A mum has described how she "truly met" her 23-year-old non-speaking autistic son for the first time when he began to communicate, and her pride as he is now inspiring others to transform their own lives.
"Last year, my son had a body riddled with anxiety and he hit his head on a regular basis," explained Joanne Watson.
"Who could have imagined that he would now be inspiring the lives of non-speakers and their families to use the same communication method that has transformed his and our lives?"
Tom was born in 1999 and diagnosed with autism and severe language delay at a very early age.
Joanne, from Compton, Winchester, said: "Throughout his life, we have tried many different approaches and interventions to help him.
"Despite our best efforts, as Tom approached his 22nd year, he was still unable to speak more than a few words and phrases to get his basic needs and wants across."
Tom, who lives with his family in Hampshire, had just moved into supported living when Joanne came across a book called Underestimated, written by an American dad in conjunction with his non-speaking autistic son, Jamie.
The book referred to a programme called Spelling to Communicate (S2C).
Joanne explained: "The book was captivating because they had found a way to allow their son to communicate by using a series of increasingly complex letter boards.
"This wasn’t just communication of needs and wants, this was communication of thoughts, feelings and opinions - way beyond anything we thought possible.
"Their story was so like ours that we simply had to give this process a try."
With no S2C practitioners in the UK, Joanne had several online meetings with the founder of S2C, Elizabeth Vosseller, and a programme for Tom was developed.
After more than 12 months using S2C, and without the progress Joanne had been hoping for, Elizabeth came to London and worked with Tom face-to-face.
"March 31, 2023 will forever be a significant day in the lives of our family," Joanne said.
"Elizabeth embarked on a 'lesson' which involved reading a paragraph at a time and then asking some questions on the material.
"She spoke normally, with no real pauses, other than to spell out more complex key words.
"Tom sat there making a noise, looking around and giving absolutely no visible indication that he was listening to the material at all.
"Elizabeth finished the first section and then asked Tom to spell some of the words she had read. To our surprise, he did this without any significant prompting or support and, despite a degree of physical dysregulation, maintained his focus on spelling out the letters using a pencil to poke each letter on a plastic stencil of the alphabet.
"The second day was even more miraculous, as Tom told Elizabeth that 'uncontrollable noise making others scared of me is one of the hardest things I deal with', which gave us a heart-breaking insight into his world.
"He finished the day on a high by writing a letter to other spellers: 'Dear spellers, I live with terrible anxiety. I get you. I make noises and have tics. Destined to be different, not less. Let’s embrace ourselves and choose to be happy. Solidarity, Tom.'
"We left London that day having truly ‘met’ our son for the first time and knowing that our lives would never be the same again.
"There is a lot of skill and practice required to becoming an effective communication partner, but from that point forwards we were absolutely certain we would get there – it was only a matter of time.
"In the subsequent 12 months, Tom has made exceptional progress and is now starting to reap the benefits of many hours of practice and dedication.
"He is now learning to use a keyboard and iPad to express his thoughts and feelings.
"This process has been transformative for Tom and our entire family."
So inspired, Joanne is training to become an S2C practitioner herself and, along with nine others, they will become the UK's first practitioners.
A second wave of people from the UK have also embarked on the training course.
Joanne said: "We hope to make this an ongoing and growing process to serve the needs of a community spanning autism, Down's syndrome, Angelman’s, cerebral palsy and other disabilities where individuals struggle to speak."
In support of this goal, three of Tom's family members in Stevenage - Rob, Rosa and Scott - are cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise money to help provide S2C training bursaries in the UK.
To sponsor the group, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Spelling-2-Communicate.
Using his keyboard, Tom said: "I am so moved by everyone’s donations to our cause so far and hope that we can get to our target.
"Thank you all for your generosity and please continue to spread the word."
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