Spell Me About It
Free Lessons for Learners Who Spell (L4L) – Communication for Everyone
Fascinating Lessons…because Words Become Worlds
From Ryan – Aloha!
🌺 Welcome to My Website
I am an autistic nonspeaker from Hawaii. Until a few years ago, I had no way to communicate.
Then my mom enrolled me in Spelling to Communicate (S2C). I learned to point to letters on a letterboard, and I’m now learning to type my thoughts.
💬 How I Practice
When practicing, we use lessons in a certain format. Recently, my parents began writing lessons just for me — about the topics that interest me most.
They decided to share these lessons with others who spell to communicate, so anyone can download and use them.
🌈 A Message from Us
Feel free to explore and download any lesson you like. I hope you enjoy them, and my parents would love to hear your feedback.
How It Works
Our L4L Philosophy
Our L4L (Lessons 4 Learners) engage not just the Learner, but also the Practitioner, Parent, or Communication Partner. Designed for teens to adults, they are adaptable for all fluency levels.
📚Each lesson includes text and questions across categories (Spell/Known, Semi-Open, Prior Knowledge, Math, Open). Math questions are kept simple for practice.
🎓We prioritize engaging text over frequent images, believing learners can retain information through listening.
👨👩👧Lessons support structured learning, offer flexibility, foster community connection, and build practical skills.
💡All lessons are free. Create an account to get started.
Parents Message
Aloha, Story-Seekers!
Our son, Ryan, has been using Spelling as a means of communication for four years. He progressed quickly through the stencils and laminates and began typing using a keyboard that projects to a computer monitor nearly two years ago, pecking with his right index finger. After years of having him use his right hand to do tasks, we learned last year that Ryan is left-handed, and when tired, he would begin using his left-hand to tap letters. We then decided to up the challenge by having him use both index fingers to type (left index finger taps letters on the left side of the keyboard; right hand does the same on the right side) with the goal of eventually achieving full two-handed typing. Coordinating both sides of his body is extremely challenging for him, but we are steadily seeing improvements.
In four years, we'd seen just about every lesson out there, and Ryan was asking for new lessons that were thought-provoking and more tailored to someone his age. He typed that he was particularly interested in Science and Math but was open to any subject that would engage his interest. Since we are often working with Ryan, we decided to write lessons that would be interesting learning experiences for us or Ryan's Practitioner/Communication Partners.
Our Hope
Our hope is that these lessons will travel far and wide to reach as many non-speakers as possible. We offer them free of charge, and will be adding lessons as we write them. All we ask is you provide your e-mail address and your "Title"—Practitioner; Parent; Sibling or Communication Partner so we can get an idea of who we're reaching. We welcome your feedback.
Mahalo Nui Loa (Thank You from the Bottom of Our Hearts)—together we can continue to free our non-speakers from their silence and allow them to demonstrate their keen knowledge and intellect.