I’m Mandeep and I communicate through a keyboard. This is because I am non speaking. My whole life has changed for the better because I can do this. Sharing thoughts and my high levels of intelligence has been a life saver. It really has challenged our nation wide perceptions about this misunderstood group. Habitual stims affect my reality. I am struggling with them continuously but airing my thoughts gives me temporary relief. Learning about new topics has helped stimulate my brain and compete with my OCDs. It truly is as important as breathing.
My name is Leila and I am non speaking autistic. I struggle a lot making my body do what my brain tells it to do. People always underestimate my ability because of my awkward actions and noises. Now that I am easing my words onto a screen by typing, I feel like I have been freed after years of torture from my prison. I am honoured to be chosen to be a panel member.
Hey I’m Jude. Looking at me you would never see my intelligence. Knowing that spelling is an intervention, that finally allowed my intelligence to express itself, is crucial. Spelling letters sounds simple but its lots of practice to spell the intelligent language in your mind. Please see everyone as capable and provide them with the chance to spell.
Listen to my thoughts, listen to my messages. See my brain, complicated and beautiful.
My name is Ellen, I live with my mum, dad and twin brother Christopher.
I have been a speller for many years.
Using the letter board allows me to share my innermost thoughts and ideas. Finding this method has changed my life.
I enjoy swimming, horse riding, walking and holidays abroad.
Speak to your child in an age appropriate way no matter how they present. They are covered by a shroud that is hiding their potential.
I would like parents to see how difficult it was for me to use the letter board when I couldn’t control my body. It would prove how much is possible when things look hopeless. Never give up!
My son, Christopher, is the reason Unlocking Voices exists. He was passionate about helping others like him, he had autism, was non-speaking, huge sensory issues, dyspraxia and epilepsy. He was classed by the so-called experts as ‘low functioning’. He tragically passed away in February 2023, and I am determined to carry out his wishes through Unlocking Voices.
I had been teaching Chris using the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) since 2011, which was when we were first able to see Soma Mukhopadhyay for a few sessions in the UK. This was a life-changing experience – straight away Soma started teaching Chris age-appropriate educational topics – the first session included an analysis of a poem!
I knew there would be many other autistic people like Chris who could be helped. I felt it was my ‘duty’ to share this and wanted to find a way to empower more parents to learn and use RPM with their children. I shared many video clips on You Tube and had parents contact me from all over the world. I was previously a Senior Training Manager at Lloyds TSB, so decided to use my skills to help others to learn this approach. Along with Chris’s team I began to work with other children and we arranged our first UK workshop with Soma in 2014. I also completed Soma’s formal practitioner training 2014- attending her course in the USA. I set up and moderate two international Facebook learning parent groups, working very closely with Soma to ensure that accurate and up-to-date information is provided to parents.
In 2014 the UK not-for-profit Community Interest Company ‘Unlocking Voices – UK CIC’ was set up with Christopher’s team as directors. The company has hosted many Soma workshops, recently held a UK conference with speakers from Cambridge University and Alexandra Hopwood – the most senior practitioner in the UK. Along with Alex, I have created videos and given presentations. I was honoured to be a speaker at the International RPM conference in 2017 in Austin, Texas and to be asked by Soma to assist her in organising many of her books prior to publication.
Hello I’m Olivia, mum to Jude age 12. I first discovered Unlocking Voices by chance in 2024 when we were in America with Jude for an intensive with a Functional Neurologist to work on Jude’s sensory integration and neuro development. As part of the programme we were introduced to an RPM practitioner who is also the mother of a Speller. We were recommended when back in the UK to contact Unlocking Voices. They explained all the options and recommended TEfA if I wanted to see a practitioner. We then embarked on an enrollment programme with TEFA and then promptly after, started having intensives with Alex Hopwood.
It was clear that Jude had many sensory challenges but that he was very determined to learn and be able to use a letterboard. After 4 months of daily practice and 3 intensives with Alex, Jude became an open speller. What followed next was the most profound learning journey of our lives.
We discovered so much about Jude and what he is able to achieve. It has been the greatest gift for all of us and something we as a family feel so passionate about. I am driven to help as many non-speakers as possible to find Spelling as a form of communication, and to bring Spellers and their families together as a supportive community where Spellers can learn and flourish and families can connect and grow together.
This prompted me with the help of Unlocking Voices and TEFA to start Speller Socials, an initiative to unite Spellers and their families in supportive environments. Our first event was a real success and we are planning more for the future around the UK. As part of our initiative to spread the word, we are soon launching a podcast for the Spelling community to promote best practice and highlight the importance of non-speakers having Spelling accepted as a essential form of communication. The podcast is called ‘Spelling It Out’ and we welcome ideas and input from Spellers and the wider community.
I heard Sue Finnes talk at an autism conference in 2016 about her experience with her son and thought it sounded too good to be true. A year later and my world was transformed through RPM with my 6 year old son, Sam. Unlocking Voices played a major part in supporting Sam and I through our learning journey with free videos, the online Facebook community as well as workshops and conferences.
