Most nonspeaking autistic children and adults are never provided with effective communication, even despite years of attempts with less effective methods.

Important: It can take YEARS to learn to use a letterboard. And it will always involve the assistance of another person.

#SNS2026

On competence vs. performance. Letterboard assistants are trained to support spellers, it's very intensive. And people ask about other approaches that are less intensive. And yes, they exist, but approaches like PECs are limited to requesting, within the pre-chosen vocabulary.

#SNS2026

One way is to see if spellers have a different response to iPad letters that flashed in a meaningful sequence (spelling out words) than with flashing letters that spelled nonsense.

#SNS2026

So how can we develop literacy in nonspeakers if they cannot read out loud, or produce a motor result that indicates comprehension? This can lead to nonspeaking people getting no appropriate literacy support at all.

#SNS2026

By measuring autistic subjects' heart rate, which is lower when people are more regulated, they were able to determine who they were more comfortable around (research by @kaydenstockwell.bsky.social btw).

#SNS2026

There are parallels to developing accurate research to gauge ability in non-baby nonspeaking autistic people.

Example: People assume autistic don't care who is around them, especially if they are nonspeaking and cannot explain that their behavior doesn't always indicate their interest.

#SNS2026

Babies look longer at unexpected outcomes compared to expected outcomes, per research. And this research was conducted using the abilities babies had, using competence, rather than expecting them to do things they couldn't.

#SNS2026

Because of these speech/other motor challenges, nonspeaking autistics are too often greatly underestimated.

One of the most remarkable developments in dev psychology in the last 40 years is that babies (nonspeakers) know a lot more than we think, for instance they can do basic addition.

#SNS2026

Dr. Jaswal is now showing a video of a non speaker who has just clearly and unequivocally spelled out "grab the octopus." But it takes him an extremely long time to cooperate enough to actually grab the octopus.

#SNS2026

We don't know why people are nonspeaking. The most promising explanation has to do with neuromotor challenges. And you need extreme motor coordination to produce intelligible speech. Nonspeakers motor differences go beyond speech into other areas, AKA the "brain-body disconnect."

#SNS2026

He is talking about a subset of autistic people termed "nonspeaking," who comprise about 30% of autistics overall (this includes minimal and unreliably speaking people).They can't readily share their thoughts in a language-based way; also they are autistic and may move differently. #SNS2026

Also, on IQ testing (which is a genuine mess for evaluating nonspeaking autistics). He met a Canadian group who was evaluating IQ using strength based assessments. And one of the US spellers asked Vikram to work with him and "stop letting the Canadians have all the fun."

#SNS2026

Now at Stanford Neurodiversity Summit: Developmental psychologist Dr. Vikram Jaswal on innovations in research with nonspeaking autistic people.

Initially did not know anything about autism. Then Elizabeth Vosseller invited him to a S2C conference, & he met nonspeaking letterboard users.

#SNS2026

Hari is now a PhD student in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University. He is working on applications for autism, including for autistic people with communication, cognitive, and motor access issues who often get left out of autism research.

#SNS2026

He drove and created the first-ever UC Berkeley newspaper edition focused on disability.

He was a top 5 student in a graduating class of 11,000, and disability rights legend Judy Heumann personally congratulated him.

#SNS2026

Hari *can* talk, yet it is a work in process. He says his body feels like trying to drive a car with a loose steering wheel.

Access to higher education did not magic away his disability, but it gave him access and purpose. He also go to engage in participatory disability activism.

#SNS2026

Now at Stanford Neurodiversity Summit: @neuroscientist.bsky.social Hari Srinivasan's on The Architecture of Human Possibility: What Autism Reveals.

Autism matters beyond autism itself, in that connections become visible. Sensory load can shape communication, which shapes participation.

#SNS2026

At #sns2026, hearing about RESPECT and NICE healthcare training - seems amazing, if we can get doctors to do it.

I bet there is a profitable business model of providing neurodiversity-inclusive healthcare, if primary care doctors were to take this seriously.

Now: Lela Fluker talking about being an ND mentor. Body doubling, again, can be really helpful, even if virtual.

Getting all of the information about applying to college, trade school, other work should happen throughout high school, not all at once as onslaught as a high school junior.

#SNS2026

Now: Kristen Gillespie, talking about the importance of ND leadership, and how it can counter biases towards ND people (this bias has already been demonstrated by AI)

#SNS2026