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There's never any doubt in my mind when someone walks into my room that they can and will spell for me, that they can and do want to learn. I'm gonna teach you how to do something new, totally new, which may feel a little bit weird at first. Autism can take you as a parent to a really dark place. The future is really, really scary. We had

no real, reliable, formal communication. We had to just basically guess for 20 years. I lost hope that I would ever be enough for them. Are all the parents' foods are we trying to live wishful thinking? No. I mean, what's anybody gonna gain by this? We should be research academic literature focused strictly, specifically on this area to help promote it. We should have all been presuming competence

in our kids and we should have been encouraging them, telling them we knew that they were in there. It's time to shift that whole paradigm. There are 31 million non-speakers with autism in the world who are locked in a silent cage. My life will be dedicated to relieving them from suffering and silence and to giving them voices to choose their own way. Should schools choose to

really work with us children's strong suit, logistics will become them or as innocent. If I don't lead us, the average autistic child can read on Timothy H.4, but can then show it. Imagine the difference we can make in the world of taught how we learn. Hello everybody out there in our studio audience in front of me right now. So, all around the world, this is the

High Wires Live broadcast, the documentary Spellers. I wanna say that there are very few opportunities we have in life to witness a miracle. And what you are about to see is a documentary that comes as close to a miracle as anything we can imagine. For so many millions of families around the world that have dealt with different levels of this spectrum of people, we hear about

autism, some non-speakers wondering, these families wondering, you know, is my child in there? How much do they know? How much can they hear? What are they capable of? I want you to imagine spending 20 years maybe with that question. And then probably at the point of giving up on any ever really knowing that answer. And then along comes something that changes your life forever, forever. And

that is that you get to communicate with your child. And not only are they able to communicate, they begin educating and realizing that they have all of the capabilities of all the nearer typical children you may have or friends you may have known. And suddenly the world opens up. This is a true story of awakening. And it is absolutely phenomenal. And so while you're watching this

film out there, if you're watching on the High Wires.com right now, we will be taking questions. We have many of the cast members in the filmmaker here to answer your questions about what this is all about. Maybe you have a child that you feel might be, you know, the right type of child to get involved with spelling to communicate. Or maybe you know somebody. But comments,

just write the question that you have. And afterwards, we will address those questions and bring them to the spellers themselves. This is a phenomenal moment. We are so excited to be presenting. It's an incredible documentary that's already doing great things around the world. This is going to be one of those steps. So sit back, brace yourselves. I hope you have a tissue box nearby. Here comes

spellers. What if they've been wrong about every single one of them? What if they're all walking around without the ability to speak, but brilliant or at least cognitively normal? How many people are we talking about now? And how are they living their lives? And how have we missed this? And how long is it going to take us to admit we've missed this so we can help

as many of them as possible? It's a new adventure. That's basically what I always tell you when we do this. Something I said, okay, we're on another adventure. Because we've been on adventures before where we've tried different therapies and different treatments. And the two of us kind of leave the rest of the family and go off and try these new adventures, I say, to him. So

far, we haven't seen a lot of results, but I'm always hopeful. I don't lose hope on that. And there is a time where it's like, okay, is any of this really going to help? Maybe I should just accept things the way that they are. But then I don't know. I just, I, I just don't see it that way. I, I've always thought that Aiden was going

to find a way that there's going to be something that he's going to do. It might not be the way in which I had hoped for or what I had originally expected. But, I think he's going to find a way. I want to know all of it. Just what, what you really feel and what you like, what you think. What are your philosophies? What's your favorite

music? Yeah, it's like, you guys, the best. And I'll see, because you guys are on the precipice of something really big, I think. Like a new frontier. All right. What do you think? What do you think of these new letterboards? So far. She, she can. She, she can adore. And keep going. Move your eyes. I see you move. E, and I sometimes move around to your

E. What makes sense? What makes sense? Your E, you can move your eyes. Ready? Leave me. Go. GRE. Uh-huh. Hey. GRE. Great. Great. So, and we get to start by looking forward to the next one. And we get to start by looking forward to the next one. And we get to start by looking forward to the next one. Great. Life is, I'm not G. G, start

G. G, and keep going. Make it make sense. G, G, J doesn't make sense of G. Great. Life is, what? You got this. Trust yourself. I love that. Great. Life is, look at me for a second. Can you put your eyes in here? Thank you. Great. Life is, now what? Look at the board. Go. O, A, keep going. A, and, and, keep going. Keep going. D,

and, move your eyes. Get that A, and move your eyes. Move your eyes. Great. Great. Life is ahead. That was my question. Sorry. No, I'm okay. It just, it always looks like, uh, you always get concerned. Yeah. So, I'm just trying not to. Ah, so, alright, we got some new letter boards, huh? I'm already astonished. What we do is we take the movement, Alana, the five-water

of the digits and put it in the gross motor of the art because it's so much easier to control. And he took to it like a champ. I mean, he rare, you know, if he missed a letter, it was generally a one-off or he was at the opposite end. And that's just kind of a starting at the wrong end. Plus, there's a really strong draw to

go to that left side of the board. Because he's been taught all his life. Start left, go, right. Speech is a hundred percent motor. Language is a hundred percent cognitive. And you can tell there are two different areas of the brain. Speech is up here, language is down here. So, just because the motor and the speech is affected, does not mean the language is affected. So,

I'm not, I didn't ask those questions for a comprehension. I asked them to give them an opportunity to practice spelling so I could coach the motor of his spelling. There's never any doubt in my mind when someone walks into my room that they can and will spell for me, that they can and do want to learn. Yes, I W, A, N, I want to T, E,

L, L, M, Y, My, F, U, T, T, R, my future, S, E, L, F, T, O, N, E, V, E, R, G, I, V, go ahead, E, U, P, O, N, T, H, go ahead, E, O, T, H, E, R, N, O, N, S, go ahead, P, and then E, and then A, and then K, and then E, and R, and then S. I want

to tell my future self to never give up. I want to tell my future self to never give up on the other non-speakers. I was, I was really dark dude. I was, that was a really hard fall and winter and I was starting to fray at the seams. Really about Jamie's future and just where, where is this all going? And I've been fighting cognitive dissonance ever.

