Mouth to Hand Learning Center opens in Mount Kisco

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. - Life-changing.

That’s how Judy Hope Chinitz, founder/owner of Mouth to Hand (M2H) Learning Center in Mount Kisco, would describe the moment she realized that there was a path to communication with her neuroatypical, nonspeaking son, Alex Gorman.

Diagnosed with autism at two and assumed to have the functional level of a preschooler at best, he was placed in one class after the other for the profoundly cognitively disabled.

At 21, Alex aged out of the school system and was enrolled in a daycare program.

After ditching a career on Wall Street to earn a master’s degree in special education, Chinitz had spent two-plus decades trying – and failing -- to teach him even one academic skill or to give him some means of expressing himself.

Although Alex seemed to be able to understand – to an extent – what others were saying to him and could follow simple directions, he couldn’t verbally communicate his own thoughts, ideas, and needs.

The few words he did use were “mostly unintelligible,” Chinitz said.

That didn’t mean that she didn’t see signs that something profound was going on behind the silence -- for instance, Alex’s wicked sense of humor, which is considered one of the highest forms of intelligence.

Not allowed to have sugar or gluten, the then-15-year-old had sussed out that his mom had hidden a package of forbidden Oreos on the kitchen cabinet’s top shelf.

When Chinitz later retrieved it for her younger son, Liam Gorman, she was shocked to find that all the cookies had been removed and then neatly lined up and returned to their package – sans their vanilla filling.

That took planning and an understanding that other people have different thoughts and feelings, both skills that Alex wasn’t supposed to possess.

Besides language deficits, people with autism can have difficulty responding to social cues and forming relationships.

Chinitz couldn’t help but wonder how Alex could be so aware of others and yet be considered profoundly cognitively impaired.

In 2019, a friend convinced her to meet with a speech pathologist in Washington, D.C., who was teaching nonspeakers to communicate by typing out letters on a keyboard or by pointing to them on a letterboard.

People with autism have dyspraxia, a brain disorder that impairs their motor, memory, judgment, and processing skills.

Fine motor skills involve the mouth and facial muscles. Precise movements of the tongue, lips, and jaw are crucial for forming different sounds. Delays or difficulties with motor skills can cause speech impediments or challenges.

That doesn’t mean, as one sign at M2H says, that nonspeaking equates to nonthinking.

Although skeptical that the new method would work, Chinitz gamely gave it a shot.

Within four months, Alex was able to “talk” in “normal, conversational English,” which “changed everything,” his mom recalled.

After leaving daycare, he was tested by doctor of psychology who found him to be in the “99th percentile of intelligence,” Chinitz said.

Alex eventually was able to bridge some of the gaps in his academic education – with the help of private tutors – by studying subjects such as math, chemistry and physics.

In 2022, after schools closed by the pandemic reopened, he went on to earn his high school equivalency diploma and is now attending a four-year college, where he majors in English literature.

The tall and handsome 30-something-year-old was the keynote speaker – via a pre-recorded electronic voice -- at the grand opening of H2H’s expansion in January.

The brand-new community space is located on South Moger Avenue in the heart of downtown Mount Kisco.

Among the large crowd at the ribbon-cutting were Mayor J. Michael Cindrich and his wife, Linda, longtime family friends of Chinitz’s very first student, Kaitlin Flaherty, now 25, as well as Village Trustee Angie Guerra and Deputy Mayor Theresa Flora.
(Linda taught Kaitlin how to swim.)

Alex’s proud little brother, Liam, helped man the merch table, selling T-shirts and copies of “Spellbound: The Voices of the Silent” and “Spellbound 2024: A Celebration of Nonspeakers,” both collections of poetry, stories, and more written by members of the M2H community.

The waiting area and main room were decked out with silver and blue balloons. Refreshments were served and tours given.

Calling himself M2H’s “original gangsta,” Alex recalled that his mother didn’t even know that he knew the alphabet when she first started working with him using the new method.

“You can’t imagine her shock the first time I could spell a sentence to talk to her. As she often describes it, it was like the Earth tilted on its axis. Her entire world view had changed,” he said.

“Wanting to share this great gift” Chinitz began hosting S2C (Spelling to Communication) classes in her basement in 2019.

Within a few months, she had seven students.

She later taught group lessons in classical music.

By 2021, her enterprise had grown so much that she had to move it into a professional space.

The pioneer students “all rapidly realized that we wanted to be good friends and we needed a place to go where we could receive the accommodations we needed to successfully integrate into our communities,” Alex said.

Fast forward to today.

M2H now serves “a large and growing community of verbal nonspeakers and their families and friends,” said Alex, adding that it provides a “wide variety” of services including individual typing sessions, sensory training, and community classes on subjects ranging from biology, math, history, and science to art, music appreciation, creative writing, and poetry.

There are also book clubs and dance classes.

(M2H offers an 8-week-long training program for anyone who wants to effectively communicate with nonspeakers. It’s available to family members, direct service providers, teachers, and teaching assistants.)

“We are perhaps the most inclusive organization possible as we welcome all into our classes,” Alex added.

