! Look no further!
Cody’s practitioner and her son (who is a software engineer) created an app to help simplify the process of creating lessons for spellers and managing spelling sessions for practitioners!
This app allows you to:
- Rack and Manage Speller’s Progress
- Create instant lessons based on Speller interests
- Generate spelling lessons tailored to the individuals age
- Choose the type of questions you would like for your lesson/speller
- Get new lesson ideas for lessons based on their interests
- Quickly download a PDF of the lesson
- Track which spellers have completed which lessons
- Practitioners can generate PDFs of lessons with speller’s answers embedded for easy sharing of transcripts to their family
- They are excited to offer this to everyone at spellerlessons.com