Spellers Center Atlanta - Occupational Therapy for Nonverbal Individuals with Autism and Apraxia

Hi! We've just returned from a 2-day intensive with Dana at Spellers in Atlanta and we gained so much information on our spelling journey with our son. We have been spelling for about a month and Dana's OT expertise was invaluable to us in understanding what challenges our son might have with his body apraxia and what specific testing we need to follow-up on for his eye apraxia as well with a developmental ophthalmologist. We gained a deeper understanding of how our son might see the letterboard and how we need to further test to accommodate for those challenges. Dana is also a great coach not just for our son but for us as parents. She felt like the guiding hand that we needed as we start our spelling journey and become our son's communication partners. Her expertise in Occupational Therapy was so helpful to us and we left the sessions with a game plan and necessary resources. We also felt like Spellers will continue to be there for us to offer support as we continue building skills. For any parent out there with a non-speaking, unreliably speaking or minimally speaking child, grab the Spellers Handbook (on sale on the Spellers site and at Amazon) and watch the movie Spellers and believe that your non-speaking, minimally speaking or unreliably speaking child is in there with robust language and age-appropriate cognition. It will take a few sessions of spelling for you to see it with your own eyes, and you will then not be able to unsee it. We have been on the Autism Road for 15 years and we have tried it all - 40 hours of ABA for years, floor time, neurofeedback, essential oils, diets, - with limited success. It has only been since we have been Spelling that we have seen our son for who he is and what he has always been, a highly intelligent human taking everything in for decades but without a way to express himself and show us what he knows. Who would have thought that pointing at letters on a letterboard could be the key to unlocking our kiddo's and giving them a tool to express themselves? Spellers Center is there to assist you on this journey and it's not about showing your child how to spell. They know how to spell. It's building the stamina, strength and coordination and spelling every day that will make the difference. It's understanding Apraxia and how this impacts our kids in substantial ways and keeps them from showing us what they know. Most importantly, we felt like we have been given back what professionals have taken away from us over the years - Hope. Hope that our child will one day be able to tell us what his hopes and dreams are, Hope to get to know our child in way we never thought possible and Hope for a brighter future for him overall. As parents, we have felt so helpless in finding a way to help our son and Spelling has changed all of that. We cannot recommend them enough. Marty & Jim Vega

My 4 year old’s experience at Spellers Atlanta was incredible! I didn’t know what to expect since she is so young - but she ended up spelling before the end of the first set of sessions! I can’t wait to practice what we learned at home!

Spellers Center Atlanta is set up really well with a gym and an environment welcoming to those with sensory issues. Our daughter who is an adult with non verbal autism is really thriving and it is so great to get her out of the house doing something so valuable. I am sure every "teacher" is wonderful but, of course, we are partial to Lisa who has been working with Hannah for several years now. I highly recommend this location for helping your child move ahead.

Beautiful, clean facility with a kind and supportive staff. Learned so much and can't wait to continue this program. Dana Johnson is excellent to work with. She truly cares and wants the best for the non-speakers and their families.

Spellers Atlanta's new center is fantastic!! It's a warm, loving environment that embraces autism families.The gym is a great asset for optimizing a spellers regulation. I highly recommend Lisa as a spelling partner. She's wonderful with spellers and with teaching parents to be supportive and effective spelling partners with their kids.

We just finished Immersion week at Atlanta Spellers. We truly believe that is the best investment that we had done for our daughter. All the people involved during this week were very professional, compasionate and engaging. It was a really intense week but there was a joyful and incredible rewarding. The combination of structure, expertise and encouragement made a huge impact in our hearts, and we feel equipped to start our journey with Spellers Method. Thank you so much to every single person that helpto bring hope to so many families this past week. God bless you!