COMMUNICATION THROUGH SPELLING
Over 86% of those with autism and related disorders have some degree of motor impairment, often quite severe. In fact, motor impairment is so much a fundamental part of the syndrome, that there is a growing movement among doctors, researchers and other professionals in the field to include motor impairment in the actual descriptive definition of autism.
Those diagnosed with autism are, by definition, thought to have language and social impairment, but how much of these issues are the result of motor impairment is unknown. Certainly, many on the autism spectrum struggle with communication as they are unable, from a motor point-of-view, to engage in spoken language, pointing, typing, writing and so forth.
Communication through spelling is a systematic approach which teaches your non-speaker to point to letters to communicate. Many individuals thought to be socially impaired, without language, and cognitively disabled have now been able to show that they are none of these: they simply had no way of telling anyone.
Remember: all communication requires motor skills! If you do not have control over the volitional muscles of your body, you have no way to communicate!
We have a large, and growing, family of spellers who are now fully conversant via spelling on letter boards and/or typing. Mouth to Hand's mission not only includes giving the gift of communication, but also, to give to our spellers educational and social opportunities to enrich their lives.
Those diagnosed with autism are, by definition, thought to have language and social impairment, but how much of these issues are the result of motor impairment is unknown. Certainly, many on the autism spectrum struggle with communication as they are unable, from a motor point-of-view, to engage in spoken language, pointing, typing, writing and so forth.
Communication through spelling is a systematic approach which teaches your non-speaker to point to letters to communicate. Many individuals thought to be socially impaired, without language, and cognitively disabled have now been able to show that they are none of these: they simply had no way of telling anyone.
Remember: all communication requires motor skills! If you do not have control over the volitional muscles of your body, you have no way to communicate!
We have a large, and growing, family of spellers who are now fully conversant via spelling on letter boards and/or typing. Mouth to Hand's mission not only includes giving the gift of communication, but also, to give to our spellers educational and social opportunities to enrich their lives.