For years, Stephanie McCulley had seen flashes of something in her son William that she could not always access.
William is autistic and nonspeaking. He had some speech, but it was not consistently reliable, and traditional approaches had not given his family a dependable way to understand everything he knew, thought or wanted to say. Like so many parents raising a child with significant communication challenges, Stephanie spent years searching—trying therapies, asking questions and wondering whether there might be another way to communicate more fully with her son.
Then, around William’s sixth birthday, Stephanie watched the documentary Spellers.
It changed the direction of their lives.
The film introduced her to spelled communication and to a different way of thinking about nonspeaking autism—one that separated a person’s ability to speak reliably from the ability to understand. Stephanie began learning about motor planning and apraxia and questioning assumptions that can be made when a person’s body cannot consistently demonstrate what they know.
Then one early session made everything real.
William was working with Dr. Dana Johnson at Spellers Tampa on a lesson about Benjamin Franklin and his famous kite experiment. The material was age-appropriate and thoughtful, but it also challenged the kinds of expectations people sometimes place on a child who cannot answer questions conventionally.
William spelled “Benjamin Franklin.”
Then, when asked what a candlemaker was, he answered, “chandler.”
Stephanie cried.
“For years we had glimpses into his intelligence, but it was so random and unreliable,” she recalls. “This solidified everything for us.”
That moment did more than change the way Stephanie understood her son. It planted the seed for WillPowered, a nonprofit created to help nonspeaking and minimally or unreliably speaking individuals access spelled communication—and to help families afford the practitioners, training and resources needed to begin.
At the center of WillPowered is a simple belief: a lack of reliable speech should never automatically be interpreted as a lack of understanding, personality, intelligence or potential.
For Stephanie, that belief is deeply personal.
She knows the frustration of loving a child whose thoughts may be far more complex than his body can reliably express. She knows what it feels like to sit in therapy waiting rooms beside other parents, recognize the exhaustion in their faces and wish there were something tangible she could do to help.
“Having a child or adult with profound nonspeaking autism is so unbelievably challenging,” Stephanie says.
Families can spend years seeking a reliable means of communication while also navigating therapy, education, medical care and the everyday realities of caregiving.
Spelled communication, as WillPowered describes it, is a form of augmentative and alternative communication in which an individual intentionally selects letters to spell words and, over time, works toward increasingly open-ended communication. For some participants, the process also focuses on developing the motor skills needed to select letters more reliably.
For WillPowered, the goal is not simply spelling a correct answer. It is creating more opportunities for a person to express preferences, questions, feelings, ideas and personality.
Access, however, can be expensive.
Families raising children with disabilities may already be paying for therapies, specialized education, medical care, equipment, transportation and childcare. Learning spelled communication can add practitioner sessions, intensives, travel, lodging, materials and training to that list.
That is the gap WillPowered was created to help close.
Most of the organization’s scholarships support an initial intensive, where both the speller and communication partner begin learning the method. WillPowered has also funded continued sessions for families who had already started but were struggling to afford the cost of continuing.
In less than two years as a nonprofit, WillPowered has awarded approximately $36,000 in scholarships to help families access certified practitioners and online courses.
For one mother, Kortnee, spelled communication changed not only the way her family connected with her child, but also the way they imagined his future. Another mother, Lacey, had already seen the potential of the approach for her seven-year-old, but the ongoing financial commitment had become difficult. WillPowered funded ten additional sessions so her child could continue building his communication skills.
Those are the families that stay with Stephanie.
“If I’m honest, as a parent sitting in therapy waiting rooms or seeing other families with a nonspeaker like William, I have felt helpless for years,” she says. “Being able to write a scholarship check to a family just like ours and being able to share this with families is so special.”
Because sometimes a check represents far more than financial assistance.
It means another session. Another opportunity. Another question a parent gets to ask. Another chance for a child to participate more fully in his or her own life.
It is hope made practical.
That mission reached the broader community on June 5, 2026, when WillPowered hosted its inaugural Charity Fashion Show at Lakewood Ranch Country Club.
The event was a natural fit for Stephanie, whose background in fashion and retail made a runway fundraiser feel more familiar than a traditional gala. But what happened that evening reached far beyond fashion.
The event raised approximately $50,000.
Just as importantly, it introduced more people to the experiences of nonspeaking individuals and their families.
Guests learned about the barriers these families face and why presuming competence matters. Local businesses, donors, sponsors, families and friends showed up for a young organization and for a mission that, for many, had initially been unfamiliar.
Stephanie even stepped onto the stage to lead the paddle raise herself—something she admits was intimidating.
But there was a reason she did it.
There is very little she would not do to help children and adults like William.
Since the event, the impact has continued in unexpected ways. People who attended have reached out after remembering a former college roommate with a nonspeaking child or after meeting a family on an airplane. Friends send Stephanie photos wearing WillPowered hats and merchandise in public, turning a simple logo into an opportunity to start a conversation.
Awareness becomes connection. Connection becomes action.
Now, WillPowered is looking toward what comes next.
Scholarships will remain at the heart of the organization, but the vision is growing: speller meet-ups and social groups, parent education and support, school partnerships, expanded training and opportunities to help more practitioners enter the field. The organization is also preparing for its third Giving Tuesday campaign beginning December 1 and its second annual WillPowered Charity Fashion Show on June 4, 2027, again at Lakewood Ranch Country Club.
What began with Stephanie wanting something more for her own son has become a way to create possibilities for many more families throughout Sarasota and Manatee counties and beyond.
The mission is deeply personal, but its message is universal: communication is about far more than spoken words.
It is about being known.
It is about being included in conversations about your own life.
It is about recognizing that the ability to communicate reliably does not define the depth of a person’s thoughts, personality or potential.
For Stephanie, the journey began with a six-year-old boy, a lesson about Benjamin Franklin and one answer that changed everything.
Today, every scholarship WillPowered funds carries that same possibility—the possibility that another family might experience a moment when assumptions fall away, expectations expand and a door once thought closed begins to open.
Because every person deserves the opportunity to be heard.
WillPowered helps nonspeaking and minimally or unreliably speaking individuals access spelled communication by funding scholarships for practitioners, training and resources. Since becoming a nonprofit, it has awarded approximately $36,000 in scholarships. The organization’s second annual Charity Fashion Show returns June 4, 2027, at Lakewood Ranch Country Club. Sponsors are welcome.