Note: This post needs little introduction beyond the email from a Mom who wanted to share her daughter's success with the Rapid Prompt Method with all of us. Some of you might say, "Oh that RPM is hocus pocus and the work of a guided hand." I can promise you that RPM can absolutely unlock the voice, the thoughts, the intelligence of our kids with autism because I have seen two of my own children blow my mind while working with Soma.  And while we have not had the smashing success Katerina has - and I blame only myself for that - I know that my preverbal and partially verbal daughters are bright, thoughtful and fully engaged in the world thanks to Soma. Learn more about her work at HALO.org. And thank you to Hildy and Katerina Gogal!  XOX  Kim

Dear Ms. Stagliano

I am writing on behalf of my 11 year old nonspeaking daughter, Katerina.  On November 18, 2014 we discovered a technique to unlock our daughter's voice, the method we used and are stilling using is Rapid Prompting Method (RPM). Through RPM, we discovered a brilliant girl who has been trapped inside of her body unable to communicate and/or show the world her true potential.  With RPM Katerina is finally able communicate her thoughts and show the world how intelligent she is. 

A child that was doing preschool academics (unsuccessful I might add) less then a year ago is now doing grade level academics and has expressed a strong desire to become an advocate for nonspeaking children.  Her writing is her avenue to advocate and is also therapeutic for her.  She is hurt and disappointed in the world for treating nonspeaking children as though they have no potential.  A child that was once perceived as having minimal receptive and expressive language (through AAC devices) is now a fluent writer and she has some amazing things to say!

Below is a story she wrote, please consider publishing it and help her advocate for nonspeaking individuals. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns,

Sincerely,

Hildy Gogal

The Voice by Katerina Gogal

Once upon a time there lived a girl named Katerina. She was very beautiful and so sad, no one could communicate with her because she had no speech.  Katerina's voice was trapped inside her head. She was brilliant but everyone treated her like she was stupid. Not having speech was harmful, she was perceived as not having any language, oh how wrong they all were.  Language and speech are not the same! Katerina developed such anger, so many insensitive cruel people said such horrible things about the girl in front of her, thinking she did not understand.  People who were suppose to educate the girl did not believe she had any potential.  Such a sad life the girl had and oh how lonely. Imagine a world where you have no one but yourself to connect with, how many people could survive? Katerina did.  Katerina learned to communicate her thoughts through RPM. Some people still doubted her, fools. RPM gave Katerina the strength and drive to find a voice.  She yearned to find a way to show the world how smart she was. She needed speech to show them. On Halloween night, Katerina woke up with a brilliant plan, she was going to make a magic potion that would allow all the words in her head to spill out of her mouth. She jumped out of bed, lite a candle for some light and scrambled around her bedroom frantically for her book on magic potions. Where did she last see it? Yes, under her bed! Katerina pulled out the book and turned to the drink some speech potion page.