What is Spelling to Communicate?
Spelling to Communicate, also known as S2C is a methodology to help non-speakers communicate using letterboards by teaching the MOTOR skills involved in communication. For many non-speakers, assumptions have been made about their intellectual level based on their motor outputs. However, we know that the areas of the brain that are responsible for processing and understanding language and the areas of the brain that control the actual muscular movement of the small articulators in the mouth to produce speech are completely separate. Non-speaking does NOT equal non-thinking!
For far too long, non-speakers have been without a reliable method of communication. AAC, sign language, PECS and other methods of adaptive communication have attempted to fill the gap. But for many, the necessary missing component has been focus on the MOTOR skills involved. ALL communication requires motor. But for non-speakers, the MOTOR skill has been the barrier.
Motor planning/praxis (the carrying out and adjustment of a motor plan) is very challenging for non-speakers. APRAXIA and DYSPRAXIA are terms that refer to individuals with difficulty with motor planning. This means that even if a person conceptually understands a task, create the reliable motor movements required to complete that task is challenging, frustrating and exhausting. S2C focuses on creating motor plans for letterboards that place the demands in gross motor muscle of the shoulder which are easier to control. More on this later….
For now, check out these resources for more information!
