Presenters: Tejas Rao Sankar, nonspeaking autistic who spells to communicate and Cofounder, Crimson Rise; Susanne Cannella, Alliance Director, Crimson Rise, and Colleen McKeever, Licensed Mental Health Practitioner and S2C practitioner

Spelling to Communicate (S2C)  as an alternative means of communication for nonspeaking (nonverbal) people with autism. It is a method that teaches the purposeful motor to point to letters on a letter board or keyboard. 

The incidence of autism currently stands at 1 in 36 children in the United States (according to the CDC), an estimated 35% of whom have minimal, unreliable or no capacity to speak and communicate. 

Each presenter will share their individual narrative that explains the following outcome: As Tejas gained communication, with the coaching and support of Susanne Cannella -  his S2C practitioner, he began to request and ask for mental health counseling from Colleen McKeever. His therapy sessions, because of his access needs always included his Susanne, S2C practitioner. Tejas after a while of receiving therapy, advocated for his need to be able to exercise his autonomy and access therapy for himself, directly with his counselor. This led to Colleen McKeever, training to be an S2C Practitioner to meet Tejas’ autonomy needs.  And for Tejas to petition for a change in S2C practice norms with the International Association of Spelling to Communicate to allow for practitioners with dual licensing and registrations to provide therapy directly to nonspeaking autistics.