Why is that you, as an SLP, do not know WHY someone would hold the letterboard for a Nonspeaker?

Question that needs answering; in their own time, not mine. I gots work to do.

Let me speak with the power of truth, as if my very words are an act of liberation, as if every syllable is a challenge to the oppressive forces that silence our children and try to dictate the course of their lives.

My son is learning to communicate through spelling. Yes, he is. And he is using every tool that empowers him to do so. He is using Rapid Prompting Method, Spelling2Communicate, Communication4Education, and the lessons of Communication 4 All. These methods are not just choices; they are lifelines. And I stand by them, no matter the noise that seeks to drown out his voice.

And believe me, there’s noise. So much noise. Noise from people who don’t understand our journey, people who would rather see my son remain invisible. I’ve archived their posts, deleted their comments, and blocked them from my spaces. I remove their interference because it is not welcome. But make no mistake—just because I remove them from my spaces doesn’t mean they don’t still make noise. They do. And their noise is not just loud; it is dangerous. It seeks to limit my son’s possibilities, to limit his voice, to limit him.

Now, let’s take this head-on, shall we?

Many will have a problem with my son’s use of spelling to communicate. But the loudest and most dangerous voices against it will always come from ASHA, from SLPs, from those who claim to be experts yet refuse to see the truth.

Let’s add a disclaimer that shouldn’t even be necessary but we gonna add it anyways: if you are a Speech Therapist and what comes after this statement does not apply to you, don’t take it on. Don’t wear them shoes. Don’t eat this food. You’re safe. But if you’re one of those who have been dismissing our children, who think that our children’s lives are to be molded to fit your narrow understanding of communication, then this is for you.

“Why doesn’t your son hold the board?”

“Why do someone else have to hold the board?”

“Why not rest it on a table?”

It’s always some variation of those questions. But it never just sits with those questions, it’s the words they pair with these questions. Those thoughts that came before and after. Those that show they aren’t there to actually learn the answer but are there to challenge. To be combative. To argue. They want to show me that my son will indeed not be the true carrier of his words but rather myself. Or another CRP. They want to show that those who are already fluent aren’t actually the master of their letters. Someone else influences them.

And any answer I provide, will feel like defense and justification coupled with a statement of proof. And I am done trying to prove to people that those like my son are capable, intelligent beings. They owe them nothing. Any explanation they provide, that’s a gift, not an obligation. They blessed you with that. But they didn’t owe you that.

“Why doesn’t your son hold the board,” says the Speech Therapist who spent far too many words to tell me that she doesn’t believe in my son’s ability to produce his own thoughts.

Let me challenge you for a moment:

How about this: “why the hell do you not KNOW why someone would hold the board for a Nonspeaking Autistic person, being a Speech Therapist and all?”

By definition, and ASHA’s by the way: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults. This is a definition unlike many other sites that define Speech Language Pathologists. However, many go on to add, sort of like a footnote, some of the other conditions they treat and some of the options they use to treat them…such as AAC devices for those who are Nonspeaking or treating Aphasia, Apraxia, Dysarthia, Expressive Disorders, and more. I listed these specific ones because they are the conditions that most often have difficulties with motor skills and planning. Where someone has difficulty getting those muscles to produce speech, or write, type, articulate, or just flat out get those words out of their head.

Are you telling me that after all your years of training, after all your education on motor skills, you don’t understand why my son needs assistance holding a board? You can’t even fathom why someone would hold it for him, guiding his hand with different prompts because his body isn’t cooperating with his mind? Why are we still here?

Thing is, as an SLP, you're not unfamiliar with motor skills challenges. And as an SLP who would work with autistic children, you definitely have seen clients with significant motor skills challenges. Speech itself is the most difficult motor skill we have and if one were to struggle in this area to the point where they could not produce speech whatsoever, or on a very limited basis…why are we not thinking about these motor skills deficits being present in other parts of their bodies? You’ve seen the motor deficits; you’ve seen the difficulties our children face.

Again, “why the hell do you not KNOW why someone would hold the board for a Nonspeaking Autistic person, being an SLP and all?”

