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My Why
Everyone Has a “Why” … and This Is Mine.
For more than 37 years, I’ve built a career in an industry I love: communications, specifically broadcast radio. My love affair with radio started as a little girl in the ’80s, recording songs off the radio onto a boom box cassette deck so I could practice being the DJ and talking between the songs.
Fast-forward to today, and communication is still at the center of who I am. Helping businesses grow their brands, mentoring and coaching colleagues, and helping lead an incredible company to succeed are still very much at my core.
But along the way, my life gave the word communication an entirely new meaning.
In 2004, the light of my life, my son Ethan, was born. I later met my wonderful husband, Steve, and we married in 2013. Ethan is profoundly autistic, has full-body apraxia, and does not speak. Like so many loving parents, we spent most of Ethan’s life searching for anything and everything that might help him - something that might make life easier, help regulate his body, ease what sometimes appeared to be discomfort or pain, and give him greater independence. We did all the things: therapies, diets, interventions and more. Many were helpful in different ways.
The Gamechanger
But in late January 2025, something happened that changed the trajectory of our lives. I was listening to a podcast that described nonspeakers using spelling on a letterboard to communicate. It sounded so intriguing and I knew I had to see what it looked like in action. That discovery led me to the documentary Spellers. Watch Spellers
The best way I can describe my reaction is I felt as though I had been struck by lightning. I looked at the young men in the film and thought, “My God. This is what we have been praying for. My son looks and acts like these guys. He is going to be able to do this.”
The film led me to the book Underestimated: An Autism Miracle by J.B. Handley and Jamison Handley. I cried my way through it.
The Handley family’s experience resonated so deeply with me. The strange combination... of hope and exhaustion that comes from always searching for something that might help your child.
You remain optimistic. You keep trying. You wonder whether this might finally be the thing that changes everything, only to discover that it isn’t. For their family, spelling was different. Spelling changed everything.
The movie, the book, the research … It all happened over the course of one weekend. By Sunday afternoon, I was online learning everything I could about the different spelling and communication approaches. There was a lot to understand, and I wanted to know what distinguished one approach from another. Ultimately, I chose Spelling to Communicate (S2C) and found a wonderful practitioner about 45 minutes from our home and we began weekly sessions with her.
The film led me to the book Underestimated: An Autism Miracle by J.B. Handley and Jamison Handley. I cried my way through it.
Discovering What Had Been There All Along
Almost immediately, we watched Ethan spell answers that stunned us. For years, we had been told by doctors, therapists, and educators that his comprehension was most likely comparable to that of a 3-year-old.
Naturally, we had questions. So how could he possibly know how to spell these words? How does he know this information? What else does he know? Can he read as well?
The answer, in many ways, was remarkably simple: He had been paying attention all along. He had been listening—probably more closely than any of us realized. He had been seeing words all around him. He had been taking in conversations, experiences and information.
But Ethan has apraxia, which can create a profound disconnect between intention and reliable, purposeful motor execution. His brain can form an idea and know what he wants his body to do, but his body may not consistently execute that plan or make the necessary adjustments when and how he intends. That distinction changed the way we saw everything.
We began to truly understand the meaning of two incredibly important words:
Presume Competence.
Looking back, we realized how often we, and many of the people who cared deeply about Ethan, had unintentionally underestimated him. We simplified our language. We discussed what was best for him while he was in the room instead of including him in the conversation. We sometimes interpreted what his body was doing as an indication of what his mind understood.
Now we know differently.
The outsides do not always match the insides.
His body does not always tell us what his mind knows. His mind is full. His thoughts are complex. His ideas are rich. And when given an accessible way to communicate, he has so much to say.
Finding His Voice
We practiced at home every day and continued weekly sessions with our S2C practitioner. By the fall of 2025, Ethan began openly and fluently communicating with a friend who became one of his Communication Regulation Partners (CRPs). A few months later, he was openly communicating with me as well.
Every speller's journey is different. Some reach open communication more quickly; for others, building the motor skills necessary for accurate, reliable communication takes considerably more time.
For us, the transformation has been extraordinary.
For the first time in Ethan’s life, he is deciding for himself … and we are truly getting to know him.
The letterboard goes everywhere with us. Ethan can communicate everything from basic wants and needs to much bigger things—his thoughts, opinions, fears, hopes, preferences and dreams.
And knowing what he thinks changes everything.
Instead of guessing, we can ask him.
Instead of assuming, we can listen.
Instead of making every decision for him, we include him.
Communication creates opportunities for greater autonomy, agency and connection.
And That Became My “Why.”
After spending nearly four decades in the communications industry, I never imagined that communication would become my calling in such a deeply personal way.
Watching my son find a path to greater expression changed me.
It created a deep desire to help other nonspeakers and their families discover what may be possible when we presume competence, support purposeful motor skills, and provide an accessible pathway to communication.
That calling led me to become a certified Spelling to Communicate (S2C) Practitioner and to create Communication Revolution LLC.
Because this is about so much more than spelling words on a letterboard.
After spending nearly four decades in the communications industry, I never imagined that communication would become my calling in such a deeply personal way.
Watching my son find a path to greater expression changed me.
It created a deep desire to help other nonspeakers and their families discover what may be possible when we presume competence, support purposeful motor skills, and provide an accessible pathway to communication.
That calling led me to become a certified Spelling to Communicate (S2C) Practitioner and to create Communication Revolution LLC.
Because this is about so much more than spelling words on a letterboard.
It’s about being heard.
It’s about being included.
It’s about having choices.
It’s about autonomy and agency.
It’s about giving nonspeakers the opportunity to show us what may have been there all along …
and to begin their own COMMUNICATION REVOLUTION!
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