Episode 265 — THIS Is Preventing More SPEECH
Guest: Dr. Robert Melillo • Date: July 22, 2025
Episode Overview
If your child struggles with speech—or isn’t speaking at all—this episode is essential listening. Dr. Robert Melillo reveals a game-changing insight: body awareness and interoception may be the key to unlocking verbal communication.
About Dr. Robert Melillo
Dr. Robert Melillo is one of the world’s leading experts in developmental neurological conditions such as ADHD, autism, OCD, tics, dyslexia, anxiety, and depression. With over 30 years of experience as a clinician, professor, brain researcher, and bestselling author, he has helped thousands of patients of all ages. Dr. Melillo holds multiple graduate and postgraduate degrees and certifications, including a PhD in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. He is the creator of The Melillo Method®, a multimodal approach that targets brain, behavior, and immune health. He operates The Melillo Center for Developing Minds in Long Island and Manhattan, directs the National Institute for Brain and Rehabilitation Sciences, and hosts The Melillo Method Podcast: Everything Brain. His bestselling book Disconnected Kids (now in its 3rd edition) has been translated into 16 languages and remains one of the most impactful resources for parents navigating neurological challenges.
Dr. Melillo’s Book: Disconnected Kids (3rd Edition)
Website: DrRobertMelillo.com
Instagram: @drrobertmelillo
You’ll Discover
The Overlooked Question That Guided Dr. Melillo’s Research (6:16)
What Interoception Is and Why It Matters For Speech (11:02)
Why Many Kids Don’t Feel Their Tongue, Face, or Even Body (15:20)
The Shocking Revelation From a Child Who’d Never Heard His Own Voice (22:03)
How Retained Primitive Reflexes Block Brain Development (28:11)
The Connection Between a Leaky Gut and Immature Brainstem (32:40)
Why Your Child IS Taking It All In, Even If They Seem Disconnected (38:00)
Referenced in This Episode
Full Transcript
Len Arcuri (00:02.158)
Hello and welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets. If you want to help your child speak more clearly or begin speaking at all, this episode is a must listen. I'm joined once again by Dr. Robert Melillo, a world renowned expert in developmental functional neurology. He's the creator of the Melillo method and supports parents and kids directly through his two New York locations in Long Island and Manhattan. And I, from what I just heard more coming soon.
This is Dr. Malillo's third appearance on the show. In episode 133, we explored why the focus must be on correcting imbalances first. And in episode 170, we went deeper into horizontal and vertical brain integration. And today we uncover one of the most common and overlooked reasons why speech doesn't emerge or improve the way it should.
Dr. Malillo's passion and drive to serve these kids is unmatched. He's constantly conducting research to push the boundaries of what's possible. And last year, he released the third edition of his landmark book, Disconnected Kids. This conversation will challenge your assumptions and give you clarity on what might be standing in your child's way. The secret this week is, this is preventing more speech. Welcome, Dr. Malillo.
Dr Robert Melillo (01:29.676)
Thank you, Len. Thanks for having me on. Of course, it's always an honor to be here with you.
Len Arcuri (01:34.67)
Great, well, I'm always excited for our conversations. The genesis of this was when my son, Ryan, and were in your office in Long Island. And as we were talking, you had a real sparkle in your eye in terms of, as you were talking about what you were learning, what you were discovering, particularly with respect to speech. And I know as a parent, there's lots of things that you might want for your child. But one uniform.
you know, strong desire that I know all parents have is for their child to be able to communicate and to speak. And even though there's phenomenal options now, you know, with things like RPM spellers that help kids communicate in powerful ways that don't involve verbal speech, obviously, parents still might want that. And if they really want to understand what might be in the way, I think you've probably more than anyone I know.
have devoted a lot of mental energy into what's really behind this core issue in so many kids on the spectrum. So I'll hand it off to you to share whatever you feel are the real meaningful ah-has that you've uncovered over the last few years.
