Help Leila and Bella learn S2C!

This fundraiser is for Leila and Isabella Hume, my younger sisters, and on behalf of the rest of our family. Please read ahead with and open heart and open mind the message from our family <3

Bella and Leila are some of the sweetest and smartest kids i've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Leila enjoys anime, being a practical joker, mario cart, and taking walks to get coffee in the morning.

Bella loves to swim, dance, watch youtube videos and cuddle.

Both Leila and Bella are on the Autism Spectrum and have their own unique needs as most kids do, most of which are not covered by baseline education or insurance.

Bella is what most people consider non-speaking (i.e. non verbal) and has dealt with a great deal of frustration in communicating her needs to her family and friends. Leila is more verbal but faces similar issues in not being able to tell us why things might be upsetting or frustrating her.

We as a family have tried many therapies and alternative communications, some helping (like swim therapy) and others not as much (sign language/ABA).

In our recent attempts to help find a way for Bella to tell us her needs, we heard about a new up and coming methodology known as Spelling to Communicate .

This is the current definition and mission statement from the AALIVE grassroots group who is dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals who are Autistic. This group encourages individuals on the spectrum to live the life they want to live and gives them the tools to do so, such as the Spelling to Communicate method for Non-Speaking persons.

"Spelling to Communicate teaches individuals with motor challenges the purposeful motor skills necessary to point to letters to spell as an alternative means of communication (AAC). The goal is to achieve synchrony between the brain and body. Skilled and rigorously trained communication partners teach purposeful motor skills using a hierarchy of verbal and gestural prompts. As motor skills improve through consistent practice, students progress from pointing to letters on letterboards to spell to typing on a keyboard. Accordingly, communication moves from concrete to abstract as motor skills progress."

Learning about this program and how many people it has helped be able to communicate not only their basic needs, but also their internal desires and thoughts, has challenged our family to think differently about how we can move forward helping our girls find their voices.

Our goal is to have both Bella and Leila fully "opened" (ie fully able to communicate their free thoughts on a letterboard) using S2C. But since this is such a new program and not fully recognized by Psychiatry/Medicine yet, we are facing hurdles in our attempts to learn the program.

Our biggest hill to climb is this: finances.

While we are a middle class family, COVID severally affected our family's income and also led to one of my parents job of almost 20 years shutting down. On top of that, the S2C program is based primarily on the east coast and not currently covered by any sort of insurance.

This means all of the therapies and travel costs will have to come directly out of pocket.

We have decided to turn to our friends and family to ask for help. If any of you have ever met Bella or Leila, you know what bright bundles of sunshine they are. We want nothing more than the best life possible for them, and we truly believe this can help them communicate more than they ever have before.

We are asking for your help and support to raise 8,000 dollars to cover these various costs:

-Traveling to various locations to receive S2C lessons located predominantly in SoCal.

-Payment for intensives for one/both parents to learn the S2C method to be able to consistently implement it with the girls.

-Additional lodging for these intensive trips.

-payment for Weekly/Monthly private sessions with an experienced S2C teacher for the kids to learn from/parents to study under.

-Travel costs to these weekly/monthly sessions (most of which are located 70-80 miles away)

We plan on using this page to further update our story as we move forward on this exciting journey with Leila and Bella. We could not do it without all of you, as it truly does takes a village. Thank you for your support and love!