As you know, what you're presenting is incredibly radical thought. It's a beautiful thought. Yeah. And I'm starting to believe you. I'm just going to like go with the flow. Yeah. It is pretty interesting. And it's, and sometimes I say, you know, like, why would you believe this one crazy lady sitting here in front of you versus all the people you've heard, but there's a real logic

to it. If you back into it, all tests of cognition of motor of academics, recall, I'll test, I'm sorry, language, cognition, academics, I do require motor every single one. So you either to speak it or you to do it, you know, put the thing in the thing, touch this, touch that, give me the this, giving me the that. But we never teach the motor. We do

not teach the motor. For some people, you know, it's hard for them to believe that later morning is real. What would you say to those people? Yes. Why? Oh, you. Mm hmm. J you. S just N E E need T 0 2 O. Go ahead. P and then E and then N and then Y and then O and then U and then R and then go

ahead. E Y and then E S. Yes. You just need to open your eyes. The early research and autism focused on the cognitive disabilities. And that is mostly due to. The researchers being psychologists or psychiatrists who focus primarily on the cognitive aspect. The assumption that individuals right from the get go who have autism, also have a cognitive disability is completely inaccurate. And the reason is is

because of what's called a praxia. And a praxia is an inability to perform on demand a specific movement. Even though it is fully understood, traditional assessments, neurological testing, academic testing, all focus on pointing, writing or speaking, which all are motor skills. When we start to address the motor skills by practicing functional based movements, purposeful movements, by practicing and coaching their body, they're then able through neuroplacicity

to build those motor skills in order to be proficient. And the things that they want to do is that an easy process, absolutely not, is it something that there are all of a sudden going to have perfect motor skills, not necessarily. However, they're now going to be able to one communicate to write a bike when they've never been able to write a bike before. It takes

some longer than others, but with that perseverance that most, if not all of them have, it won't be a problem. If you're looking at autism through the lens, it's a social deficit model, or it's a cognitive disability model, then you see what you believe. But if you actually understand, it's not those things, it's a sensory motor processing challenge. Suddenly, you're like, oh, maybe what I'm asking

right now is for you to do something purposefully with your body, that's the problem, right? That you need me to coach you through that, not that you don't understand what I asked you to do. Is it hard for you sometimes to understand where your hand is using the letter board? L, I, F, A, S, S, O, A, S, S, A, U, L, Assault, sensory stimuli, Assault.

Keep going. M, you're good. Yeah. My, my, which one, G or B, B? Can we hold a pencil like that? Go ahead. I got the B, keep going. O, D, maybe I, Y, Assault, my body. Nice. C, O, and S, T, that makes sense. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, A, get it, get it, get it. N, T, O, constantly. Okay. Sensory stimuli,

Assault, my body, constantly. T, H, E, S, E, these. Holds your pencil like that. These, B, R, U, S, H, E, S, these brushes, H, and E, and L, and P, help, M, and me. Go ahead. F, and E, and E, and L, feel, M, my, feel, my. In a second, finish the sentence, H, finish your sentence, A, stay here. And don't finish, wait, finish the

word. I need it when you leave the word, H, A, N, D, S. Yeah, Assault, sensory stimuli, Assault, my body, constantly. These brushes help you fit my hands. I would say growing up, I was the eternal optimist. In fact, I used to say my political party was possibleitarian. Like, I can just, whatever, anything's possible, really optimistic. And when Evan was diagnosed with autism, I totally just

took it and stride. Like you just said, my kid has red hair and blue eyes. I'm like, okay, like, so what do I do? What does that mean? Good job. There he is. I swam with God. I wasn't discouraged by it. I was thrown off. I was thrown off. Like, this isn't what I was planning on doing. I didn't think I was going to raise a

kid with special needs, but I also wanted to always be a special teacher. So, I was sort of like in alignment with who I was. But when Trey was diagnosed a year later, it blew my mind. And I literally sat in the rocking chair in his nursery for two days. Like, almost catatonic. Trey's playing what? Trey's learning how to play Jenga. This one. Oh, it's gone

fall. There we go. That's right. I just like shut down. And I remember their dad finally coming in after a couple days. And he's like, like, Donnery, like, I get it. Like, I totally get it. But we need you. Like, you can't do this. Like, you have to like snap out of this and like, come help me. And what was happening for me at that moment

was just massive overwhelm. And I lost hope that I would ever be enough for them. Like, it was a lot. I'd already spent a year helping Evan and saw how intense the level of intervention was to get just at that time moments of eye contact or minutes of his gut feeling okay. And I thought, wow, like, I'm working around the clock for this one kiddo. And

now I've got two of them. Like, how is this going to happen? So in that moment, I thought we're screwed. Like, this isn't going to go well. Then the universe has started opening up all these paths. And now I'm this practitioner. And now I'm helping all these other families. And I spent three years trying to teach Evan how to spell before I would introduce a letterboard

to him because I thought he had to know how to spell in order to do it. Yeah. Look. Look. Step tripping on a regular. And I promised I'm working a flow. Betty. Yeah. This hunga in again. My life that from Jennifer. Things stick even if you've got your Betty. Yeah. I'm breaking all things. I so broken only inside. I'm a turner lies. Everywhere that never made

right. Presumption been right. Fallen off the cliff side. But I bought the rep. No, I've been nice. I've been tight. I'm a red list. Gemini. Polly die young. If it's rap, this never tried somebody come get me. I brought it out with me. I got an egg. This will in a full. I'm a fan today. Yeah. Bring it straight. No, just showin' who really we are.

