From Trauma Nurse to Spellers Pioneer: Dawnmarie Gaivin on S2C, Schools, & the Civil Rights Movement

Dawnmarie Gaivin didn't plan to become one of the most influential figures in the Spelling to Communicate movement. She planned to open a DIR Floortime school in San Diego. Then her son Evan became her first fluent speller — and everything changed. Dawnmarie joins David Kaufer on The Lighter Side of the Spectrum for a wide-ranging, deeply personal conversation about her journey from trauma and transplant nursing to co-founding the Spellers Method, co-authoring the Spellers Guidebook, and helping bring the Spellers documentary to life. This is also a conversation about what it actually takes to bring spelling and motor-based communication into schools — and why it's more complicated than most people think. What David and Dawnmarie cover: Dawnmarie's background in trauma nursing and how it shaped her approach to spelling Raising two nonspeaking autistic sons — and how that led her to Soma Mukhopadhyay and RPM Why she spent five years making Evan manipulate plastic tiles before she finally just put a letter board in front of him The warrior moms group — and how a circle of five mothers in the Bay Area were researching cutting-edge autism interventions before most professionals had heard of them The origin of Transcending Apraxia — and why she named her business that before most parents had ever heard the word The Spellers documentary — what really happened with Aiden's first open communication on camera, and how Jamie Handley's story sparked a movement Why presuming competence isn't just a philosophy — it's the practical foundation without which spelling cannot work The barriers to bringing S2C into public schools — mindset, training, ASHA pressure, and the difference between a communication partner and a provider The profound autism debate — why Dawnmarie sees it as both fact and fiction, and why she worries about ceilings Why the growing opposition to spelling and motor-based communication is actually a sign the movement is winning Plus the tip of the week: stop feathering the nest. And a light of the week that reframes the pushback as momentum. And yes - Dawnmarie was Stone's very first spelling practitioner. Three days, six sessions, three and a half years ago. This one is personal. Subscribe to Kaufer Insights for more conversations like this one. New episodes regularly. 📖 kauferinsights.substack.com ✊ comm4commrights.org 🎙️ The Lighter Side of the Spectrum — on YouTube and wherever you find podcasts Tags: #DawnmarieGaivin, #SpellersMethod, #spellingtocommunicate , S2C, #nonspeakingautism, #apraxia #autismadvocacy , #presumingcompetence #communicationrights, #KauferInsights