Dr Robert Melillo (02:48.042)
Sure. Well, you know, first of all, Len, it's not just the parents that want it. You know, with we've been using RPM and spelling for many years here. But one of the reasons why I've come to this understanding is because they've told me and they also over and over say or spell, please help me speak. So it's not just the parent that wants it. And that's a question. A lot of people out there will be like, well,
Maybe you should just leave them alone or maybe they don't want to do that. I can tell you that universally every kid that spells that doesn't speak. One of the first things they start saying is, you know, stop, please help me to speak or please. Can you stop this stimming or this OCD? And so again, it really comes down to understanding what's the neuroscience under that. You know, I have a PhD in developmental cognitive neuroscience and I've spent my career.
And this question, especially with kids on the autism spectrum, because there's many other reasons why someone may not speak or a delayed. But in particular, with kids with autism, it's always been a paradox for me because, you know, understanding the brain, the brain development and looking at these left and right hemisphere skills, we know that many of these kids, if not all of them, have savant level left brain skills.
and that their left brain is overactive in many cases, even in the language networks. Like when you look at echolalia or scripting, it's overactivity of the verbal language networks on the left side. So if they're overactive, why wouldn't they be able to speak? Right? And many kids on the spectrum, like the, you know, the verbal end of it, like with Asperger's or the, are extremely articulate and even hyperverbal.
So how with the same problem, essentially, do you get such a wide range of kids that can be hyperverbal and other kids that can't speak? That has been part of the mystery for me. What is the root cause? What is the underlying issue? And that's where a lot of my work is gone. And with the spellers, any parent out there that's, you know, if you work with a speller in any way, I will guarantee you that very few people ask this question.
Dr Robert Melillo (05:13.336)
First question I ask or I have my people ask is, why can't you speak? Right? No one asked them that. And if you ask them, they'll tell you. And they have actually guided a lot of my research and confirmed a lot of my research because these are brilliant kids. Their level of understanding of things is just beyond what we can understand sometimes. And that's the thing. That's why many people don't believe this is possible.
They don't believe they actually can spell. They believe that, and because you have to touch them, people don't understand why do you need to do that? Right? Or you're guiding them, you're making them. But if you really understand the nature of what's happening in their brain, you will understand why touching them is absolutely necessary to allow that. And that it's not guiding them. You're actually helping them to feel their arm.
and they normally don't feel it, which is actually speaking to the root cause of why they don't speak. So, you know, that's kind of where I'm going with this and it's been, you know, very exciting and we've published one paper on it, but we plan on doing a lot more.
Len Arcuri (06:24.194)
Great. Well, no, that's very revealing. And yeah, you touched on a number of key concepts, with the first one being these kids or adults want to communicate. Now, that's very different than perhaps, let's say, stimming behavior that a person or a child might be doing, that from their standpoint, it's not a problem. From the parent's standpoint, it's a problem. From society's standpoint, it's a problem. But in this case, what you're saying is as these kids are able to communicate,
and to share their desire that you're seeing time and time again, they want to communicate. And it makes sense, right? Everyone wants to be heard and to be able to communicate effectively. So I think that's a key, key aha in my mind. And with the effectiveness of this modality, I don't know why there's continually skeptics who feel like it's not real, but I mean, how many more kids need to communicate, you
what's happening before the skeptics start believing. think some people just will never believe it. And as you're saying, the big objection is with the spellers that maybe they're being guided and the person who's working with them is actually the one who's spelling, but that's ridiculous. That couldn't be further from the truth. so wonderful that the people that you're working with or that you're hearing, you're hearing directly from that child or from that person. And because now they're able to communicate,
they're revealing so much about what might be going on. And I know that's a big part of what's informed your understanding.
Dr Robert Melillo (07:58.252)
In the bottom line, think anybody that does spelling, in our case, you know, our goal is always to get them to speak on their own. And most of the time we do. Other people don't understand that because they don't understand the nature of the problem. So they don't think that's possible because they don't understand the neuroscience, but we do. But also we know that the ultimate goal of anybody even with spelling is to get them to do it on their own without being touched. And most of them do.
