Our Story
Together, Maria and Natalia created The Bridge because in their combined experience supporting nonspeakers, they recognized another level of teaching which will enrich the lives of non-speakers building skills toward independence. By reaching clearer communication, better regulation and more holistic thriving, vast opportunities will open. We believe everyone has gifts to share with the world. While we acknowledge the wisdom in every communication method available and the trainings that already exists, we build on this wisdom to create a method that sees the inherent gifts of nonspeakers and uses those gifts to help them make progress towards fully expressing who they are in all areas of life.
We imagine a future in which all methods of communication are validated and respected, where nonspeakers can have meaningful life experiences in education, career, health, relationships, and the people who work with nonspeakers feel fulfilled by and aware of the power they have to make a difference.
Beyond the practical tools and techniques, Natalia and Maria bonded over how working with nonspeakers and doing spelling work has fundamentally changed their own lives and perspectives. It has shifted how they understand consciousness itself, how to think about the relationship between body and mind, and what it means to truly see and hear another person. Clients have been their greatest teachers, showing the dimensions of the human experience and capability that were never imagined.
This shared transformation led them to pursue scientific research together. They wanted to better understand how nonspeakers look at the world, how they see themselves in the world, and how they can best get to know all non-speakers have to say. Through their research and practice, they also become acutely aware of the gaps in this emerging field. They have seen where practitioners struggle, where families need more support, and where nonspeakers continue to be underserved or misunderstood.
The Bridge grew out of this partnership, these revelations, and their desire to address these struggles in a deeper way. They created a curriculum that would not only teach the practical skills of supporting spellers, but would also invite people into the deeper transformation that this work offers. The Bridge is our way of advocating for nonspeakers more comprehensively, filling the gaps identified, and passing on what the have taught them. It honors the nonspeakers who have taught us and builds a community of practitioners who approach this work with the reverence and integrity it deserves.
The Founders
Natalia Meehan
Natalia Meehan serves as the Director and Co-Founder of Flowering Futures, where she leads with a commitment to respectful, relationship-centered support for nonspeaking neurodivergent individuals. With a dual academic background in Environmental Science and Psychology from Tulane University, Natalia brings an interdisciplinary lens to her work, integrating neuroscience, somatic regulation, and holistic health. Over the past decade, she has supported autistic and nonspeaking individuals with apraxia, specializing in spelling-based communication methods.
Natalia’s dedication is deeply personal, shaped by her experience with her nonspeaking sister Nina. This lived experience continues to inform her advocacy, consulting, and program development for families and professionals. Natalia has worked with autistic individuals across the spectrum her whole life, supporting people with diverse sensory and communication profiles. Through these experiences, she’s gathered and refined skills to meet challenges and celebrate strengths. Clinically trained in herbalism, she incorporates body-based practices to support nervous system regulation, communication, and overall well-being, bridging conventional and alternative approaches in service to others. She believes in empowering individuals and families to become equipped with the tools to grow and trust their own expertise and instincts.
As a trained and trusted PICC (partner in communication and connection), Natalia works directly with nonspeaking individuals to support the purposeful motor skills necessary to access expressive communication. In addition to working with spellers, she collaborates closely with families, educators, and caregivers to create personalized lifestyle and wellness protocols advocating for nonspeakers to go from surviving to thriving with meaningful connection across all environments.
Maria Welch, M.S., CCC-SLP
Maria is a speech-language pathologist with graduate training from Vanderbilt University and over 30 years of experience working with both adults and children. She founded and continues to practice in the Welch Practice, Inc., outside of Chicago. She holds certifications in PROMPT and NMRI level 1, and her practice is built on a foundation of beliefs that have only grown stronger through decades of learning from her students and their families.
Maria believes everyone should have a voice and be heard, whether they speak or not. She knows that speaking ability or clarity of speech rarely matches thinking ability. She’s seen firsthand how invisible motor, memory, and organization challenges can mask what someone actually knows. And she believes that most, if not all people, have an innate desire to feel like they truly belong to a community. Maria believes therapy works best when it’s built around presuming competence, determining and providing the right supports, and engaging humor, creativity, and problem solving.
Over the years, Maria has worked with many students who have sensory and communication differences. Through those sessions, she’s gathered and refined skills to meet challenges and celebrate gifts. Her hope is to share all her experiences and training with clients and their support people so they can become their own best coaches.
Our Advisors
Nina
Neurodiverse people each have their unique gifts to share with the world and deserve intentional support from neurotypical people.
EVAN
When I had no way to get my thoughts out I was really frustrated. Now I am able to make my thoughts known. Getting to share skills a lot of others’ belief that I’m not smart..
RYAN
Now I really express speaking through spelling with my mom, my teachers at school and Jackson.
ASHLEY
Telling others my thoughts lifts my soul. The previous years were crappy hours of nonsense. Spelling opened up my existance. For The Bridge, I hope it will tie together how everyone spells at home, speech, school and in their community.
Sanjana
I was silent for years before I learned to spell. Now I am able to have conversations with others giving others insight to my inner thoughts. For the Bridge, some training around motor looping would help teachers help us. Young spellers need many sensory experiences.
DIMA
WYNSTON
I am an 18 year old non-speaking autistic who has been spelling to communicate for over four years. Learning to spell changed everything, it gave me access to a world I could once only observe, and a voice I had always carried inside. Before spelling, so much of me went unseen. Now I can share my thoughts, my humor, and my passions. I love acting. I enjoy tennis, basketball, bowling, chess, and poker. Taking walks on the beach is my happy place. But most of all, I cherish time with my friends and family, especially now that our conversations can go both ways. I’ve discovered I have a natural gift for foreign languages. I experience them on a different frequency, where words seem to dance in my mind. I plan to attend college and participate in groundbreaking research with a professor. But what matters most to me is advocacy. My community has been misunderstood and overlooked for way too long. This space allows me to speak, connect, and be fully known.
Alex
I’m an excited person, my life feels lighter with the prospect of contributing to things of value. I am passionate about answering questions to help advocate for spellers. In terms of spelling it has set me free possibilities and meaningful opportunities are only now just starting to feel real. How can I express succinctly the difference between a life of silence and misrepresentation vs. a life of truth and embrace.
SAWYER
Spelling as a form of communication has helped me share ideas that have made me more interested in educational experiences especially toward learning new things. I view really outstanding lessons as a blessing since spelling.