nonspeaking
A Week of EnviroMagic
Kia ora! For the last three months I have been lucky enough to intern at GKTC, where I have been learning so much. All the way from little old New Zealand! What an honor it has been to be welcomed so warmly and given the opportunity to communicate with the spellers in the community… what…
Tribe Spreads Love
TRIBE CONTINUES TO GIVE! The Tribe are nonspeaking young adults who meet weekly at Growing Kids Therapy Center and who use spelling as a form of communication and are all highly fluent in their ability to communicate. Growing Kids Therapy Center is dedicated to teaching non-speaking, minimally speaking and unreliably speaking individuals how to Spell…
Open Letter to ASHA by Elizabeth Vosseller
To the Board of Directors: I am writing to you to ask that you withdraw the proposals from the Ad Hoc committee on FC and RPM. Â The members of this committee have a longstanding public record of trying to discredit the use of FC, RPM and other forms of typing or spelling as a form…
Open Letter to ASHA from The I&I Guys
Re: [TIME SENSITIVE] ASHA Policy Statement on RPM My name is Thomas Pruyn and I am a nonspeaking autistic who uses spelling to communicate. I am Ryan McMahon and I am a nonspeaking autistic who uses spelling to communicate. Like many other nonspeaking autistics, I, Ian Nordling, have found my voice by spelling on a…
Man’s Best Friends
As many of you know, we are training Buddy, a goldendoodle, to become an OT dog. Â Animal assisted therapy has always been a dream of mine. Adding a dog to a therapy session can be a great way to add some fun, motivation, and regulation. Ryan, a GKTC client, is a part of Team Buddy…
Shelby’s Blog
We have been so grateful to spend the last 6 weeks with Shelby Watson, our fabulous Australian intern! Shelby was so eager to learn how to teach nonspeaking individuals to Spell to Communicate (S2C) that she packed up her bags, hopped a plane and embraced American life and clinical skills as a participant in our…
A Myth of Giant Proportions
When I first started working at Growing Kids, I worked with students who were brand new to Spelling to Communicate, as well as some who started with Elizabeth beforehand. Over that time, skills began to build, goals were being met, and fluency was increasing. For the students and for myself, as well! Doing a regular,…
Tribe and UVA Part 2: Social Connections and Friendship
There are many reasons why I love being so involved with Tribe, but the UVa-Tribe exchanges are at the top. As a UVa alum, a friend of Vikram (who teaches the course), and as an educator at GKTC, it’s truly the case of my worlds colliding, and it’s the best thing ever. GKTC Tribe and…
Puppy Love
When people meet Buddy, our OT dog, they often ask me how I became interested in animal assisted occupational therapy.  While this picture says 1,000 words, I will still write a few more! Well, the journey began when I was born. No, really!  My family adopted a golden retriever puppy a few months before I…
DEEJ The Movie: Inclusion shouldn’t be a lottery
What a spectacular night at the Atlas Theater in Washington DC for the screening of Deej! Deej is the must-see documentary about DJ Savarese, a nonspeaking autistic and his journey to be included as a college student. The film is powerful and a story that we hope will become common for all of our students….
GKTC Tribe and UVA: Creating Welcoming Communities, a kickoff exchange!
GKTC’s Tribe has kicked off the fall schedule with an exchange between The University of Virginia students and Tribe members. The University of Virginia students are taking the undergrad psychology course, The Science and Lived Experience of Autism along with the young adults of Growing Kids Therapy Center’s “Tribe”. Â Last year, the Tribe completed the…