And many of them have gone on to write books about it, right? And they tell us that was always me, right? Even though someone was touching me, it was always me. We have this one kid, Wesley, I put it on my Instagram. We did a great interview with him. He was a 12 year old from Tennessee and his parents are amazing. And they didn't think he knew one word before he started working with us. And then
you know, right from the first spelling session. mean, he was unbelievable. It just poured out of him 12 years. And this was a kid they didn't think knew one letter. And he just came out with so much information and you know, he's so funny. So I did an interview with him and his parents and his father was spelling with him. And I said, you know, Wesley, a lot of people out there don't believe it's you.
that this is your dad spelling for you and this isn't these aren't your words coming out now. What do you have to say for them? And he said he typed it's definitely me. My dad isn't this smart.
Len Arcuri (09:33.666)
Hahaha
Dr Robert Melillo (09:36.108)
Meaning he was answering these questions like that, you know, about all these things in neuroscience. And he was like, my dad isn't smart enough to say these things, right? It's just so funny. only only he would say that, right? His father's not going to say that. So so what's the bottom line? The bottom line is when we look at what's
we look at, you know, why can't they speak? And it starts with understanding something called interoception. Interoception is the first sense that a child needs to have when they're born. So again, when we look about how the brain develops, and we went through in this in previous episodes, but the right brain takes the lead in development for the first three years, and then the left brain comes on for the next three years. And that, at the end of six years, it creates the asymmetry
the foundation of the right and left brain, is one of the greatest advantages of the human brain, but it needs to be balanced and integrated. One side can't gain too much of an advantage. Otherwise it creates this imbalance, which blocks the communication of networks causing overactivity of certain areas and underactivity in both those produce symptoms. So what we see is that in the right brain,
Initially, a baby needs to be able to sense and be able to tell the parent if they're in pain, if they're hungry, if they're thirsty, if they're hot, if they're cold, if they need to be changed, if they're tired, and smell and taste need to be online right off the bat. All of this revolves around something called interoception. And it takes place and is perceived in an area in the right side of the brain called the right insula.
And the right insula is hugely important. In that area around the age of two and another area called the anterior cingulate is where a child becomes self-aware. That's around the time when a child should recognize themselves in a mirror, recognize themselves in a picture and be able to kind of know their own body parts. That's when they get what we call body ownership.
Dr Robert Melillo (11:53.418)
And then they have agency where now they can control their body movements. But to be able to do that, they have to fully feel their whole body. Interoception is just really feeling the internal part. And that's important also for feeling emotions. Ultimately, the right insula is where all people feel empathy. And it's been shown that people that
score the highest on scores of empathy also have the biggest right insula. And so there's a lot of things that go with that, right? And that is also connection with other people, understanding what other people are thinking, nonverbal communication, which is the foundation of communication. But again, the next step is understanding why don't they actually speak?
because the left brain we know is responsible for verbal speech. So what we know is that most of the kids that are non-speakers, their right brain is being suppressed. Their left brain comes online too early. It shuts down that right brain and it shuts down that connection to their body. It shuts down interoception. So many of them have a very high pain threshold. They may not feel hunger or thirst at the same level or they don't feel full.
They over drink, they overeat or they under eat. They may not feel temperature changes or regulation. They may not know when they have to go to the bathroom. So they may be constipated or they may not be able to be toilet trained effectively. Um, and they don't have good sense of smell or taste. I just work with a family and just talk to them and they started, we gave them exercises for smell like we did with the ride. Right. And they said they were shocked. They had no idea.
that their child couldn't smell normally until they started doing this. And they were shocked that they had never known that, but no one ever tested. But the importance of smell, the highest social part of our brain, the orbital frontal cortex, is built on smell networks. Other animals, how do they socialize? By smell, right? So that is actually another piece that's in the insula.