One day you're two of us. Handers for the PR. The blow across the globe. Just to see how I be on. I keep on young dawn. No, step on. Never play. So we sound elite. Stop. Right and back on four seats. All knocking on door. Just know I got the key. Love. So big. Come on. Angles. Yeah. Young sway with the label. Less. Straight from the

manger. Glory to my God. Big it in a paper. You know where I stay. You know what I do. Fluxing on them with the sweats. Get comfortable. Don't flinch on. Just as a new faded out the park. And I'm gone. Mr. Babe. Ruth. Mr. Big Shot. You can get rocked. You can get popped. Mr. Tick-Sack. Fineblow. Yeah. Yeah. I'm pissed off. Out this new, strong blast

off. I've been assassin. I never love it. Shit. I'm on my size. Never eating. I never pleases. I humble pie. Starvation. I'm motivation. I'm different. Lie. Maybe hungry. I never set up nothing. Lie. Look. It's been a real business. Hey. What are you doing? All the good. I see. Hey. And I can't. I know this board's a little different. The stencils. I can't. I can't wait.

See. People looking at the board. See and see and see and follow. And I can't wait to come back. So I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on that quote. And if you could make a comment about the brain body disconnect in advocacy for yourself or other non speakers, what would you like to do? I'm going to put it on the screen. I'll find a big

B and B and see and I can't wait to come back. I'm going to start from the top. You got this. Let's start from the top. Ready? Go. I and L and I and V and get it. E and I lived in S and I and L and E and N and C and I lived in silence F and O and four. I lived in silence

for. A L all M all my all my eyes on the board. To everyone you want. L and I and F and life. You and N and T and I and until L and A and S and T last M and O and N and T and H until last month. I lived in silence for all my life until last month. Boop. You know why? I'm

a reality F and O and four M, Y, S, E, L for myself, A, N, D and O, T, H, E, R, S and others. All right, let me read it for myself and others. So I lived in silence for all my life until last month. Other than a finite number of my family members, most people thought I was dumb. I hated being talked to like

I was a baby. Now I'm going to change the reality for myself and others. Well done. Well done. I heard you say that. That was so good too. And without any real means for Kate tell me anything. If he's hitting himself, why is hitting himself? Is he hungry? Does he have a headache? Does he feel terrible? You know, is he constipated? Why are you doing that?

Why are you upset? And unable to tell me anything? What is he want to eat? Do you like what we're doing? What do you want to do? I mean, this only real ability to communicate with me would be either to make noises. What do you want to eat? Which were, are you happy about that or upset about that? Because sometimes it's hard to figure out if

it's a happier upset. So yeah, we had no real reliable form of communication. And I had to, or we had to just basically guess for 20 years. Okay, you've gone from the laminate? Yeah. Laminate? Laminate? Well, we'll actually burst the stencil. It's a stencil. Stencil. Stencil. It's a laminate. Should it keep going? That's, he did, he went from others. What do we need to do? To

help non-speakers. We need to know that we are in touch with treating us with respect, helps. That's right. Why did it take my good friend from Portland to call me and say, hey, listen to this breakthrough miracle for our son? Why is it that this parents around the world are having to get to each other and tell each other? Why is in science? Why, why? Why

aren't they looking for how to really help our kids? You know, that's the thing that's the most upsetting thing. He should have been, he could have done this years ago. He's told me that. It's not an evidence-based procedure. For an evidence-based procedure that we can do, you have to have 16 studies by like a peer-reviewed program. And they don't have that. Well, I think they need

to be interested in anything. That's why we're innovative. And so we'll follow the research, see if it comes out. If it does, it's a game changer for kids. What's the swing? She wants a swing. Hey Madison, what do you got there? Hey, hey, hey Madison. Madison. Hey, what you doing? Hey, let's have a camera. Did we go to the car wash today? Here, look at Daddy.

Look at Daddy, come on. Hi. Hi. Really grossed in those toe tools. You go to a public school or did you go to a public school? There's a couple people that we're going to interview. Where their schools wouldn't let them use a ladder board. They didn't believe them ladder boarding. Ready? Come on. You need a supper, be there. A. C. R. O. U. N. D. Around.

A. G. E. H. I can see you. To around age 22. I F and I and N and I and S and H. E and D. I finished. P. I'll try again. Bubbles. P. U. Good. You got a G. B. L. I finished public. S. Good try there. C and H and Y. O. O. I finished public school. I M and I and S. S. E.

D. I missed. O. I U. T. I missed out. O. On. Wing it. R and E and A and real. Where's the G and O. O. I keep going. Good. Real good. C and I. I I around age 22 I finished public school and missed out. On rehearsal. Yeah. I'm going to guess some of your motion is right Now because of that experience too. But you

can tell me if that's true I could be projecting. Hello! There we go Madison look at me. It's your first day of school. There's the kindergarten. There it is. Hey Madison. You going to school today? Say yes. You're going to have fun huh? Say hi! Hey! This is your class and you had snack here? Yeah. You think you can say this You know she was truly

satan. You know there was there. There's a there's a famous quote Charles Dickens best of times worst of times and it was actually in the book under estimated which I ate. The parallels are experiences on 100% as parents. It was wonderful. We're excited. The first time you see it, the first time you understand it but then you start thinking about oh my gosh this this poor

my child had to go through these experiences teachers who didn't understand the thoughts she didn't have any abilities whatsoever probably went through a situations where maybe other young people teased her or mean to her she had no way to be protected also all the things that we did that were probably wrong when we should have been doing things to encourage her so that's that's the downside.

