Keys 2 Communicate

Autismo, assim como outras deficiências, são ainda mais prejudicadas pela falta de conhecimento e incapacidade da família, dos amigos e pessoas em geral que con...vivem diariamente ou esporadicamente com elas. Segundo o curta-metragem feito por autistas não falantes, a maior queixa deles é o fato de não serem ouvidos. Justamente porque não podem falar estão excepcionalmente atentos a cada palavra, som, estímulo visual, olfativo e sensitivo existente ao seu redor, ainda que não demonstrado pela expressão facial, postura ou comportamento. Eles têm muito a contribuir se desenvolvermos nossa habilidade e capacidade de ouvi-los. Muitas vezes o uso de óculos de sol de forma diferente do habitual, a necessidade de objetos no braço ou pescoço, movimentos repetitivos, gritos, jogar-se no chão etc...são tentativas de acalmarem o próprio corpo e/ou neutralizar parcialmente o excesso de estímulos absorvidos. Lisa tem pais dedicados que não poupam esforços para prover tudo que está ao alcance deles. Cada família tem a sua própria realidade, cada família tem um caminho diferente a percorrer, mas todas famílias temos em comum, a necessidade de sermos amados, respeitados, ouvidos e compreendidos. Karen, irmã mais nova, se destacou pela sua precoce responsabilidade, disponível para ajudar nas tarefas e cuidados pessoais relacionados a Lisa. Nina, a primogênita, se destacou na capacidade e desejo de inclusão social da Lisa. Como forma de conhecer e compreender melhor sua irmã, escolheu o TCC de conclusão de Curso Universitário fazer um Filme documentário chamado Sisterly (irmãs , irmandade) onde conta sua visão desta jornada. Vale a pena assistir. Gentilmente cedido por Nina Vallado, o filme estará gratuitamente, por tempo limitado, disponível para você através do link na minha bio (maiores informações na última foto). Compartilhe com aqueles que podem aprender e crescer emocionalmente com este conteúdo. #autismo #autismobrasil #psicologia #crescimentoemocional See more

As a non-speaking person with autism, I cannot stress the importance of finding a voice enough. Finding my voice released me from the silent abyss. During the... month of April, when we are talking about autism awareness, we should all remember that those of us without a voice urgently need a way to communicate. Can I say that is the most fundamental requirement for a meaningful life. As an additional comment I am posting my essay, "On Being Mute" On Being Mute Being mute is like having your brain gouged out. Autism/apraxia took away my voice, and a world that equates muteness with stupidity took everything else. Yes, it really is as if my brain were gouged out. It hurts so much I want to scream. Pouring all my pain into my voice I want to scream till that searing sound fills my body, my soul, and my world, shattering us all into a million fiery shrieking pieces. As an experiment just try keeping your mouth shut for a day. Just try keeping your mouth shut while they talk about you, telling your mother to put you away in an institution. You want to scream, No, no, no but you are mute. Cursed pity is I am mute for a lifetime. A system that focused only on my disabilities deprived me of an education. Fortunately a determined Mom salvaged me. She searched the world over until she found a way my voice could be as loud as yours. There are many of you who still deny me my brain, but there are more of us now. More of us mute people who have found our voices through Facilitated Communication (FC) and our awesome voices insist that you deny our abilities no more. Denied my abilities I can only get a job that will feed neither my body nor my soul. Recognize my abilities, give me a computer and for now a Facilitator and I will be able to write. What could I write about? I could begin with traveler’s tales. Yes, traveler’s tales. Traveler’s tales not about slogging through jungles or sailing across uncharted seas. I am a traveler ebulliently engaged on a unique journey between worlds. Between the quirky world of Autism that I inhabit and the wearying world of normal that I would like to explore. When you judge me by my muteness and deny me the power of my intellect we all lose. Ignorance and the lack of assistive technology held us autistic people hostage in the past. How many people lived alone and abandoned, how many lives lost! Hear me now. Ignorance and prejudice still hold too many of us in that silent abyss.

We are kicking off Autism acceptance/awareness month with one of our favorite quotes we saw over the weekend. This month, we will be highlighting lots of blogs..., poems and songs by spellers around the world, so be on the lookout! The only way we can learn about autism is from autistics themselves, let’s hear what they have to say! . . #acceptance #InvictusAcademy #pointingtogreatness #iascyoutolisten #interplaytherapycenter #AutismAwareness #NonspeakingDoesntMeanNonThinking See more

S2C is a method of communicating for those without speech. I use letterboards and keyboards that display the alphabet to help my students develop the motor skills needed to point to the letters to spell. Through a very specific system of steps students evolve from being able to demonstrate comprehension to being able to spell or type fluently to express themselves.

Challenge your assumptions!