In 2019 I became a director of Unlocking Voices with the aim of raising funds to grow and expand the organisation and enable more students to use this method. A major part of our fundraising has enabled Unlocking Voices to train new practitioners and gift resources and sessions to new families wishing to unlock their child’s voice.
My youngest two sons are autistic and unreliable speakers, and I’ve been involved with Unlocking Voices for over 10 years.
I was introduced to RPM by Sue when my boys were very young and attended the first Unlocking Voices workshop, where I saw first-hand the incredible progress students made with Soma. Watching my sons begin to communicate by pointing to a letterboard was life-changing and confirmed what I had always believed — that nonspeaking individuals are intelligent, regardless of how they may appear.
My own son is now on his way to independent typing and accessing learning at an age-appropriate level, which continues to fuel my passion for best practice and high expectations.
Alongside my role as a director, I work in neurofeedback and functional neurology, supporting regulation and brain development. I’m passionate about combining approaches to help every speller reach their full potential.
I attended Chris’s sessions with Soma Mukhopadhyay (the creator of RPM) back in 2012 and was able to also observe her working with other students. I see Chris four times a week and have been presenting RPM educational sessions with him on those days in addition to working on his skills. I was so inspired with what Chris had achieved that I was happy to get involved with the set-up of Unlocking Voices and in 2013 helped by conducting voluntary sessions with new families.
I now help with the organisation/logistics of the annual Soma workshops which have been taking place since 2014 and am happy to provide advice to parents who attend.
I am delighted to be part of Unlocking Voices, initially as one of the founding directors and now as a special advisor, as I feel so passionately about empowering families to learn this pioneering method. There are thousands of non-speaking autistic children and adults in the UK who have been totally underestimated intellectually…we support families to learn how they can unlock their child’s true potential for learning and self-expression.
My journey with autism started in 2008 when I joined Chris Finnes’ (Sue’s son) home programme which focused on developing his social skills. A typical session involved singing him nursery rhymes to encourage him to make sounds, Teletubby play and a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine! This sparked a passion for working with autistic people and I started to volunteer with more families and a respite charity. Each person I have had the privilege to support over the years has taught me so much and
has touched my heart.
In 2011 I was able to see Soma work with Chris and other autistic people (this included people who were non-speaking, minimally speaking or what I’d later understand to be ‘unreliably’ speaking). Seeing Soma reach each student, despite their challenges, shifted my perception of what autism was and how we help autistic people learn. It was a powerful experience to see such a range of students engaging in age-appropriate learning and spelling out articulate thoughts and opinions on the letterboard.
Although we couldn’t immediately replicate Soma’s skill level, we did improve over time and formally set up Unlocking Voices – Using RPM C.I.C to help other families learn (I still see many of these students on a weekly basis and it is incredible to see how far they have come!).
During this time, I was also able to complete an education degree and gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). In 2014, following my initial RPM training, I was invited by Soma to take the highest level RPM training at her clinic in Texas, US. Only selected individuals are eligible for this 3 month intern intensive training program. I have worked as an RPM teacher (level 4). I have adapted Soma’s work to fit UK and Irish requirements and it is called Connect through Spelling. I have trained people in the UK how to use this method and they now have successful practices. As a Director, I bring my day-to-day experiences working as a teacher (with students and their families) to help identify how we can better support families. One of my current focuses is building parents and professional courses so more people can access Connect through Spelling.
Soma lived in India until 2001, home schooling her autistic son Tito, teaching him how to spell on a typewriter (later a computer) and hand write independently, since speech – communication was not easy for Tito. Soma and Tito were featured in a BBC Documentary “Tito’s Story”. By then Tito aged 11 had already hand-written a book “Beyond the Silence” which was published by the National Autistic Society (UK).
Tito and Soma were invited to the USA by an autism organisation after they featured on the BBC documentary, the parent members of the organisation asked Soma to try her teaching method on their children.
The success of her teaching technique on 7 non-speaking and 2 selectively speaking students with autism earned her a fellowship to implement her technique with other students in Los Angeles. Her work was featured in the ‘60 Minutes’ programme and Soma’s technique began to be called the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM).
The popularity of RPM began to grow and HALO offered Soma a full time work environment. Soma continues to offer her services by offering camps, workshops and training for teachers and parents.
Soma and Tito are featured in the BBC documentary – ‘Tito’s Story’, 60 Minutes, CNN, the HBO documentary -‘A Mother’s Courage’, the National Geographic Magazine, the Scientific American, People Magazine, the New York Times and the Austin American Statesman.
Official Soma RPM© Website
Alex Hopwood. Transforming Education for Autism
Facebook parent support private group
Variety of workshops for parents
An accredited list of RPM practitioners in the UK
Connect you with Parent Ambassadors and new families
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