SPELLERS Wins Phoenix Film Festival Awards
From Levi Quackenboss. Subscribe to Putting the Boss in Quack on Substack.
Congratulations on the fantastic reception! If you're using RPM or Spelling2Communicate, let us know. I'm using it with Bella. Nothing fancy. We don't travel to sunny destinations. Our closeups are in the bathroom mirror. We use handmade letter boards while seated on a Goodwill sofa in our rented ranch. And Bella is making progress! You can too. XOX
The kids of SPELLERS just swept the Phoenix Film Festival
The world is about to find out.
If you’re following along with the wild ride of the non-speaking autistic kids and young adults who are now fully and eloquently communicating with their families and teachers through Spelling-to-Communicate, you heard a few weeks ago that their documentary SPELLERS was an official selection to be screened at the Phoenix Film Festival. The festival ran from March 23rd through last night, April 2nd, and SPELLERS had four showings: March 31st, April 1st, and twice on April 2nd—with three of the shows selling out.
I woke up this morning to see photos of these three proud grins and trophies in hand. (Read more below the jump.)
SPONSORED CONTENTSpellers is based on Underestimated An Autism Miracle by JB and Jamie Handley. You can purchase a copy here.
Underestimated: An Autism Miracle will touch your heart, inspire you, remind you of the power of love, and ultimately leave you asking tough questions about how many more Jamisons might be waiting for their chance to be freed from their prison of silence, too. And, for the millions of parents of children with autism, the book offers a detailed description of a communication method that may give millions of people with autism back their voice.
The festival screened over 150 films with 12 in the “Competition” category, and SPELLERS took the awards for both Donor’s Choice Best Documentary and Best Documentary of the entire festival, and they did it on April 2nd, World Autism Day, of all days.
Show your support for SPELLERS by purchasing a “Get On Board” t-shirt from the official Spellers Freedom Foundation, or make a donation here. I know you want to see this film! And soon you can! Beginning April 20th, there will be private screenings through Kinema. For information about becoming a SPELLERS movie host in your town, join their Facebook group. You can also follow this link, scroll down to “Create Screening Event” and go from there.
Congratulations to all the guys and girls who made SPELLERS come to life. All the glory is yours.
LQ
###The Environmental And Genetic Causes of Autism
By James Lyons-Weiler, PhD
The Environmental and Genetic Causes of Autism delves deep into the full body of past and current research to reveal how genetic predispositions and environmental factors can combine to produce the conditions autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
While most autism researchers focus on either environmental or genetic causes of autism, Lyons-Weiler’s opus demonstrates that to fully understand the condition and to finally put its rate on the decrease, it is essential to pay attention to the science showing how the two classes of factors interact.
What other book could we share as April begins?
Denial: How refusing to face the facts about our autism epidemic hurts children, families - and our future.
By Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted
...The key to stopping the epidemic, they say, is to stop lying about its history and start asking "who profits?" People who deny that autism is new have self-interested motives, such as ending research that might pinpoint responsibility—and, most threateningly, liability for this man-made epidemic.
This is yet more Facilitated Communication nonsense.
Either the person learns coherent signed language or they have those computerized augmented communication devices that talk for them. The augmented communication device and its application is the best and can be added to an iPad or iPhone for a few hundred dollars or bought separately.
Posted by: Bill | April 10, 2023 at 10:05 AM
Very inspiring film we should all watch. I'd like to see films about sensory integration/intensive actual OT/lifeskills training and its benefits on those affected by such debilitating "neurodiversity".
Decades of ASD-inducing, chronic agony inducing "safe real vaccines" has funded this poison to be mass produced in a small scale. https://rumble.com/v2fz0se-breaking-news-is-you-food-safe-to-eat....big-pharma-to-vaccinate-all-animal.html (BREAKING NEWS: IS YOUR FOOD SAFE TO EAT?...BIG PHARMA TO VACCINATE ALL ANIMALS WITH THE m/RNA VACCINE)
Cannot be 1 in 36 at all... more like 4 in 6: https://www.lossofbraintrust.com/post/greenfield-in-aba-facility-outgrows-location-open-house-sat
Police forces are coming for your damaged kids: https://www.lossofbraintrust.com/post/york-county-va-sheriff-and-deputies-learn-about-autism-magnets-to-identify-cars
The ASD therapy industry might completely implode very soon: https://www.lossofbraintrust.com/post/denver-more-than-1-000-disabled-students-didn-t-get-speech-therapy
Posted by: Anonymous | April 05, 2023 at 10:36 AM
Congrats to all involved with SPELLERS! I can't wait to see it!
After you read Underestimated and watch spellers, get the book Ghost Boy. I had wondered when I read it if the protagonist had a teenaged autism-like onset.
It's another story of someone locked inside a world who gets rescued by a keyboard and an amazing teacher.
I haven't see Spellers yet, but I was wondering if anyone has tried to use virtual reality tools to help people spell. The letters float in the air, and they might be easier to manipulate or indicate than a 'real' keyboard. Find me on linked in if you want to explore this with me. Maybe we can get someone interested in this. However, again, if this is already shown in Spellers, please forgive me.
Posted by: Carolyn McDonough | April 04, 2023 at 08:52 PM
AWESOME!
I still remember my son's anguish and frustration before he could speak. I knew there was a very intelligent mind in there. Thankfully early and intense private speech therapy (with continued daily work at home) brought him to speech fluency after several years. I'm so glad to hear of Bella's progress, Kim.! I hope this film will open doors to therapy for the numbers who suffer speech loss.
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | April 04, 2023 at 09:48 AM