Dr Robert Melillo (14:18.292)
So when we look at that, when we look at why they don't speak in that same area, as we develop interoception, as a child is moving through the world, as they're activating their spinal muscles on either side, their inner ear and their eye muscles, they are going through the world and engaging their senses and giving feedback that is helping them to triangulate where they are in space.
and where their body is and building a 3D map of their body in their brain. And as they move, what we see is we have a lot of kids. We can spin them a hundred times and they don't get dizzy. Why? There's not a problem with the vestibular input. This input is coming into the brainstem and it's getting stuck there and the primary center for vestibular and
and move an input from the eyes and the body is in the right parietal insula, the border of that. That's where proprioception comes from. And it's getting stuck in the brainstem because the brainstem is still immature because they have retained primitive reflexes. These retained primitive reflexes come from that lower brainstem. And if they don't go away at one, they hold back that.
and they lead to this imbalance. And then that combined with the left brain being dominant and suppressing the right brain is disconnecting this child from their body. So they're not filled in the body, but it's preventing them so that this information should come into what's called the vestibular nuclei go down to their postural muscles to build core stability and strength and balance up to the eyes.
to allow for good eye tracking and balance and up to the brain in the brain and the right side to build two different maps. We build one map in the parietal lobe that is a century map. It's called a humunculus. You can look it up. It's a distorted 3D map in the brain. And it literally, we build this map and it
Dr Robert Melillo (16:44.15)
We become a whole person. The right brain builds a whole map of where our body is in our brain. So we need to know where our body is. We need to feel our body. We need to know, close our eyes. This is my nose. This is my ears. We need to know, feel our body so we don't fall down. We're not clumsy and awkward. Once we build a sentry map in our right brain of where our body is,
Then in our frontal lobe, we build a motor map of how to move those body parts voluntarily under our own power. And so therefore we don't have stereotypical movement like stims or ticks anymore. Okay, so we can move it. Now, if you look at the map, it's distorted because one third of the whole map
is the face, the mouth, the tongue and the lips. It's hugely representative on both sides, on both the sentry and the motor. And that's for verbal and nonverbal communication. We have to feel our face, our tongue, our mouth to be able to be able to move those things in the way we want and feel it and also see that on other people.
And kids that spell, when I ask them why you can't speak, they tell us, I don't feel my body. I don't feel my tongue in my mouth. I don't feel. We had one kid that said, I don't see my body in my brain. And so I can't move it. So many people have heard that it's this it's a praxia or this praxia, the inability motorically.
to control movement. And that's true, but that's not the primary problem. The primary problem is they don't feel their body. They can move. They can't move it because they don't feel it. This is why they need to be touched to spell because the second largest part of the whole map together, they both make up two thirds of the whole body map.
Dr Robert Melillo (19:06.87)
the face and the tongue in the mouth and the arm in the hand and the finger for pointing. So the only, the two ways they would communicate is speech. They can't do it because they don't feel it and they can't control those muscles or pointing or typing or writing. They can't do it because they literally don't know where their arm is. They tell us.
If I'm not looking at my hand and my leg, don't know where they are. I don't know where my body is. I didn't even know I had a body when I was small. And so they, but if you touch them on the arm or the hand, now their brain sees it on that map and now they can move it on their own. And now all the words that are there, see that's the whole thing. All the words are there.
And most parents are told that your child doesn't have the words, they don't know anything, they're intellectually impaired. You know, this kid Wesley is a great question. If a child never spoke a word and this kid Wesley never spoke a word his whole life. All of us speak to ourselves in our brain, right? We talk to ourselves in our own voice. What would you do if you never spoke?
Well, Wesley answered that he said, I don't know what my own voice sounds like, but I do talk to myself in my brain, but I use somebody else's voice. And then when we were working with him, he said, you know, I heard a noise today in my head. I think it's my own voice. And then the next day he said, I just heard my own voice for the first time. It's so cool. You have to tell Dr. Malilo.
Len Arcuri (21:01.134)
Thank
Dr Robert Melillo (21:01.314)
But now if he's talking to himself, we use the exact same networks to speak. So all the words are there and he can speak. So why doesn't he? It's because he doesn't feel it. He doesn't, he can't control it. And that's exactly what they tell us if you ask them. And so the answer is we need to get rid of the reflexes.