Imagine having to prove yourself? Prove that you are cognitively capable? through a method of communication that is (seemingly) disputed? Like, actually prove t...hat you are capable of producing words (answers/ thoughts/ opinions), and that your words are *your* words, not someone else’s? Prove a huge piece of who you are? Seeing Andrew spell on the letterboard is something you can’t un-see. I remember the first time I watched a Speller point out, letter by letter, his name - even just his name! - I was astounded, embarrassingly, as I had no idea what our nonspeaking children were capable of. Jaw-dropped, in disbelief but not in a way that I doubted what I had seen; disbelief that everything I thought I knew about my own nonspeaking child would have to be un-learned, and relearned. But here we are. It seems that seeing isn’t enough to believe, for some. We need studies and data and validity and... proof. Professions and professionals, caught up looking elsewhere for the proof that is right in front of their very eyes if their eyes (and minds) were open. So, we are stockpiling that proof. Hours and hours of testing an arduous assessment of learning style, cognitive process and ability, academics, and so on. The gold standard Psycho-Educational Assessment. And ONLY possible because of the letterboard method of communication. We weren’t asked to do this; we took this on ourselves. And we aren’t alone: A whole community of nonspeakers proving, defending their ability to learn, to think for themselves, and to be able to share all of that through their life-changing letterboard. They shouldn’t have to, but most nonspeakers want nothing more than to have their voices heard *and validated*. At the start, we asked Andrew: Andrew, what are *you* hoping to get out of this assessment? And he replied, letter-by-letter, without hesitation: I have always stated that nonspeaking autistics deserve the credit they have been without for their entire lives. Maybe the observation by skilled and respected professionals will give credit where credit is due. Holy geez. The Clinical Psychologist is in awe. She is blown away by what Andrew (and many of his nonspeaking peers) is capable of through this method. Yet every week, Andrew continues to sit in a mainstream classroom without his letterboard nor a trained communication partner, because the school board is looking for proof. This desire to prove or validate any new method comes from wanting to assess the risk vs benefit not just for one child, but every potential child. In my mind, the benefits far outweigh the risks, and yet we continue to wait. Hundreds and thousands of nonspeaking autistics waiting for a method to be validated to finally prove that not only are they cognitively capable, but that they have something to say. We didn’t wait. We went on the belief that we had nothing to lose (except time, money, and the risk that our hope for a way to finally communicate with our child wouldn’t be met). We trusted our gut, not what the professionals told us about the letterboard when we first asked. Perhaps we won’t wait for the school board, either. This isn’t about blame; this is about moving forward. Regardless of what we do with this proof, we have shown to ourselves, and to Andrew, that we didn’t need this proof all along; we know he is bright, deserving, and loved for all of who he is - every aspect - regardless of proof. It has been difficult. The testing is lengthy (partly because the more you get right, the further you have to go!), requiring a lot of focus and self-regulation on Andrew’s part. We might decide to stop and revisit it at a later time. What I can tell you is that he is coming in at above-average for his age-/grade-level. ABOVE AVERAGE. You might not be surprised by that. I wasn’t. But when I think back to that very first cognitive assessment (nine years ago)... that very first time someone told me my child was less than. That one test back when the autism diagnostics were underway, and I watched as they assessed my child based on questions he couldn’t respond to... And I stood there, holding back tears of heartache and heartbreak, all of my faith in these professionals, thinking: How can you assess my child on what he knows when he can’t talk? when he can’t even hold a pencil to write?... and I watched them score blank answer after blank answer, like they’d done it a million times before. I’m not sure what the lowest percentile equates to as a score... I never did finish reading that report. Almost ten years ago. And it makes me bawl. AND it makes me leap with pride at the strides the nonspeaking community is making, but it makes me angry and tenacious all at the same time. You, my child, needn’t prove yourself not to me, not to anybody. But your willingness to do so, to show the world who you *really* are and what you’re capable of is admirable; I might have given up long ago. The path is yours. You hold the proof. You hold everything you need to do whatever your soul desires, because it is within you. I’ll follow your lead. Susan Baker, Toronto, Canada FB blog: Life, Love & Autism #lifeloveandautism An excellent article on proof seeking in the nonspeaking community, by Jennifer Binder-LePape : https://i-asc.org/an-open-letter-to-my-sons-skeptics/ No one should have to prove that they are entitled to respect or the right to participate in society to the fullest extent they desire.

Ian's performance was a hit at the show and the audience agreed... "Oh Ian you are so true - TAKE THE TIME - thank you for that beautiful message." ~Lisa "That ...was a beautiful song, Ian!" ~Kristy Boards & Chords was a VIRTUAL music festival celebrating and showcasing nonspeaking songwriters FROM ALL OVER THE GLOBE! You can see all of the performances at: https://i-asc.org/boards-and-chords/

We have our first ever jumping Jack off to celebrate gyms reopening today, how to get the funk out of your sponge, and a completely different take on the recap rap from an incredibly talented nonspeaking person with autism. Listen and follow everywhere: https://fizlink.com/virginmornings

