Nonspeaking and minimally speaking students with autism are underserved by current special education models. Students who have difficulty forming words also tend to have difficulty with fine motor tasks like writing or typing, which makes it very difficult for them to express what they know, what they understand, what they think, and what they feel. Unfortunately, nonspeaking is often falsely equated with nonthinking, and that is reflected in what these students are taught in schools. 

More often than not, students who struggle to communicate what they know are made to perform the same overly simplistic tasks over and over and over again. Their skills and abilities have been grossly underestimated, and their educations have suffered because of it. What these students need is help regulating their bodies, help strengthening fine motor skills, and help outwardly expressing what is inside their minds.

And there is so much inside their minds! When we believe in them, when we have high expectations of them, nonspeakers show us what they are capable of. These individuals have managed to learn skills no teacher ever taught them. Many seem to have taught themselves to read, to spell, to multiply, to factor. The truth is we do not know everything our nonspeaking students can do because we haven't asked the right questions, we haven't provided the right setting, we haven't offered the right opportunities.

Radical Learning aims to radically change the special education model. As a first step in this process, Radical Learning will open a communication-focused microschool in Central Ohio designed specifically for nonspeaking, minimally speaking, and unreliably speaking students with autism. Our educators will presume competence, build essential regulation and fine motor skills, collaborate with students on their learning, and recognize the gifts this unique population has to share. What we learn from this subset of the autism community will be instrumental in effecting change. 

Radical Learning is about radical acceptance, radical listening, and radical belief in a reciprocal educational process—one that values teachings from both facilitators and students. Not only will the school itself transform students' lives, but the learning we gain through this project will have the power to improve public and private special education across the country.