RE-INSPIRE 2026: The Letterboard and Beyond

This will be our 4th annual Bay Area family conference! All RPM, S2C, and FC families and students are invited. This event is intended to be a safe space for students and their families. Please feel free to invite others as appropriate. We encourage families to attend together! Childcare is available. Our goal is for families to get re-inspired for the letterboard and beyond! 

Agenda:

9:00 AM | Registration and Check-in 

Check-in and meet new families! 

9:30 AM | Welcoming Remarks

TBD, student

9:40 AM | RPM and Speech 

Katie Anawalt, MS CCC-SLP, ATS, RPM Level-4 provider

Katie will describe how RPM can be used beyond the letterboard to work on speech skills, drawing on her apraxia treatment experience with DTTC (Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing) and PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) as a speech therapist.

10:10 AM | Using RPM to Teach Piano  

Asako Suzuki, RPM Level-4 provider, Music Therapist 

Asako will review how she applies RPM principles to move from the letterboard to the keyboard - in this case, a piano keyboard! 

10:40 AM | Break

Connect with new families, visit the Speller Gallery and vendor tables!

11:15 AM | Keynote Presentation: Elizabeth Bonker 

Elizabeth Bonker, Founder / Executive Director, Communication 4 All

Elizabeth, who herself is affected by autism and types to communicate, will present her advocacy work such as the Communication Bill of Rights to ensure communication is available to all nonspeakers. 

12:15 PM | Lunch & Art Gallery Walk

Connect with new families, visit the Speller Gallery, visit booths hosted by Speller Sellers, and connect with resource providers who support our community!

1:15 PM |  Mental Health: Maintain a Mindset of Peace and Calm When Things Get Tough

Annette Musso, RPM parent and Certified Option Process Mentor, and Suzanne Pruss, Certified Option Process Mentor and Teacher

In this presentation, Annette and Suzanne will present an attitudinal tool to create peace and calm during everyday challenges. You will walk away with a simple yet powerful way to maintain a mindset of peace and calm when things get tough.

1:45 PM | RPM Connections

TBD

Community connections activity! 

2:15 PM | College Prep Panel

Kavitha Raghunathan, RPM parent, moderator

Hear from a panel of nonspeakers and their parents about tips for preparing for college.  What does college prep really look like for nonspeakers?

2:45 PM | Break

Connect with new families, visit the Speller Gallery and vendor tables!

3:15 PM | Leisure Skills Panel

Yanling Wang, RPM parent, moderator

Hear from nonspeakers about how they take hiking, art, surfing, and more to the next level!

3:45 PM | Community Based Participatory Research

Rachel Kripke-Ludwig, student

Academic work leads to opportunities to improve our lives. We can be community partners in Community Based Participatory Research working alongside researchers to study the things that matter to us. This talk will explain how.

4:00 PM |  Beyond school: life and job skills panel

Sarika Agrawal, RPM parent, moderator

Got questions on what to do after high school or college is done? Get inspired by nonspeakers and their experiences!

4:30 PM | Celebration of Achievements

Join us to recognize recent significant accomplishments of spellers.

4:45 PM | Closing Thoughts 

TBD, student

5:00 PM |  Conference Ends

FAQs:

Should I bring my kid(s)?

Please do! This is a family conference, and all are welcome. Kids can listen to the presentations, or hang out in a side activity room with a caregiver, or go outside in the yard. The school site has two playground climbing areas, a sand box, fields, and basketball hoops. Limited childcare available for an additional fee upon request. Please register by April 26 at the latest if you want childcare. 

What if I need financial assistance? 

You can ask your Regional Center to reimburse you for the conference registration fees. We are also in the process of getting vendorized by the Regional Center, which should make it easier. We don’t want cost to be a barrier for families, so please also email us at info@beaconaac.org and we will support you.

What kind of food will be offered?

We will offer a simple lunch that works for most dietary preferences (e.g. vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, casein-free, keto-friendly, plus combinations of these!). Food will not be out all day, to minimize sensory overload and keep things simple. You are welcome to bring your own nut-free snacks but please do not leave them out. 

Can I come for part of the day?

Of course! But you'll want to stay longer! :)

Will the talks be recorded?

No, we are designing this to be an in-person conference so we can all see each other in real life! Come and bring your whole family - it’s a very kid-friendly space.

Can I invite others?

The intended audience for this conference is letterboard families and people in their trusted circle of support (such as caregivers, aides, or other professionals). We strive to support families with a genuine interest in exploring spelling for communication and also want to ensure a safe and non-judgmental space for all our families. 

What about after the conference?

We have follow-up events so we can keep the inspiration coming. Look for announcements!

Thank you to our sponsors! 

Consumer and family participation in this event is made possible, in part, through funding from the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities. Thank you also to our family donors!