The Spellers Guidebook

Practical Advice for Parents and Students

De: Dawnmarie Gaivin, Dana Johnson

Narrado por: Stacey Lind

A means by which thousands, and soon millions, of people are being freed from their lives of silence.

The Spellers Guidebook is the first of its kind—a comprehensive guidebook that every family should take along for their Spelling journey. From the moment you first learn about spelled communication through working with a practitioner, developing fluency, and everything in between, this book serves as a blueprint to follow while you build the skills to spell openly with your child.

The Spellers Guidebook is informative not only for parents and caregivers but for practitioners and professionals as well. It answers questions from the most basic—what to expect during the first spelling session, to more clinical—what is apraxia, and how does it affect my speller? It even discusses the importance of regulation and how the interpersonal dynamic between the speller and their communication partner can impact flow.

The journey toward open communication differs for every family, and this handbook is here to help remove any guesswork. Whether your path seems straight and easy to navigate or the road ahead appears winding and twisting, Dana and DM are here to guide you. If you walk away with nothing more than the confidence that you can do this with your nonspeaker (because you CAN), The Spellers Guidebook has done its job!

©2023 Dawnmarie Gaivan and Dana Johnson (P)2023 Skyhorse Audio

Phenomenal Guidebook!

My son has been a speller for seven years. His motor profile is very complex so it’s taking longer than average for him to be open. Dawnmarie was his first teacher and she saved my son’s life and all of our lives. I have learned many of the concepts in the book over the years but to have them all spelled out in one place is so helpful and reassuring. I also thought the narrator was really good and down-to-earth. I felt like the book really captured what it feels like to be in the SPELLERS center, literally like no other “therapy” place we’ve been to in the over twenty years of our autism journey. “We get you. Nothing your body does is a shock to us. You are welcome here. You’re doing a great job. You can do this!” And of course the icing on the cake was the words of the spellers themselves at the end of the book. I was crying and my son was using his body to show how thrilled he was to hear the voices of his people.

Perfect companion

This is the perfect companion for your spelling journey. Having a son as a speller the past 3 years I can say this book covers it all! All of the pitfalls and emotions, setbacks and questions that crop up are all in here. Even after 3 years as a parent and now a practitioner, I still found nuggets of information that were insightful and unexpected. Everyone in the spelling community should read this. I'm so glad to have this, I'm gifting a copy to all my clients.