Drawing applause from the attentive audience, he wrapped up by praising M2H as a community where “people are seen for who they are and not for what they can’t do.”

According to Chinitz, M2H currently draws folks not just from Westchester, but from all around the Northeast, including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Learners range in age from six to 30 plus, she said, adding: “We’d love to get older students as well.”

Family Pride 

Saying he and his big bro had always been very close despite the communication gap, Liam recalled that family members continuously strived to include Alex to “the best of their abilities” and to “the full extent of his capabilities.”

Alex’s learning to express himself through typing or pointing to letters  “was very life-changing for all of us,” he added.

Now they can talk about sports teams and other mutual interests.

Alex cheers for the Yankees “like all of us” … and the Jets too, “to some extent,” Liam said.

Like all siblings, they sometimes squabble over what to watch. Alex is a HUGE Star Trek fan; Liam isn’t that into sci fi.

Just being able to have a normal relationship with his brother fills Liam with awe and gratitude.

“I’m very proud of him, yeah. He’s been through a lot,” he told The Mt. Kisco – Bedford Times.

Describing his brother as “always happy” and “excited to be out,” Liam added that Alex is “definitely a leader in this community.”

Despite numerous frustrations and challenges, Alex’s spirits have never truly flagged.

“He enjoys life, especially now that he can communicate,” Liam said.

The Individual Inside 

Before turning things over to a panel of students at the Jan. 18 event, Chinitz reprised Alex’s remarks about inclusion.

“What we’re trying to do here is to bring a different perception of these individuals to the community. I know, they know, we know what they look like on the outside. Alex is standing here and his body is jumping up and down, his hands are flapping, and he’s making vocalizations,” she said, noting that things like that are beyond their control.

It’s like telling someone with Parkinson’s – a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement, balance, and other bodily functions – to stop shaking.

“They can’t; There’s something wrong with the motor system,” Chinitz explained.

Those who are unfamiliar with the population might “look at them as though they had green skin” and forget that there’s “a complete individual inside,” she said.

Discussing this once with a friend, Chinitz asked her: “Supposing I had green skin? I’m still me; I’m still Judy.”

“Then she told me I’d just described the entire story of ‘Wicked,’” said Chinitz with a laugh, admitting she’d never seen the play or the movie.

Hoping folks will feel comfortable enough to visit the center and/or participate in community programs, she said: “It doesn’t matter if you’re speaking or nonspeaking; we’re all equals here.”

The real message?

“Stop looking at the outside; it’s a form of bigotry. It’s judging somebody on what they look like and not who they are inside. When you get to know them, there’s just nothing like it on the planet,” she said.

Calling it “an honor” to work with M2H students, Chinitz is convinced that they are “morally, ethically, and intellectually superior human beings.”

Q&A

Taking questions from the audience were Alex and four other panelists: Ben Fischer, Jocelyn Cutie, Edison Lema, and Rocco Cambareri.

Asked by a potential student (through a parent) about their feelings about, and hopes for, H2M, Joclyn used a letterboard to type: “Hi, Michael. I’m still really new and this is still really hard.”

However, the bubbly young woman felt the new space was “terrific” and hoped that he would “one day join us.”

Ben assured Michael that he was “sure you will be able to be able to talk soon.”

Wearing a T-shirt that identified him as its official unofficial PR director, Edison wrote that he considered himself the center’s “most outgoing mouth-to-hander.”

He hoped that the event would help people to “see us differently so they won’t be put off by our bodies.”

Another audience member weighed in.

“So, destiny has found you as a leader of a revolution and these are the ambassadors of the first generation,” he said, asking Chinitz and students what their dreams and plans for M2H’s future were.

On “a mission,” Edison told him that he’s trying to “get Elon Musk to help us; he’s a genius.”

Chinitz’s dream is that technological advances and innovations will provide nonspeakers better ways to communicate than merely pointing to letters on a board.

“I’m hoping to be made completely redundant so I can retire to, you know, Miami,” she said, asking Edison if that’s allowed.

“You gotta be kidding me,” he responded to the audience’s delight.

“All joking aside, I think this a revolution that is happening now. I’m just one tiny little piece of it and I do believe that eventually the tsunami’s going to hit the shore. There are 31 million nonspeakers out there in the world. They’re going to be heard and things are going to change,” Chinitz predicted.

Referring to the publishing of “Spellbound,” both the book and the magazine, a family member of Rocco’s asked students what they thought their “next project” should be.

(M2H also has its own inhouse newsletter. Its Parent Association hosts annual galas, field trips, dinner dances, and lectures.)

Getting jobs topped most of their lists.

Edison had slightly higher aspirations.

“I want to go to college and then on a public relations tour of America so I can tell everyone how great nonspeakers are,” he said.

Good to Know 

Mouth to Hand Learning Center is located at 41 S. Moger Ave., Mount Kisco, N.Y.

Its hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

It can be contacted by calling (914) 241-2500 or emailing info@mouthtohandlearning.com.

For more information, visit M2H’s website at www.mouthtohandlearning.com.