Letters open a voice the world has not yet heard.
SPELL is a Bay Area non-profit working to make every non-speaking, minimally-speaking, and unreliably-speaking child and adult a speller, so they can claim the basic human right of communication.
Our mission
Communication is a basic human right
SPELL exists to ensure every non-speaking, minimally-speaking, and unreliably-speaking child and adult has the right to communicate. Through spelling-based and letterboard methods, we help non-speaking, minimally speaking, and unreliably speaking individuals share what they have always carried inside, and we build a Bay Area community of practitioners, families, and spellers around that shared belief.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.
Bay Area non-profit
A Bay Area home for spellers and the people who walk beside them
SPELL — Supporting People with Expressive Language through Letters — serves non-speaking, minimally-speaking, and unreliably-speaking children and adults whose voices have been waiting on the other side of a letterboard. Communication is treated as a basic human right, and the organization exists so every speller can reach for it.
The first hub is the Typing Finger Academy in Walnut Creek, California — a generously donated space where spelling practitioners and spellers come together to learn, connect, and be heard. It is intended to be the first of many centers across the Bay Area.
SPELL is a non-profit organization. Every donation goes directly to expanding access to letterboard-based communication for the people and families who need it most.
Support our work
What We Do
A welcoming home for spellers, families, and practitioners
Typing Finger Academy
The Typing Finger Academy is our donated home in Walnut Creek, where spelling practitioners and spellers meet, train, and learn together. It is a quiet, judgement-free space designed for the patient work of letterboard communication.
Visit the AcademyCommunication as a human right
We support non-speaking, minimally-speaking, and unreliably-speaking children and adults in finding a reliable path to expression through letterboard and spelling-based methods. Our work centers the speller, with practitioners and families learning to walk beside them.
Learn how spelling worksBay Area community network
The Academy is the start. Our goal is a Bay Area network of welcoming centers where spellers can gather, be heard, and be celebrated, with their families and practitioners alongside them.
Join the community
Voices from the community
Words from our spellers
“Find this a much needed place of refuge for those who need it most. Not a place of judgement or undeserved scrutiny. Only love.”
“Gathering place of glorious opportunity. That is my highest hope for pure energy and positivity to create the balance we all deserve.”
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Support SPELL
Give a voice to those still waiting to be heard
Please support us in our fight to provide resources for the voiceless and provide them with their right to an education and communication.
Every gift goes directly toward keeping the Typing Finger Academy open, training spelling practitioners, and growing the Bay Area community of spellers.
Donations are processed securely through GoDaddy Payments.
Get In Touch
Use the form to ask about the Typing Finger Academy, donations, or how to support a speller in your life. For other inquiries, use the contact details on the left.
Location
1816 San Miguel Dr. Walnut Creek, CA 94596 United States