She recognizes it was there and she recognizes and she understands that people didn't understand most people just don't understand. So Maddy thanks for being here once again. Why do you want to do the interview over? I W A S I was E M B. I K A R R K A N S S E D embarrassed B got it by M M my S and C

and R and I and I P and T and I and and and G by my scripting. Do you have like a goal in life, a mission in life? What is your dream? I I'd L O V your eyes L O V here pull back L O V good time I'd love T 2 A D V O C A T 2 advocate F O 4 S

I know what you want S 2 S 2 C I N N S C I C I N N S C I N N N S C H O O L S I'd love to advocate for S 2 C in schools. And what needs to change? T E B A C H E R teachers teachers and E E need T 2 S T O stop stop

what you you N D E under E S T I M A T I N under estimating A U T I S T I C S teachers need to stop under estimating autistic. Boo. And what about specifically boom boom. Yeah, and what about my job? What about specifically like for unreliable speakers? Right. You've talked about how your speech is not reliable. How would you suggest teachers

not underestimate students like you? T H E B N E E they need T O 2 S T A R start P R E S U M I N presuming U P presuming up A keep going G again A I again A N keep going D N A G again A I N they need to start presuming up again and again. It's hard to put into

words the feelings that we have as a result of this small seemingly small thing happening. And we're amazed that it hasn't happened before. What took it so long? I mean it's not. I don't understand really in a way because it's fairly simple and straightforward. Why we haven't had this solution before and why no one's figured it out. But now that we have it it should be

fully embraced by the school systems by therapists everywhere. It should be there should be research academic literature focused strictly specifically on this area to help promote it because I can guarantee you parents when they see this and they watch. They're. When they watch the children for the first time speak and articulate their thoughts and feelings and emotions. It's well it's something else. I would like to

request one thing of you. Can you take a few seconds to take a quick intellectual snapshot mentally of this child. And you can raise your hands and feel free to be honest if you observe any one of these things. For example do you see a child with a low IQ a child with cognitive challenges a child with learning disabilities or even a child who should. You

know focus on learning. Functional life skills as opposed to academics any of these no judgment you can raise your hands. Some of you. Maybe some of your shy and suspect that this is a trick question. Well. Well Sid does happen to be my son. So yeah sort of. I remember the day that I walked into my son who was then all of six into his classroom.

And I saw him passively strapped to a chair for no reason. Just cause. How many of you think that this treatment has at least in part to do with an intrinsic lack of respect for the child. Assumption of intelligence brings respect. Whether that intelligence is on display or not. I'm going to say that second phrase again. Whether that intelligence is on display or not. Assumption of

intelligence brings respect and respect. Go ahead and refer back to that snapshot you just took mentally. Reassess. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Right. Just the absence of science doesn't mean that it's not true. So you know we might have to wait until the science comes out. When a child is communicating you don't need the science. So you know this is one of the

cases where everybody keeps saying science is too pit to wait for. I don't want the science. I want Sid to talk. I don't care. I'm a scientist. I don't care about the science. I know that Sid is talking. And like Sid says if you don't believe it go get it like. Can you control your thoughts? Okay. That's interesting. I'd like to know as well. I am

a- I think that was an m. But double check. feeding. Are you? Are you? Are you? Keep moving. Are you D? Okay. D? Sit. Look and go. Are you D? D? E? R? R? Rder? And then what? L? E? S? S? Yes. Okay. I may rather less. S? H? I? Ship. I? In T? H? In the S? In the C? O and look, look please. O

that, oh, artistic kids, I don't know, and speaking can communicate. This is magic. Thousands of kids are communicating. Are- are all the parents fools? Are we trying to live wishful thinking? No. So, we're not in some mass hoax to deceive the whole- I mean, what- what's anybody going to gain by this? Vincent definitely puts extra pressure on himself to prove to people that these are his

words. When he works in front of anyone, he becomes a perfectionist that he has to do it without a doubt. Any mistakes, which we keep trying to teach him to relax. You know, everybody has a type of when they type. You know, everybody flubs up their words like I stumble on my words all the time. It's the same thing. He's such a free bird now because

he keeps saying he was like an accache and he's really, truly dedicated to helping other non-speakers see, you can do this, I can do this, we can do this and we need to come together and show the world that we have a voice. What is the best message that we can put out there for non-speakers? Shhh, come on. I want them to have hope. Why is

hope important? Really dark tunnels are illuminated. So, this is your message to the people that don't believe that you're typing your own words. What would your message be to those that have disbelief? I think judgment serve my fuel to persevere. You can't unsee what you've seen with these spellers and I believe that, you know, presuming competence is critical. Right off the bat, five years old, we

should have all been presuming competence in our kids and we should have been encouraging them, telling them we knew that they were in there. It's time to shift that whole paradigm. Like, we need to make a shift to say start talking to your kids the way you would any other kid. Right off the bat. So, when I started to see the growth that Vincent was having

with spelling to communicate in the depth of these conversations, I knew I needed to start sharing it with some of my friends who had kids that were similar to Vincent. And sometimes I get a little thought and I can't get it out of my head. And JB kept coming into my head. I just really had this drive to get his son, Jamie, to try what Vincent

was doing. So I sent him a text and I'm like, Hey, how are you? What are you doing? It was confusing because you basically said, Vince has learned how to communicate, check this out. And then all of a sudden there's just these screenshots of this insanely complex language that purportedly her son is the one making these words. And so I'm, I'm literally in a state of

confusion. What is going on? You know, and I literally sort of text back to her like WTF question mark. Like, what the hell is going on? What are you talking about? And she starts sending me more screenshots of the things Vincent said. And this is like complex language that somebody in college or beyond would kind of make, right? I was like, yep, that's Vincent. And I'm

pretty sure Jamie can do the same. And I started to tell him about spelling to communicate. And he said, can I call you? I walk into a private room. I hit my phone and I call her. And I'm just like, what are you talking about? She says, there's this communication method. It's called spelling to communicate. And Vince started doing it. About four months ago. And we

used to think that his most advanced word, words were, I want juice. And now you're seeing what he's writing. And then we had a conversation. He went home. And then he gave me a video of his son to say, honey, the, the says Jamie, he's, he's not going to be able to communicate like that. And he sent me the video. And I knew right then. Like,

yep, he's going to do it. Autism can take you as a parent. And then he went to a really dark place. The future is really, really, really scary. And everything is different when your child can communicate. Everything is different. And I, I just, I sometimes shudder to imagine where we would be as a family, where I would be as a person, where Jamie would be. If

we hadn't had the luck of having another parent reach out to us and encourage us to give this a try. I asked Jamie about honey the other day. And he said, honey, save my life. He understands the gravity of what gift, her selflessness gave him. And I would say, honey, didn't just save Jamie's life. Honey saved her family. Honey saved our family, really. Honey saved our

family, really. Honey saved our family, really. Honey saved our family, really. But I've even watched the video tape back. I don't think anybody has ever said that to Jamie before. So on the first day, I'm texting Lisa going, holy shit, he's spelling words. My mind is already blown. We get into the second day. And they're doing a lesson on plants. She asks him to spell carnivore.

