How Hard Can It Be?

I always thought a person just holds a board with letters on it, and the speller points to the letters. How hard can it be? Let me explain how it works.

As I mentioned in previous blog posts, we took Nolan to see Dana Johnson, who is the practitioner at the Spellers Center in Tampa, Florida. She taught us about presuming competence in Nolan and began to teach him how to use the letterboard. They spent a great deal of time trying out different ones. Some are like stencils where you poke a pencil or your finger through the hole of the letter. Nolan wasn't feeling that. He ended up on a board that has bright, foam letters on it. This gives him sensory feedback each time he touches a letter, which was very motivating to him.

Each person starts on 3 boards that have the alphabet spaced out on them. This is because Spelling to Communicate is a gross motor skill, and it is easier to learn when the letters are bigger and more spaced out. Gross motor skills are things you use large muscles for, like running, jumping, and climbing. The Speller uses his or her shoulder and arm to point to each letter, which is easier than picking up a pencil or typing the words with their fingers. Here are some examples of 3 letter boards: the first set is the stencils, and the second set is the sensory boards.

A typical spelling session would start with the Communication Partner, or CP, reading a paragraph or two about a specific topic that is age appropriate for the Speller. After that, the CP would ask the Speller to spell out a word or two from the paragraph that was read. This is to warm up the muscles and brain, as well as to build confidence. The Communication Partner will use verbal and hand prompts to guide the Speller, and once they are more comfortable, the prompts begin to fade. Next, the CP will ask the speller a few questions about what was read and have them spell the answer. The questions are very simple and usually have one word as the answer. That sounds so simple, doesn't it?

During our second session with Dana, she had me try to do a lesson with Nolan on my own. I read the paragraph out loud to him while he walked around the room, squealing and making noises to himself. That was hard to do because I wanted to wait until he was quiet, but Dana assured me he was still listening. Then, I asked him to spell a certain word from what I had just read. I realized very quickly how hard it was to remember the word, how to spell it, know which board to pick up at what time, and encourage him to point to the letters all at the same time. Once we got through it (barely), Dana said, "How did that feel?" All I could say was, "stressful and overwhelming." She told me that everything I felt, Nolan felt the same way, as he was learning it too. She said learning and getting proficient at S2C is a lot like learning a new instrument. It is overwhelming and stressful at times, takes a lot of practice, but builds confidence as you get better and better. She also pointed out that I have to be regulated in my emotions so that Nolan will too. If I get frustrated, start rushing, or get nervous, Nolan will too. So, add staying regulated to that list of things to do. Ha!

I will also note that the feeling of amazement I felt when I first saw him spell words for the first time with Dana were of no comparison to how it felt holding the board for him. To see and feel him touching each letter knowing I had nothing to do with it was awesome! There were times I couldn't get each board up quickly enough for him. A few times I held up the wrong board because I wasn't spelling it right and he would just look at me like, "come on now mom." That is when I truly realized he knew how to do this. He has been listening and taking it in all along. That is the most bittersweet feeling. So much pride and guilt at the same time! (But we will save that for another post!)

Once the Speller is about 90% accurate with the 3 letter boards with minimal prompts, there is a transition to 1 board that has the entire alphabet on it. The letters are smaller, and the options of which letter to pick are wide open. The questions that are asked get more in depth, too. The CP will start to sneak in questions that could have more than one answer, and eventually ask more open questions like, "How do you think that made the character feel?" As confidence builds in the Speller and their motor control gets more precise, the CP can ask a completely random question that has nothing to do with the topic, like, "What is your favorite color?" This is where the magic happens! The goal is to get to this point where the Speller is comfortable and secure enough to openly spell his or her thoughts, dreams, ambitions, and hopes of life. Some spellers aspire to eventually move to a keyboard where they can type the letters onto a screen. There are many blogs and books written by Spellers that do just that!

While all of that sounds amazing, it is a long journey. For some, it takes years to reach each step of the process. However, what's a few years compared with being able to finally communicate for the rest of your life??

I'll end this blog post with a short clip of one of Nolan's spelling sessions. In this video, we had already done 2 different paragraphs, spelling 2 words, and answering 3 questions from each. These are the last two questions from the 3rd paragraph. He is tired at this point! It is hard work for his mind and body to spell each word. We have been doing this 3-4 times a week consistently since July, and his progress has been wonderful to watch! In our first few sessions, I barely got him to spell for 5 minutes before he was trying to get out of the door or saying, "all done." Now, we work for 20 minutes at a time! He isn't sitting down and quiet the whole time, and sometimes it is a physical and emotional struggle the entire time. But that's all part of the process. As so many in this same journey have told me, "it is a marathon, not a sprint." That finish line is going to be incredible!