where every voice matters
A place for spellers, typers, and all AAC users to build community, support, and advocacy​
What is The Speller Space?
The Speller Space is a program for non-speaking, minimally speaking, and unreliably speaking autistic individuals where they can access community classes and academic programs that honor their alternative forms of communication. We serve high school aged individuals through adults who use any form of spelled communication.
At The Speller Space, our participants are given the tools that enable them to express their feelings, thoughts, ideas and intelligence.
Through spelled communication, spellers around the world have proven that they are competent, intelligent, empathetic, and capable. The Speller Space empowers spellers to build autonomy and agency with the support of a community of peers and allies.
What is Spelled Communication?
Spelled communication (also called text-based communication) is a form of AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) which involves tapping out letters one by one on a letterboard or keyboard. Different methods of spelled communication include RPM, S2C, Supported Typing, etc.
We know that apraxia (a motor planning disorder) is often the biggest challenge spellers face. While the motor skill of speech may be a challenge for this population, their language is intact. We teach those with motor difficulties to coordinate their brain and body to communicate by learning and practicing the motor skill of spelled communication. This practice builds new neural pathways that create an alternative outlet for communication.
Many spellers have gone on to write books and create blogs expressing a common thread in their experiences. Check out our Speller Space Blog by clicking on "Blog" in the navigation bar above.
What do we do at The Speller Space?
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1:1 Sessions to support those learning the skill of spelled communication.
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These sessions offer individualized support as spellers practice the necessary motor skills and build fluency with spelled communication
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Sessions support the speller AND their family members. Family members will also receive coaching during sessions and continued support that enables them to become fluent communication partners
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Support high school students through their homeschool curriculum
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Using age and grade level appropriate resources adapted specifically for spellers, we support spellers in meeting their high school requirements
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Support adults through virtual higher level coursework
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Whether they are working towards a high school diploma, taking college credits, or learning for fun and enrichment, our spellers engage with age appropriate content that respects their intelligence and talents
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Offer a variety of community classes through our sister program, The Phoenix Classes
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All classes have a robust community of spellers forging new friendships and learning new skills, all while exploring the arts, nature, cooking, fitness and more
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​Provide a space for a growing community of spellers
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Our community presumes competence, respects the autonomy and intelligence of spellers, and allows for them to shape and adapt the program in the way that best serves their goals and visions for the future
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In The Words Of Spellers
Read what some of our spellers have to say about our program
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 have always had full thought and language. Before when I had no way to express it I felt so frustrated and alone.
Alex D: Having no way to communicate my thoughts was so isolating. Imagine waking up with no voice. My voice does not cooperate with my mind. My body does not either. Thought is locked inside. By practice and hard work I learned to spell on a letterboard. My life has never been the same.
Rose: I was so deeply sad before spelling. I loved my family but they did not know me. I was a stranger to all people. I am better now. I feel in control of my life now. It is like sunshine after all darkness. It is hope and love and connection. I am free now I can share my mind.
Jack: Sunshine after darkness is exactly how it feels. I have always done enough talking to make my point. Like if Mom asks if I want pizza or pasta I can choose, but that is the limit of my accurate speech. Now there is no limit. ​​​
Christopher: I really felt what Rose said about sadness. I was so sad my family did not really know me before even though there was only love between us they did not know my mind until I learned to spell. One thing I love now is making my mom laugh with the things I spell. I love that they know I am funny. I am glad they know who I am because I can share my soul now.
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Maudey: It is great we can all communicate now but it is important to state how traumatizing it is to be trapped in your body. We all lived like that for so long.
Alex D: Always grateful but man do I wish I had access to communication earlier. I am passionate about speller advocacy for exactly that reason. It is good to think that parents of other autists can read this and help their kid learn to spell, and that my autist friends and I can help make that happen.
Joe: That is my feeling too. It is why our struggle can be worthwhile. I really have hope this project can help others. It is my goal to help people learn the truth of us. We are in thought the same as anyone we just say it differently.
Rose: Yes to all this. We can make the lives of others so much better by sharing our stories. No one should have to live without communication.
A Vision For The Future
The long-term vision for The Speller Space is to create a new model of community—one that honors the intelligence, dignity, and contributions of non-speaking communicators.
We imagine a residential village with shared supports, a central hub for learning and collaboration, and an interdisciplinary innovation space where the insights of our spellers can help inform science, creativity, health, and human potential.
Surrounding this, we envision wellness and recreation spaces that nourish both the community and the public.