No problem. Spells carnivore. Then she says, Jamie, spell the opposite of carnivore. And I'm like, wait a minute. Wait a moment. Whoa, whoa, whoa, in my head. She didn't say that word in the lesson. That word that is the opposite of carnivore. She didn't say that word. He spells herbivore perfectly. And I literally, it's on video. I go, excuse me. Was that word in the lesson?

And she's like, no, no, that's what we call prior knowledge. I think that was where I went from wanting to believe to going, okay, okay, we're really on to something here. When the text started to trickle in, that like this is happening, like it's, it's true for Jamie. It's happening. It's real. You know, you let out a little bit more hope, a little bit more hope.

And then pretty soon, you know, I don't know what I think was probably that first week of Don Marie like then. We just let the floodgates go. It was such a magical time. He is, but that's so emotional. But I wouldn't trade it. I'd go back there even in right now. Because it was, it was the very beginning of believing that this whole life is going

to change. You know, he's going to be okay. It's all going to be okay. He's going to be fine. The first time I saw Jamie using the letterboard was in a video sent to me at the start of Mylcross season in 2020. It was right before like we had played a scrimmage. Usually I tried to get like serious and get a little angry before and I

broke down in my locker room. I think it's the best thing that's ever happened to this family. How have you seen the relationship change for James brother and sister now? It's obviously a whole dynamic of a family change. There's so many. But one of them is just knowing that yeah, your brother loves you and has loved you all this time. And it may not have felt

like that. And I know that you did feel like that at times. You know, when he would get agitated or mad, it's scary sometimes to be around, especially for a younger sibling. And for our daughter, it was, you know, and I think she doubted if he loved her. Even what he might have known about her and Jamie is so loving. And so for her to get

that feedback, like, you care about me. You know me as just, I mean, opened up everything. Yes. I in, go ahead. I named him. Why? S E L L. I'm not going to get it. I named myself and O T O R I O U S L Y S T R O N. I named myself a notoriously strong B E C A U S. Because I

H A V have a A S L L L L L. I'm not going to get it. L W go ahead A Y always B and then E and then E and then N and then A and then F and then I and then G and then H and then T and then E and then R. I've always been a fighter. E V E even I

if N O O N E go ahead K and then N and then E. And then W. Yes, I name myself notoriously, notoriously strong because I have always been a fighter, even if no one knew. I just want you to read this. The letter that Jamie wrote. Oh, you bastard. Oh, you're right. You ready? Dear baby, happy birthday. I love you. No words can make you

understand how much I appreciate you. You have always believed in me and have never given up on me. You are a special grandpa. And I'm lucky to have you in my life. You've always been the one not to let my disability get in the way of letting me. You are a great person. You must know how much I love you. I hope you have a great

birthday. Love Jamie. That's a kid. That's him. So when you got that letter, how was that? Weepy. Weepy. I mean, I just, you know, I spent a lot of time with Jamie. When we lived in Oregon, I drove him to school two or three times a week, pick him up. Spent a lot of time just, you know, we tried to. But to realize that all that

time, all that effort was appreciated. It was just, you know, I mean, I just weepy. How exciting is it now that you can communicate with your grandpa? Yes, I am G L A. I'm glad T H A that H he K N O W knows W H who I am B E F O R E. D I E S. I am glad that he knows who

I am before he does. The East Coast West Coast hip-hop rivalry was essentially a feud between bad boy records and death row records. Oakland based rapper Tupac Shakur, then kicked off the world record. The rivalry with Biggie by alleging that he and Puff Daddy were behind Tupac being robbed and shot five times in the lobby of the New York Recording Studio. Biggie's track, who Shot-Jah, was

released soon after Tupac's attempted murder. Although bad boy records denied involvement and claimed the song was reported months prior to the incident. Still, the hip-hop community interpreted it as a taunt at Tupac. What do you think? Check it out over here. Can I pull it? Yeah, then you choose, take the picture Puff Daddy. What actually depends on mine? What do you think of when you look

at that? Good. Ready? R hoo. Go. Go. T A Y Y G C S. Good? , T R. Good? Good. Good? Take a yeah. Try out the C C C Enter. Gross. Gross. What do you think of when you look at that picture of Puff Daddy? Here, come up here, second cell. Come on. We are. You can put that. Keep G R. Gross. P A R.

The gross part is... H S M E S M I. Keep going. R. His smirk. Stay here. His smirk. W and H and I and L and Y. While P L A N N I N while planning, what, stay in your chair. You're doing great. T N U N T N A C. Yeah. While planning two pox, what, I or D E M I S E.

The gross part is his smirk while planning two pox demise. Good. Good. F A. Keep going. I thought. My brother, I think, is feeling anxious. Yeah. How's that making you feel? Yeah. Yeah. Keep going, buddy. Yep. Yep. Yep. You're so sweet, Jamie. Like the worst thing because I can't help you. Yeah. It's not. You don't have to. He's getting better just by you being here. Yeah.

