Today we’d like to introduce you to Dawnmarie Gaivin.
Hi Dawnmarie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
When I first became a mother in 2003, I had no way of knowing how my newborn son, Evan, was going to transform my career and my life. In 2005 his little brother, Trey, came along and a few months later our world pivoted. Evan was diagnosed with nonspeaking autism. One year later, Trey followed suit and also was diagnosed as autistic.
Flash forward ten years and hundreds of hours of therapies later, I still had not found a reliable method of communication for either of my boys. Determined to find a way for them to express themselves, I began studying Spelling to Communicate (S2C). In this methodology, students are taught the purposeful motor skills needed to bypass using speech which involves complex, fine motor movements, and instead use pointing to letters on a letterboard (mostly gross motor movements) to communicate. Praying this might be the final stone I turned over, in September 2015 I started to teach Evan S2C. As it turns out – not only could he spell (as can most nonspeakers) but we learned he is incredibly intelligent and witty. He had simply been trapped in his apraxic body that rarely listen to his brain for the previous 12 years!
The miracle of hearing my son’s words for the first time was too powerful to keep just for myself. So the following year, I serendipitously met the founder of S2C and was enrolled in her new practitioner training course soon thereafter. By March 2017, I opened my clinic – Transcending Apraxia – in North County and have been serving nonspeakers, unreliable speakers, and minimal speakers ever since.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I sometimes jokingly share that I am a walking ad for the Law of Attraction if you believe in that sort of thing. Growing up, I always wanted to teach in the field of special education. In fact, I applied to only five colleges and chose special ed as my major in 4 of the 5. The fifth school was a local college, UMass-Lowell, and it did not have an undergraduate education program so I reluctantly checked the box that said nursing. I had no intention of going there until the financial aid offers rolled in and made the prospect of UMass-Lowell too good to refuse. That’s when I believe the Universe decided it would need to get creative to bring me into the field of special education someday since it was my destiny.
Has it been a smooth road, you ask? Raising two autistic boys who are only 16 months apart has been anything but smooth. The struggles of their immune system disorders and gastrointestinal disease mixed with their sleeplessness and anxiety often made the day-to-day road an incredible challenge. But no matter how rough a single day was, the thing that has always made it worthwhile was being able to pay it forward and help another autism family in a similar situation. In fact, it’s my experience that the entire autism community is wired that way. For most of us, this is a club we didn’t plan to sign up for but wow, the fellowship perks are superb!
It wasn’t until things finally settled down medically and behaviorally for my boys that I started teaching S2C to Evan. I had already been tediously working on opening a school for nonspeakers (a project that I’ve since put on hold) and had generated a waitlist of very interested students. When I was accepted into the S2C practitioner training my first calls were to the families on that list since their children all had communication difficulties too. Essentially, I hit the ground running with a caseload of students in March 2017 and haven’t stopped since, pandemic or not.
Paying it forward by helping other parents hear their child’s true voice has delivered me the absolute greatest job on earth. I get to relive the joy over and over and over again with each family that puts in the effort to work alongside me and get their son or daughter “fluent” on the letterboard. Not a day goes by that I am not thankful for the opportunity to be Evan & Trey’s mom and to work with the nonspeaking community here.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
In March 2021, Jamison Handley, a client of Transcending Apraxia wrote a book entitled “Underestimated” about his journey from being a nonspeaker to a fluent speller. To get a first-hand view of what exactly we do at TA, I highly recommend picking up a copy! You won’t be able to put it down.
Transcending Apraxia is a bustling, joyful clinic that works with nonspeakers, minimal speakers, and unreliable speakers who are learning or have learned to spell to communicate. We have an amazing staff of practitioners, led by Dawnmarie Gaivin and Jonathan Perez, and offer individual lessons as well as group sessions to our clients. We heavily focus on parent coaching in our clinic because communication is not something your child should be capable of doing just once a week with us. We aim to make ourselves replaced by YOU. Your child wants to communicate with you more than anyone else in the world, and we are here to coach that moment into fruition. We also organize monthly Ohana Outings which are free community gatherings for families and spellers to get together. Come join us for an outing or stop by to learn more about S2C and whether it is the answer for your child too.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
This year the Regional Center made the Self-Determination Program (SDP) available to all its consumers. This has been great news for families wishing to try Spelling to Communicate (S2C) for their loved ones but can’t afford it. Through SDP the cost for services can be covered. For more information on the self-determination program, readers should inquire with their Regional Center case manager. We can also send you a courtesy “quick guide” pdf if you email us at info@transcendingapraxia.com. We are committed to helping every nonspeaker find their voice and have a say.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@transcendingapraxia.com
- Website: www.transcendingapraxia.com
- Instagram: transcendingapraxia
- Facebook: Transcending Apraxia
Image Credits
Joseph Daly, Denise Conrad, Pat R. Notaro III
