Trust in our combined experience and love of teaching S2C!
Providing the Tools for a Life with Communication
Trust in our combined experience and love of teaching S2C!
About Us
Dedicated S2C Practitioner
Hello! My name is Amanda Howell. I’m excited to say that I’m the first certified S2C (Spelling to Communicate) practitioner in the state of Kentucky.
I cannot wait to help your loved one reveal their true, inner voice!
So, let me tell you a little bit about myself. First of all, I have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a Master’s degree in Health Administration. Lord willing, I hope to one day pursue a Doctoral degree with a focus in Autism and become an author about this most challenging, yet fulfilling journey.
During my college years, I helped my family manage their daycare, which has now operated for 20 years. I worked in clinics and hospitals promoting better quality of care through process improvement and workflow redesign. Soon after, I became an (AIT) Administrator in Training at a nursing home where I worked in every department; as part of the training, I even became a CNA (certified nursing assistant). Those opportunities allowed me to work closely with our most vulnerable citizens—the young, the old, and the sick; such experience was invaluable and will indeed carry-over to spelling with S2C clients. Furthermore, at this point, I’ve worked with multiple families and non-speakers by coaching their motor to spell to communicate; I’ve already seen great progress with these spellers and look forward to what their future holds.
A few things that I enjoy doing in my spare time (which is rare these days) are cooking, traveling, going to different theme parks, watching old movies, reading/studying the Bible, and spending time with my family including 3 sons. My happy place is Florida, for various reasons; for one, the weather is warm all year long. We just love visiting the sunshine state as much as we can!
What is S2C?
So, what is S2C? Spelling to Communicate is an effective form of communication for those who have issues with speech or Apraxia; these individuals display both sensory and motor differences. While their brain is telling their body what to do, their body simply cannot execute the command which leads to a brain/body disconnect; not only does this affect their speech, but it also causes other motor difficulties as well. So, we, the practitioner or communication regulation partner (CRP), coach the client’s motor with verbal and gesture prompting as well as teach them purposeful movement skills, in order for them to accurately point to letters on letter boards. The goal is for them to become fluent and spell their own ideas, thoughts, and feelings on these boards independently or to achieve purposeful communication. Given a 26-letter board, the possibilities are endless as far as their responses are concerned. We must remember--it is our duty to always presume competence in all clients and understand that practice makes permanent; the more they practice spelling on these boards, the more fluent they will become. Book your appointment today, and let’s get started on a life changing journey—a new path. You can either call or text me at 734-837-5346 or send me an email. I hope to see you soon.
I'm located in (East) Louisville, Kentucky, for in-person sessions. I can also do online sessions.
What Truly Led Me to Pursue S2C?
Fast forward a few years after college/career…. I had my first child—a son named Alex. I didn’t know it back then, but his birth/life would certainly change the trajectory of mine. At the time, I decided to put my career on hold to be a stay-at-home mom. As time went on and being an older first-time mom, I knew in my heart that something was different about this gift that God had granted us. One of my biggest concerns was that, early on even, he would always stare off into space; I remember always having to tickle him to get his undivided attention. Even as a toddler, he would completely ignore all peers in the same room; it was almost as if they were invisible to him. Then, at 18 months, I remember the doctor seemed somewhat concerned that he never pointed nor had any speech beyond a few sounds. A couple of years later, he was officially diagnosed with Autism, which completely shattered our world.
Let’s just say by now, we’ve experienced the wildest roller coaster of our lives, with many ups and downs and twists and turns. Most days are harder than not, but we must still keep going for the sake of our son. So, after years of not really having an effective or reliable way to communicate with Alex, I finally found S2C. Not only did I want S2C practitioners to work with my son asap, but I decided to become one myself so that I could help him as much as possible every day. Another motivating factor for becoming a practitioner in this state was to help as many nonspeaking, minimally speaking, and unreliably speaking people here as I possibly could.
If your loved one is like mine and you’ve not had a lot of success with other alternative forms of communication, then I encourage you to try S2C. My question is can they tell you their inner most feelings and thoughts? If not, now is the time to get them involved in S2C. I feel confident that this is what we’ve all been hoping and praying for. This is it right here--the game changer. Don’t wait another day!
"If you build it, they will come"
ALEXSPHERE LLC (which is named after my son, Alex) is the first company to bring S2C to Kentucky. As we are currently working with my son to become fluent on the boards, let me tell you about his current strengths and what he CAN do! As a toddler, Alex used to love all doors. He had a little bit of an obsession with any door that was around. Not only did he love to check out/open and close doors everywhere we’d go, he also loved to undo the locks--all sorts of them. We worried about him eloping from our home when he was very young, so we put three different door locks on the door-two being way up high. He quickly learned how to get to and open all three door locks with no problem at all. He never tried to escape, he just simply loved doors so much along with their locks. As time has passed however, he’s not really into doors as much, but his new thing (for the past few years) has been vacuum cleaners. He can take them apart and put them together quicker than quick and used to line the pieces in a row across the room. He would always grab my hand for me to hold its handle, so that he could flip it over while it was still turned on to see the brush roller underneath spinning. I assume at some point he realized he couldn’t do both at the same time himself. Furthermore, Alex has always had a love for roller coasters—both riding age-appropriate ones, as well as watching the biggest and baddest ones from a distance at theme parks. In fact, if we ever left too soon for his liking, he’d have a small meltdown; so, we’d find ourselves going back to our spot at the park to watch them a little longer. My husband and I always say, we can see him building or creating roller coasters for a living one day; he loves them that much. His newest thing is the washer/dryer. We’ll see where that leads. All in all, Alex is the most beautiful, loving, fastest, sneakiest, funniest kid I know; I absolutely know he listens to/understands everything I say, but he just cannot effectively communicate back to me, even though we’ve tried a lot of different things. That’s about to change with S2C.
“Our Actions Today Affect Their Opportunities Tomorrow”
I’m sure you’ve heard of the No Child Left Behind Act. My mission is that no child or adult shall be left without an effective or reliable way to communicate his or her true voice. I’ve personally lived without knowing the inner most feelings and thoughts of my child for 10 years now--10 years too long. It’s time for us to stand up and make a change. We must do better in helping them reveal their words. Again, I truly believe S2C is the key to opening their door to a world of endless possibilities. That’s why I’m here—not only to help my son, but to help those just like him. Please remember, for me, this is much more than a job; it’s personal. I know the heartache, the desperation, the stress and worry of it all, etc. I’m in your shoes but ready to flip to the next chapter in his story—a better chapter. I want the next chapter to be about the major progress Alex has made with S2C. I hope you feel the same way. Together, with our determination as a team, we will find a way. To be continued………
For more information about S2C, please visit I-ASC.org