Look at, he's piecing off the extra. Your energy. You got it. You there. Do. You are amazing. You are amazing. You are. You are. Good. Yeah. You are. You are. So guys, I'm going to read this to you. The American Speech Language Hearing Association, Asha, has reviewed the evidence for RPM and spelling to communicate and warned against their use. They conclude there is no evidence. Science

are actually doing the communication. Would you care to comment on that statement? I think they have the language. That's one of my favorite words. Can you? Do you care to comment? G and. You guys on it. Oh, yes. Diagnos. Diagnos. I. Game going. I and. Which is ironic because S L P is on the ones to diagnose it. It's all in there. Yeah. He said it

all. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Come on, Evan. Oh Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. steel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's something. No. There's something. Nothing. That's shit. Hey miss a Yeah. Why have nonspeakers been forgotten by the world? We have no voice. I see how nonspeakers suffer needlessly in silence. Communication is a basic human right. The world needs to

change the way it sees non-speaking autism. It is a neuromotor disorder, not a cognitive one. I know something. I know something. I know something. I know something about shared achievements because I am affected by a form of autism that doesn't allow me to speak. My neuromotor issues also prevent me from tying my shoes or butting a shirt without assistance. I have typed this speech with one

finger with a communication partner holding a keyboard. I am one of the lucky few non-speaking autistics who have been taught to type. That one critical intervention unlocked my mind from its silent cage, enabling me to communicate and to be educated. I have struggled my whole life with not being heard or accepted. A story on the front page of our local newspaper reported how the principal at

my high school told a staff member. The retard can't be valedictorian. Yet today, here I stand. Each day, I choose to celebrate small victories and today, I am celebrating a big victory with all of you. The freedom to choose our own way is our fundamental human right. The right worth defending, not just for us, but for every human being. For me, I have a dream. Yes,

just like Martin Luther King Jr., I have a dream. Communication, for all. There are 31 million non-speakers with autism in the world who are locked in a silent cage. My life will be dedicated to relieving them from suffering and silence and to giving them voices to choose their own way. God gave you a voice. I have telling you that. And no the irony of a non-speaking

autistic encouraging you to use your voice is not lost on me. Because if you can see the worth in me, then you can see the worth in everyone you meet. My fellow classmates, I leave you today with a quote from Alan Turing, who broke the Nazi encryption code to help win World War II. Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of, who do the

things no one can imagine. Be those people. Be those people. Be those people. Be those people who you know no one. Be those people who you know no one can live in without yourijkers. Be those people. Be the light. Theot looks. Thank you. I'm not writing that wrong, but the stark fact remained that people with disabilities were still victims of segregation and discrimination. And today's legislation

brings us closer to that day when no Americans will ever again be deprived of their basic guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Thank you. We must have our rights of effective communication as guaranteed in the Americans with Disabilities Act. The provisions in Title 2 of the ADA say that people with communication disorders have the right to equal communication of their choosing in schools.

So when a school says, oh, I'm sorry, we can't do that. It's just not true. It's the law. And so Elizabeth says no more. It's got to stop. The most important thing that I did was to find Elizabeth a teacher who could teach her how to type because without being taught non speakers have a problem with initiation. That is the contribution I made. And now I've

gotten out of the way because Elizabeth is taking the lead and teaching me what needs to happen in the mission so that every non speaker can have a voice. Thank you. How do you feel about society, train the model, autistic, to look and act quote unquote normal? Yeah. The call really supportive world is a person is celebrated for their unique traits not punished. And you go.

You go. Nice. And get it, get it, get it. Thanks, Tom. Yeah. Should schools choose to really work with the students, strong suit, autistic will become demoros innovators and leaders. And. Mm-hmm. Find it, find it. And then get calm. And. The average autistic child can read and team at the age full, but can't show it. Imagine the difference we can make in the world if told

how we learn. Good. Excellent answer. Yes. Autism parents are going to push every boundary to help their child. They're not going to wet. Whether something is emerging or not fully tested, get in the way. Only people that autism parents really trust are other autism parents. So if something comes along, no matter what it is, if it's helping children, the word is going to get out. You

think about how we got into this. I got a phone call from an autism parent. And I don't really care what anybody else has to say. I had an autism parent telling me that her son was now fluent on a letterboard and able to communicate with his family and that their whole life had been changed and that every day was a joy. I think what's happened

with Jamie on a letterboard is proof to me that we did get the whole thing wrong. It's proof to me that we've gotten the whole thing wrong. That we believe that this was a cognitive impairment in most of these kids. When in fact it's been a motor planning impairment the whole time. And that's actually really important because if you know motor planning is the real issue,

now you can really target your science. How do we rectify that? Is that something we do in the brain? Is that something we do with therapy? Is that something we do with therapy? Is that something we do with nutrition? I don't know the answer to that but by having a better idea of what the disability actually is is so important. And that's why what's been discovered

with these non-speakers is so critical that people start to take this seriously. That they realize that maybe millions of children have been misunderstood and underestimated. And we start rectifying that as quickly as we can. Thank you. Let the revolution begin. Yeah. Well, the movie is nothing. It's just incredibly amazing and the story is amazing and all of you that were sharing your stories and wanted to

thank you for letting us be a part of this incredible time in your life. So it's truly amazing. Isn't it everyone? For those of you out there in the audience, many of you have written in questions. We're going to take some questions in studio here. I just want to say, we're going to get to speak to the Spellers but to watch this story for me is

a parent. I just want to say for all the parents that are involved here, your patients and what you've been through in this journey with your families for so long, just to see love on a level and a compassion. It's truly the best of all we should all be as parents. I just want to say that really struck me in the film. Let's just introduce this

panel. I've got over here Evan. And then there's Kate. Kate, Maddie, Vincent, Elizabeth, and Aiden. Did I get everyone that's up there and then they're joined by their parents. But truly, your star is not just in this film, but representing a millions of people out there that I think need this information. So it's just an incredible moment. And sitting next to me, Dana, you have been,

you have Spellers Tampa. But you are awesome. So one of the producers on the film. So really just a beautiful film. Very powerful and amazing job. All right. So let me just, let's, we have a microphone for anyone that wants to ask a question in the audience. So there's a question back in the corner. So when we start with a question from the audience in studio

audience. Thank you. Hi. Thank you for letting me be here. This is amazing. My daughter and I have been following this story from the beginning. We both read the book underestimated. And we just feel really blessed to be a part of this and be here with you now. I actually have a friend in Florida who has a son who's nonverbal. He's seven years old. His name's

Carter. Her name is Susan May. And I asked her to send me any questions to my have some actually asking on behalf of my friend. She says, please ask them the Spellers. What advice they have for parents slash families of younger children. Just starting out. Out on this journey of spelling. How much should we push our kids when they are learning? How do we know when

his body just isn't cooperating and when he truly wants a break? But, uh oh. It is. Yeah, one that we sort of whoever is ready. I think to practice every day and watch for his eyes getting fatigued. So watch for his eyes getting fatigued. Practice every day. But watch for his eyes getting fatigued. Yeah, and if whoever is talking just, you know, the. Yeah, go ahead.