You work with autistic clients and are either dismissive and/or not properly taught that this is a whole-body experience in which the mind often doesn’t have the best control over the body.

Let me tell you something: you are not equipped to fully understand the spectrum of what our children experience. You cannot see the struggle unless you’re willing to see it with more than just your clinical lens. You need to broaden your perspective, because your narrow view of what constitutes "therapy" leaves so many of our children stranded.

Many are fluent and still require their CRPs. Many are independent, but that doesn’t matter because you still do not listen to what they have to say.

The countless nonspeaking individuals out there who are spelling their words—they are showing you that this works. They are breaking through the walls you have built around your understanding, and they are telling you, in their own words, that this method works.

But you don’t want to listen. You dismiss their voices. You silence them. You act as though their stories are irrelevant. You don’t see the value in their lived experiences.

And it is time for that to change.

Advocacy isn’t about pushing what you feel to be true for the community you serve, it’s you listening to the community and what it is that they want and require. You’ve turned your ears off to them. You silence them.

You follow statements from an organization that is against Spelling for our children but hasn’t the first clue that RPM is not S2C which is not several other methodologies. They treat them as one because they haven’t taken the time to get to know exactly how they operate.

The science grows. It evolves. You have to evolve with it. Because right now, your understanding is stagnant. You are clinging to outdated methods that ignore the full complexity of the autistic experience. You are leaving children like my son behind. Spelling has changed lives, but you are too stuck in your own biases to see it. You refuse to see the humanity in these children, to hear their voices.

Let me be clear: I am not asking for your approval. We don’t need it. Our children don’t need it. But we deserve respect. Our families deserve to be heard.

Your field is dated. Sitting atop a hill of science that doesn’t fully comprehend the expanse of the autistic experience. You are aware of motor deficits and yet you do not accommodate them. You are not equipped to create programs and methodologies that would work for the individual who does not respond well to traditional Speech Therapy. You are incapable of acknowledging that a broad spectrum of interventions are needed to meet the very unique needs of this population.

Choice is a fundamental right to being human. ASHA speaks of choice and autonomy but spits in the face of individuals and families who have been helped tremendously by choosing a route they do not support and aim to prevent families from making the same choice. We KNOW spelling works. We have so many Nonspeakers out there telling us their stories. We watch them spell with and without their partner. And to deny its validity disregards their voices.

This is something that works for so many families. How dare you deny their stories. If only you carried a desire to learn more about this population as you did audacity. You are to be collaborative with parents and autistic individuals…many report positive outcomes through Spelling. The disrespect you have for lived experience is appalling.

Speech Therapy FAILED my son. Completely and utterly failed him. In every way you can imagine a therapy to fail a person, it did exactly that.

But if you want to get into some science, let’s talk about how problematic it is for you to hold dated views that don’t take into account the entirety of the autistic experience, and using them to deny RPM and others as valid tools Nonspeakers can use to access communication. This has been life-changing for so many. You know how many new methodologies in our history have been initially treated as invalid and not beneficial only to have time tell us that it was indeed valuable.

Spelling as a communication method does not have to be in opposition to traditional speech therapy. It should be a part of the conversation. It should be embraced, not shunned. But until you open your mind to what is truly needed, until you listen to the voices of those who know best—the parents, the caregivers, the nonspeaking individuals—you will continue to fall short.

Again, if this didn’t apply to you as an SLP, don’t take it personally, but do take it seriously. If it did apply to you…

This is a call to action. It is a call to you to listen, to challenge your own biases, to fight against ableism in your own field. The world has changed, and you need to change with it. We know what works for our children, and we won’t back down. You may resist, but time will show that you are on the wrong side of history.

So, to the Speech Therapists who still refuse to learn, who still refuse to listen, I ask you this:

Why is it that you still don’t understand why someone would hold the board for a nonspeaker?

Is it ignorance? Bias? Ableism? Sort that out.

The time for ignoring us is over.

The truth is here.

And it is

…speaking.

...spelling.

…writing.

…typing.