“My son Stellan was diagnosed with ‘Level 3 Autism’, ‘severe receptive language delay’ and ‘cognitive delay’ at the age of 3. For the next two years I assumed he was unable to understand language and that his ‘behavioural problems’ were him choosing to be difficult. Just before Stellan turned five, I stumbled upon a group in Minneapolis (www.unrestrictedinterest.com) who were teaching poetry and song writing to individuals just like my son. After the initial shock wore off, I contacted the CEO and asked him how they were communicating with their nonspeaking students; this is how I discovered text-based communication and my son at seven years old now has full functional communication by pointing to letters on a letterboard. I have also witnessed the many life-changing benefits from incorporating regular movement therapy into the lives of nonspeaking individuals, therapy that is typically left out in lieu of focusing on unhelpful speech and behavioral therapy.”

—ANTIGONE OREOPOULOS
 

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Antigone’s credentials include a Masters of Science in Physiotherapy, PhD in Public Health (clinical epidemiology), and an MBA (technology commercialization). She has been trained in somatic movement therapy under the mentorship of Yuji Oka at Spiral Praxis in Toronto, Ontario. Antigone is also a certified Swim For Life Instructor and Swimabilities Instructor. In addition, she has trained to work with many forms of AAC including symbol based language apps, signed exact English, text-based communication such as the letterboard, keyboard, and using choice boards.

 

When she is not homeschooling her son or coaching him in sports or movement therapy, Antigone can be found writing poetry, doing yoga and practicing handstands, playing guitar, dancing to music in her kitchen, or passionately advocating for those without a voice.