Your son is strong. You should expect him to soak up information and spell each day for short sessions. He will surprise you. Can we play that one more time? I think we're just getting the microphone working. Okay. I think is it working now? That's better. Yeah, let's try that again. Your son is strong. You should. So she said your son is strong. You should expect him

to soak up information and spell each day for short sessions. He will surprise you. Okay. Great. Thank you. You should treat it like life saving medicine. Oh wow. Go as long as you're okay and build a door and space on his energy. Yeah, go ahead. Just you repeat it too. So we get it on all versions. Go as long as you can and build endurance based

on his energy. Okay. They should always. They should always remember what we're doing. And we're going to read to them. No matter if it seems as if they are not listening. Listening looks different on Autistics. Okay. And Aiden, we got Aiden down here. Aiden said yes. Sensory system is kicking Autistics but be patient. All right. Sensory system is kicking Autistics but but be patient. Okay. From

online, one of the questions is. What do you want to say to special education teachers that are watching this, that are just hearing about S2C for the first time? What? Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hello. Hi. Hi. No. Hi. Hi. Who are we at? Who? Where's her side? She's here Elizabeth. Elizabeth typed. Please have an open mind. We need different tools for each student.

This works for non-speakers. Great. Yes, Kate. Try a board, please. Presume competence. Always and know that our bodies don't always listen to us. Right. Right. Presume competence and know our bodies are not always listening to us. Try a board, please. Okay. Vincent. Believe in all non-speakers and presume competence always. Okay. That seems to be the running theme is to believe in the competence. Evan. Don't be

stubborn. It's been wrong. Don't be stubborn. Edmit. You've been wrong from Evan. All right. This is another question online. And then if there's someone in the audience, let's make sure they get a microphone. Oh, Maddie. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yes. Teachers can begin. Teachers can begin by assuming competence and talk to the students at their age level. Don't be afraid to teach hard things as they're

at their peers level. Wow. Okay. All right. I thought this was an interesting question. What was the one thing you wanted to say? Or was there one thing that you wanted to say the most when you were going to communicate for the first time? So I know there's a lot of work. But was there a thought or an idea that you were really looking forward to

expressing? Let's go. Parliament attest. Mayes be? Okay, Kate? I wanted to tell my mom how much I loved her and how I knew how difficult it was. All right, do we hear that? I think maybe pick up the microphone and read it. Yeah. I wanted to tell my mom how much I loved her and how I knew how difficult it was. Wow. I wanted to tell

my mom how much I loved her and I knew how difficult it was. Okay, who else is Elizabeth? Elizabeth Types. One of my first words was agony. I was five years old. Life without communication was agony. One of my first words was agony. Okay, yeah. That our brains, that our brains and bodies don't cooperate and we are intelligent. That's the first thing you want to do.

I want to get across with your brains and bodies. Say that one more time because don't cooperate. We are intelligent. Vincent? I really wanted to tell my family how much they meant to me. That's incredible. Okay. I can't imagine typing or spelling myself with cameras and people watching. I sit with my own tweets. I'm not sure I'm spilling that right. She works. Yeah. I'm sure that's

a huge part of it. Let me, Dan, let me ask you a question because obviously making this movie I think is very important and getting the word out. And the part of this film that, and this story that is so shocking is as we're sitting here watching this happen right before our eyes, there's a real pushback, a real push to try and just squash this from

working, squash it from being believed. And so as you made the film, how much was that a part of the reasoning and what is your hope that this film can do? I think that, take this one. Thank you. I think that the mission of the movie is to be able to get this. Spelling and as a form of communication to all non-speakers everywhere. And so I

think that for, and I'm not going to speak for any of these, spellers, but that they were driven by that. And I think it's important like we talked about schools. And having access to communication in schools. And so I think that that was a driving force because all of them know they have peers that do have the cognitive ability. But don't have a way to demonstrate

that. So I think that for spellers as a film, that is what we want is the awareness to get out. That even though their bodies are doing something, it's not representative of what their brains are able to do. So. Thanks. As a practitioner, I know some of my patients who have become spellers will tell me that they taught themselves how to read and write, well, not

write, but how to read at an early age. And I guess in retrospect, I want to know from all of you, at what age should I as a practitioner be sort of pushing this as a therapy? I mean, is six to young, is eight to young? At what age in retrospect, do you think you could have mastered all these skills? Lizbeth? Elizabeth typed, I started at

five and could have done it earlier. Wow. I think that kids can start by age four. Start page four, wow. Evan said, my story is riddled with GI issues. So I started after that was healed, which I could tell you was 12. 12. But I was looking into it at seven. He was just too ill to do it that young. Interesting. It is said I could

read when I was three. Three. Can I ask, I mean, and no, we're waiting on Cade to, but along with that question and, and Cade, you'll be there in a moment. But how, how did, I mean, I just want to know how you learn to read. Is it watching television? Was it newspapers or how? Yeah, Cade. Cade started, you learn to read it for. Cade's computer

is not capable. I think he said, I think until my gut stopped hurting that I was in too much pain, so it depends on health. Then he said I could read it for. So same thing is, is, when his gut stopped hurting, but he could read it for. But how? What did, so what did Elizabeth say? Elizabeth typed, the CNN ticker. Wow. So so news has

started. What's the value or what we call news? One of her first questions to me was, who is Hamas? Oh wow. Wow. Okay, Cade. I be coded by watching Fox News. Decoded it by watching Fox News. Well, we are funny. Some value then in legacy news. Maddie. Okay, she said, I learned to read when each of my teachers taught me, but they kept teaching the same

thing. Oh, so they didn't get that you learned it. Elizabeth also typed, also mom read to me constantly. Okay. Yeah. Vincent. I have a photographic memory, so I caught everything I saw. Oh wow. That's amazing. So Vincent had a photographic memory caught everything he saw. Evan's going to keep his secret. He's not going to tell us. All right. Very good. You need to spare the words.