I love this post so had to share. Take the time to #LISTEN and learn from nonspeaking autistics who are unable to rely on speech to be understood. #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs #Autism On February 12, 2021, we launched #LISTEN, a 5-minute film about representation made by and with nonspeaking autistic people. Here’s a 90-second version of #LISTEN called ABOUT US.... As we approach #AutismAwarenessMonth, we encourage a new kind of awareness: awareness of what nonspeaking autists are saying. Today, we’re platforming some of the nonspeaking autistic people who share their thoughts in the film. We encourage the sharing of their words using the hashtag #ListenToNonspeakers. GRANT BLASKO Grant is a nonspeaking autistic college-bound high school senior. Visit his blog at: https://grantblasko.com/ JORDYN ZIMMERMAN Jordyn is a graduate student who communicates by typing on an iPad. She is also on our Board of Directors: https://communicationfirst.org/aboutus/#jordyn Follow Jordyn on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jordynbzim and visit her blog at https://JordynZimmerman.com ENDEVER* CORBIN There needs to be more representation of diverse autistic identities, says endever*, an autistic multi-modal communicator. Follow endever* on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/endeverstar Learn more about endever* at their blog: https://anotherqueerautistic.wordpress.com/catego/about-me/ ISAIAH GREWAL Isaiah (also known as Iz) is a nonspeaking autist from Canada who types and spells to communicate. Here’s a little about his history: https://www.virtualhighschool.com//student-spotlight-auti/ PHILIP REYES I don’t like people talking about me like I am not there, says nonspeaking autist Philip Reyes. Philip has contributed to several books and maintains a blog here: https://faithhopeloveautism.blogspot.com/ RHEMA RUSSELL Just because I cannot speak does not mean I don’t hear, says nonspeaking autist Rhema Russell. The way to demean me is to speak to me as if I am a baby. Learn more about Rhema’s journey at: https://www.facebook.com/rhemashope/ See Rhema’s artwork at her blog: https://www.rhemashope.com/ Follow Rhema on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhemashope/ DAMON KIRSEBOM To anyone who wishes to represent nonspeaking people, I ask that you communicate with us directly, says Damon, who is from Canada. Follow Damon on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnYFFMGHEtgpYqsI4d_yf8w/ These are just a few of the nonspeaking autistic people who appear in #LISTEN. Learn more, access a toolkit, and watch the full version of #LISTEN at: https://communicationfirst.org/LISTEN/ View ABOUT US on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pVRiJVg-_ZY We encourage wide distribution of this film, provided (i) there are no unauthorized modifications made, (ii) the film is not used for commercial purposes, and (iii) attribution is provided to CommunicationFIRST at https://communicationfirst.org/

We’ve heard the word Inclusion tossed around. What is it? How do we do it? We set out to figure that out. 72 of us, some with disabilities, some without. We loo...ked inward. Our perspective shifted. Watch our journey premiering right here. This isn’t just our story, click the link below and make it yours. https://www.friendshipcircle.ca/revolution

Hi everyone. Please be kind. I was sexually assaulted by a mentor and someone I called a friend. This is a song I wrote for a Boards and Chords concert that was... hosted by https://i-asc.org/. This song is part of my healing. Please share so that others who have taken advantage of innocent people can realize what harm their selfish actions have done. I invite you to read my blog. I just launched it today. https://autisticwhospells.com/ #sexualassault

William's Comedy Performance brought down the house at SpellX and the audience asking for more! To see all of the Powerful SpellX Presentations and Performance...s visit: https://i-asc.org/spellx/ SpellX was a global, ground-breaking, salon style event, featuring short presentations by nonspeaking people who spell and type! SpellX took place on November 7, in 6 virtual salons spanning 6 geographical regions/time zones making SpellX available to over 1400 community members across the world and the spellerverse! Each salon was hosted by nonspeaking and speaking emcees who presented recorded presentations from the spellers while interacting with the panel and audience. Please enjoy and share their powerful presentations and performances. "Nonverbal boy with Autism uses spelling to share his voice at global conference" https://www.wbir.com//51-a27eaacf-70d4-4a12-82a1-d585ab444

Grace under pressure. Having autism doesn’t mean I don’t have the same goals as you, the video says, Grace’s words appearing in white letters against a black background. It means that I am not able to talk and my body doesn’t behave like I want it to. I knew I was smarter than anyone knew, she said using her spelling board."

Wyatt Dutton and the Rovers will be performing at #boardsandchords Boards & Chords!!! A virtual music festival celebrating and showcasing nonspeaking songwrite...rs from all over the world! #iascyoutolisten #presumecompetence Visit https://i-asc.org/boards-chords-concert/ to grab your seat now! I-ASC and Unrestricted Interest, producers of the Neurolyrical Cafe, are pleased to announce BOARDS & CHORDS, February 27th 1PM EST & 7PM EST Register Now! Sponsorships still available. Contact [email protected] Image description: Strong young man with a steely squint looks at the camera with the back drop of a snow covered forest.

The Reason I Jump premieres in virtual cinemas in Canada TODAY! Find a screening via Blue Ice Docs and support your local independent theater: https://blueicedocs.com/stream/32/the-reason-i-jump/