For Theo's family, autism has affected every part of their daily life. Through love, patience and spelling they have connected with him in ways that go beyond words.
The Blymillers live in Sandy Utah, where they have raised their two children, Eva and Theo. Theo was diagnosed with nonverbal autism when he was a baby.
"Shock. I felt like nothing was processing, system overload I guess ... is the phrases that come to mind," Shawn Blymiller, Theo's father, said.
Autism has brought many challenges; Shawn and Angela Bymiller have searched for years to find communication methods. None of the options worked reliably until they found spelling.
"Spelling to communicate is a form of communication for people who are non-speakers," Kinsey Showers, Theo's spelling practitioner, said.
Instead of speech, students point to letters on a board using larger movements.
"It's just, we know they want to learn and interact with their environment," Showers said.
Sessions often begin with reading and spelling lessons; students spell out their responses one letter at a time. This approach relies on presuming competence.
"Presuming competence is presuming that someone can and wants to learn. A lot of people think it means that we assume they know everything, and that's not the case," Showers said.
Spelling to communicate has given the Blymiller family hope and has helped them better understand Theo's world.
"When we treated him like he understood everything that was going on around him, everything changed for us. And especially when we talked about him with respect with in our presence. They can understand everything you're saying, so speak about them and to them like they do," Shawn Blymiller said.
There are so many families just like the Blymillers, just waiting for their child's voice to be heard. For more information visit https://i-asc.org/.