I'm tired. Okay. Yes. This is getting long. Understood. Okay. Aiden. Aiden said, to read was incidental through listening. My mind picked up on it. Okay. Very interesting. I'd like to know, you know, what was the biggest change in your mind once you're able to communicate in your family, with your siblings, with your parents? What was the biggest difference? Aiden! Yeah. Uh. I could tell much of

my love to everyone, including my grandparents. So Cade could tell much of his love to everybody including his grandparents. So it being able to express your love. Elizabeth? Elizabeth typed, I could participate in family decisions. Like where we went on vacation. And what I hope for my future. Wow. That's amazing. If you think about it because my children have been trying to demand, you know, that

there'd be a part of the conversation since there were three. So can imagine it's very frustrating to not be a part of that conversation. Eight, uh, eight and he says to tell people I love them. Uh, Vincent? My opinion mattered and no, I could make my own decisions in life. Wow. So it was the first part I heard the big decision on life. My opinion mattered.

Okay. Now I could make my own decisions. The opinion mattered. And I can make decisions in Maddie. I became more involved with doing things with my sisters. Like sometimes we play games together. Sometimes we go to concerts and travel. Wow. That's great. Do we have a question in the audience? Hello, I was really moved. Um, and I just wanted to ask you all, you're very deep

as well as so intellectual. What are your feelings? Or do you have any hunches as to what's causing the autism? Epidemic. Just for the television audience out there, I wanted to share that we are having a conversation. We're having some, we planned everything except all these laptops are sitting out of a lot of Wi-Fi signal, which is why these microphones are kind of in and out.

So we hadn't prepared for that. Elizabeth. Elizabeth typed. We are the canaries in the coal mine. Our immune systems are more sensitive to toxins. And Cade. So he had a seizure after his 15 month vaccines, but he's not sure all our vaccine injuries. Is that essentially it? Okay. For Maddie. I'm really not sure. I'm really not sure, but we need to help them all learn to

communicate. Everyone can do it. It's great. Yeah. He didn't say I think it's the environment. Okay. He didn't say he thinks it's the environment. Vincent. Well, I believe that our environment is the main cost for me. It was vaccines. So environment. It was environmental basically saying that environment is a huge factor. Toxins. Seems to be the theme. And for some, that would be vaccines for you,

Vincent. Okay. Yes. And Maddie. I thought this kind of important. As you've seen her kind of get dysregulated. She just typed for me. You are talking to me. You are helping me stay regulated. So that regulation part is super important. Right. It's a huge part of this. I want to ask you. I want to ask you a question. And I want to, you're all being so

amazing. And, you know, I think we could sit here and ask a lot of questions for a very long time. Because trying to understand. I think the one thing that we all imagine when we watch Spellers is trying to imagine feeling trapped inside of a body with a complete capability to communicate and not being understood. Having people around us talking to us as though, you know,

we were small children. When we have a fully adult mind and ability, I came and imagined how terrifying it must have been to think that no one would ever discover this or get to you or get you out of this prison. And so when you think about all of those that are in that position around the world, all of these children and adults that don't know

what we're doing. We're talking about S2C or, you know, or have a school that isn't even allowing that to get to the school. What is it? What does it you feel for them? And what do you, you know, what, what message if you could get to them? What would that message be? BeBys. mmh! e Elizabeth. Elizabeth type. Help is on the way. Communication for all will

be a reality. The blind have braille and the deaf sign language. All non-speakers will and type. I feel the same way optimism is we are going to get there and certainly the work here at the High Wire will make sure we get this far and wide across the world. I'm going to give up on your advocates. They believe you will find a method that will work

for you even if it takes longer than you want it to take. All right. Your advocates aren't going to give up on you. Vincent? I feel heartbroken for them. I would tell them to hold on to hope they will break free. All right. Mattie? That friends tell friends about Speller so everyone can learn it. We need some help to move forward with an incredible opportunity. I

want to give a round of applause to our Spellers. I just dain't it for all the filmmakers that stand with you and are out there and made this happen. Please send our regards. It's an incredible film. It's so important. It's a revolution. Everyone go to Spellers.com. If you want to share the film and share with families out there. We live in this crazy world. You would

imagine a story like this should be on CNN, on MSNBC, on Fox, the exploration of it, the idea that communication is possible. We watch movies like Awakening's. It's this mythical event that happens to a couple of people. Yet a moment where a revolution should be spreading like wildfire. It's being stopped by moneyed interests and people that are afraid of losing a grasp on what they are

doing. We have to be understanding the understood and for many parents out there. It's scary to allow yourself to believe one more time and try something one more time. But for everyone that's witnessed this on the show and watch this today, please share this with everyone you know. And with the rates of autism where we are now seeing. I want to say this will be on

our website on the high wire so you can share this event along with this Q&A afterwards for the all the way until Monday. We'll keep it up so that you can share it with everyone you know. But when the media has let us down, when censorship and money and interest are controlling our world, we the people are the network for the future. And these spellers are

trying to speak to millions of spellers around the world. Let's help them do. Thank you for being a part of this incredible event. Thank you one more time to Spellers. Yeah.