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Building Community and Advocacy: From Voiceless to SEEN and Heard
I got used to being silent. It was the loneliness and being invisible that was soul crushing. Being able to finally say anything I wanted as a nonspeaking autistic with apraxia was liberating. I have never been able to communicate by using my mouth. When I was a child, I did speak a few...
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Communication, Regulation, and Trust: Supporting Non-speaking Autistic Individuals in Everyday Life
A Few Truths The world is often set up in ways that are highly unreliable and unpredictable for autistic people. This sets the stage for frequent dysregulation, disengagement, and disability, all of which can be even more extreme for non-speaking autistic individuals. The frequent bias towards...
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Core Learning Characteristics of Autism and Their Implications in Typing to Communicate
This article bridges the gap between decades of research in the field of autism and the actual cognitive-motor mechanics that define an autistic learning profile. Our objective is to cleanly identify why traditional Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) models often fail: they...
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Connecting With Nonspeakers: A Practical Guide
April traditionally brings showers, but in my world, it brings Autism Awareness Month – or is it Autism Acceptance Month, or is it Autism Action Month? It seems the verbiage changes from year to year. Awareness is good, acceptance is great, but action is the key to inclusion. For me, April means...
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Beyond the Device: Teaching Meaningful, Spontaneous Communication with Speech-Generating Devices
A key component of a high quality of life is the ability to clearly communicate one's needs and desires with others. Effective communication allows individuals to advocate for themselves, make choices within their environment, and express their thoughts and feelings. For autistic individuals,...
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“All Done Talkin’ ‘Bout It:” One Mom’s Journey to Communicating With Her Autistic Daughter
I vividly remember when Annie was diagnosed with autism on Jan. 8, 2004, the day before her second birthday. I had no idea what autism was, other than how it was depicted in the movie “Rain Man,” starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. I felt shocked, worried and alone. I didn't know any other...
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Why Message-Passing Tests Are Unethical
Spelling as a method of communication access for non-speakers is rapidly expanding within the Profound Autism community. Thousands of Spellers have gained communication through Spelling to Communicate (S2C), Rapid Prompting Method (RPM), Spellers Method, and other assistive communication methods....
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Re-Envisioning Our Unnecessarily Disabled Futures
Most disabled adults are forced to live segregated, impoverished lives absent of the security, life expectancy, community, and agency that all human beings deserve. For those of us from historically marginalized communities, including non-speakers, the isolation can be even more profound. The life...
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Lessons From Listening to a Typer: Stony Brook Medicine School of Social Welfare Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities (LEND) Fellowship Program
Director's Perspective It was July 2022, and I had just finished my first year as the Director of the Stony Brook University Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities (SBU LEND) Program. Invited to present on the Research Panel for the I-ASC Motormorphosis...
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“The Best Medicine Is Respect!” Creating a Supportive Healthcare Environment for Nonspeakers
For around 30% of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), verbal speech is limited, unreliable, or unavailable (Jaswal et al., 2026). Autistic people who are nonspeaking use a variety of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to communicate; this includes picture-based systems,...
