“Hope for your Struggling Communicator”—a webinar given by Dawnmarie Gaivin on August 3rd, 2022. Presented by the Autism Hope Alliance.

S2C will benefit anyone who could be described as a nonspeaker, an unreliable speaker, or a minimal speaker. The goal at our clinic is to give every nonspeaker, unreliable speaker, and minimal speaker a chance at a reliable form of communication that plays to their motor strengths (the gross motor) so that they can show us what's inside. So far, we've never met a student who didn't have more on the inside than what the outside showed.

Recently graduated from Cal State University San Marcos with a Bachelors in Speech & Language Pathology, a young man looking to pursue a passion for helping others, I found my way into an ABA company. My first client; Evan Tastor.

As a recent graduate from SDSU I have many friends who are now wondering “So what am I going to do now?” Unlike them, I feel so fortunate to have known from a young age that my purpose is to work with the neurodiverse community.

From the time my oldest son regressed developmentally in 2004 and stopped speaking, pointing & sharing attention with me through the time of his diagnosis of autism mid-way into 2005 I sought to identify my authentic feelings about the terminology used to describe what was happening.

The phone buzzed awake on the nightstand while I was getting ready for sleep. The room embered in the warm, dim light of my night lamp and now the blue light of my phone. I grabbed it and wrestled onto my college-apartment bed.

For the past two weeks my eldest son and I have been reading Col. Chris Hadfield's autobiography together. I've discovered a giant parallel between Hadfield’s training as an astronaut and mine as a single-mother of two boys with autism: You must plan for every possible contingency before going on an actual mission.

People who have known me for a long time can attest that I’ve always been a “doer” but even if you don’t know me personally I’m sure you know the type… someone highly driven by constant accomplishment.

It was pouring rain in San Diego today. Having lived here for two years now I can attest to the fact that rain is a rare event. I’m not sure the natives were thrilled but I for one welcomed the fresh change to what is otherwise almost perfect weather year round. Growing up in Massachusetts I thought weather forecasters had the most challenging job on the planet. Now I realize that statement is relative.