advocacy

Mindful Inclusion at the Connections School of Atlanta

Atlanta, Autism, Communication, Community, Education, Inclusion, Letterboards, presume competence, Uncategorized /

Today we welcome guest blogger, Michele Kukler, one of our ACTS (Accessing Community Through Spelling) professional practitioners and teacher extraordinare of the Connections School of Atlanta. Michele and the incredibly dedicated teachers and staff at Connections are leaders in education as they include nonspeaking students along side speaking peers inside and outside the classroom through […]

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DEEJ The Movie: Inclusion shouldn’t be a lottery

Advocacy, Autism, Inclusion, neurodiversity, nonspeaking, Spelling to Communicate, Uncategorized /

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.

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We have a dream… celebrating MLK weekend in Atlanta

Atlanta, Autism, Communication, Community, Martin Luther King Day, Spelling to Communicate, Uncategorized /

In celebration of Martin Luther King Day, we are reposting this blog from MLK weekend in Atlanta 2 years ago!  Wow!  It is amazing to see how far along these fantastic spellers and self advocates have come since then! The fight for communication rights is stronger than ever! ~Elizabeth I returned from my second workshop

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Stop making assumptions of Ignorance – TASH 2016

Advocacy, Autism, Communication, Education, Inclusion, neurodiversity, Spelling to Communicate, TASH, Uncategorized /

This year, four of Growing Kids’ nonspeaking or unreliably speaking clients presented at the TASH 2016 conference in St. Louis! Each of our students gave a TASH Talk (in the style of a TED Talk) and participated together for a panel discussion on inclusion. We will be sharing their presentations with you over the next

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Creating Social and Communication Opportunities

Autism, Communication, Community, creative writing, parenting nonspeaking kids, Social Skills, Spelling to Communicate, Uncategorized /

We are often inspired by the creative strategies our families find to make education and communication on the letter boards interesting and meaningful. During a Skype consult, Jasmin explained how she created social and communication opportunities between her son, who spells to communicate, and her nephew. Jasmin graciously agreed to share her fantastic strategies as

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The ABC’s of Inclusion

Communication, creative writing, Education, Inclusion, presume competence, Uncategorized /

Last month we were delighted to participate in the Institute of Communication and Inclusion held in Columbia, Maryland. We presented to a great audience of people who are dedicated to serving nonspeaking and minimally speaking individuals. We got to collaborate with so many progressive thinkers and meet some of our inclusion super heroes, Cheryl Jorgeson

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Nonspeaking Youth Advocate at TASH Conference 2015

Autism, Communication, Community, Education, Inclusion, neurodiversity /

An international leader in disability advocacy, TASH is dedicated to equity, opportunity and inclusion for all. They work to ensure everyone has an opportunity to learn, work and enjoy life amongst a diverse community of family, friends and colleagues. This December, in Portland, Oregon TASH celebrated 40 years of generating change within the disability community. Five students from

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Autism Acceptance Month – Huan on Autism Self Advocacy

Autism, Communication, presume competence /

April has been established as Autism Awareness Month.  Like many, we at Growing Kids Therapy Center, feel that a better practice is Autism Acceptance Month.  To celebrate Autism Acceptance month, I will be featuring the voices of our clients who Spell to Communicate. These are the only autism experts I consult these days!  Their words

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