hopenstone
a family’s journey with autism
After seven years of infertility, Dave and Sandra Verhoeff welcomed their first-born son, Luke. Soon after, their family was thrown into a journey navigating epilepsy, autism, medications, therapies (speech, occupational, physio, hearing, horseback riding, vision, oxygen, massage / craniosacral / reiki, feldenkrais, neurotherapy), diet changes, and more. After 19 years of love, research, hope, prayers, and turning over many, many stones, they finally found the “gold stone” that unlocked Luke’s voice: spelling on a letterboard for communication. What happened next was the “Great Awakening” as Luke—misdiagnosed as being cognitively delayed—began to speak out with a profoundly poetic kindness, intelligence, and grace.
about the book
HOPE
The theme of this book is hope.
We always had hope.
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OPEN
The spelling for communication journey begins with lessons and questions. There are levels
that the Speller slowly achieves over time. It is an arduous process and I want to acknowledge all the Spellers who are working hard to free their voice. When a Speller is “fluent”—able to spell their own personal thoughts and opinions—it is referred to in the spelling community as being “open”. Hope to Open... Hopen.
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STONE
“No stone unturned”
“This expression alludes to an ancient Greek legend about a general who buried a large treasure in his tent when he was defeated in battle. Those seeking the treasure consulted the Oracle of Delphi, who advised them to move every stone.”1
You will find me referring to “no stone unturned” throughout this book. I am grateful to God that after turning over many stones, He led me to the gold stone... I turned it over, and found the treasure that is Luke’s voice.
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1 https://www.dictionary.com/browse/leave--no--stone--unturned
bios
Sandra Verhoeff, BA is a self-employed graphic designer / owner of Signet Studio. She lives in Kamloops, British Columbia Canada with her husband Dave and two sons, Luke and Joel. She enjoys a quiet lifestyle, balancing her time between her 3 passions: family, work, and time in nature. This book was written to create awareness of the spelling to communicate method; to advocate for more accurate diagnoses; and to incorporate this spelling method in schools for younger autistic students.
Luke Verhoeff is a 20-year-old autistic man who found his voice at 19 through a communication method of spelling one-letter-at-time on a letterboard. Luke is a self-proclaimed max chill hippie who wants to be an author one day. He is also passionate about advocating for other autistic non / minimal / unreliable speakers by sharing his story, struggles, writings, and accomplishments. The spelling community's mantra is “Know better. Do better.” Luke shares the Dalai Lama’s request: Be the change.