We need to unclog that brain stem. We need to let all of the body information in. We need to stimulate the right brain to build these maps. And we need to suppress the left brain, which is preventing those maps from coming online. And then we can work with allowing them to speak. But in the interim, if we work with spelling, we're building those speech networks and we're actually
improving their motivation and their desire. But the speech that everybody wants is not just words, not just speaking to needs, or not just echolalia or scripting. We want real conversation. And real conversation is driven by the right brain, the desire to communicate, to connect with others, to attach, the desire to express our emotions for emotional regulation.
That's all right brain driven. And even kids that can speak on the spectrum, many of them don't have real conversations because of that. So this is the root cause, this is the answer. And unless you understand that, your chance of getting them to speak and communicate better is pretty low.
Len Arcuri (22:49.592)
Great, well, thank you for that comprehensive overview. A lot of questions that were in my mind you touched on because that's the big question. this, if what you're saying is true in terms of, hey, a root cause focus for your child, if you're trying on earth, what's at the root? The idea that my child can't feel his body, right? There's a disconnect isn't on most people's radar, right? But if you seize on that as,
perhaps the core root cause to focus on before you focus on others, like you were saying with apraxia, if you're focusing on that root cause, which even for my son now is still relevant, where he speaks, he talks more than anyone I know, how much meaningful conversation does he have, right? That's his opportunity because of his right brain imbalance, if you will. But if a parent's focusing on that root cause, that
of interoception as you described, then of course the big question is, well, what do you do about that if that's true and you've touched on that? That's where the primitive reflexes come in. That's where even the physical exercises I know that are part of your protocol are important to allow that along with everything else you're doing to get more symmetry. I know as parents are listening to this, they're like, okay, I get it, this connection with the body, what can I do now? And if I really focus on this one root.
I know your program's designed to focus on this, but can you just share a little bit more for a parent what specifically, like how these exercises and this way of focusing, like how does it play out? If a parent's wanting to dive into this, how do they do it? Like some may not be aware, is it an at-home program? Is it something that's only done in your office? I know you serve families across the globe. Can you touch a little bit more about
practically how you help parents help their children.
Dr Robert Melillo (24:47.298)
Sure. And you know, as a resource again, obviously my book, Disconnecting Kids, the third edition has a lot of information and our most updated current research. Parents should know that I'm not just speaking this, you know, that we've actually published more than anybody in the world on this topic. I am the world expert. If you went to PubMed and Googled retain primitive or PubMed retain primitive reflexes, my paper is number one in the world. So
This is stuff we've actually spent years studying. So in my book, we included, you know, two updated chapters on how to actually assess for these reflexes in your children and how to remediate them. And it's very particular because there are other ways of assessing and addressing these reflexes out there and they're not the most effective. And so that's really where it starts. So you can read the papers. We had one.
paper in the British Medical Journal where we described it exactly what we actually do. But also many people have heard the term sentry integration disorder. What does that mean? It's essentially describing this lack of sensory stimulation in the right brain, the lack of the insula and the parietal lobe perceiving sensory input primarily on the right. The only difference is that
You know, we do a lot of sensory stimulation. We do smell, we do vision, we do light, we do sound, we do music, we do vibration, we do tactile, we do all of this, but you have to understand that you need to address, direct it more to the right brain than the left. So that's another thing. If you're doing everything equally, like if you spin a child to try to get them dizzy, first of all, if you spin a child over and over and they don't get dizzy,
Guaranteed, you know that right brain, that right parietal and that insula is not working properly. Right? So right there, that's your confirmation. If your child is clumsy or awkward in their body movements, if they have a high pain threshold, if they don't really feel temperature, you know, if they don't sleep or feel tired, you know that this is exactly why and that you need, you need to change that. But why isn't that? Because the left brain is too strong holding it back.
Dr Robert Melillo (27:10.048)
and they have these reflexes. So in the book I describe how to stimulate the reflexes over and over and then couple that with very specific sensory stimulation. And then there are things that can be done directly to the brain, but you need to start with bottom up so that the brain can complete its maturational process. Remember, there's no damage or injury. People who talk about autism as a brain injury, there's no injury in the brain.
It is a maturational imbalance and delay, and there is no genetic mutation in the vast majority of kids that are labeled with autism. So these are things that can be changed, even though most parents are told, just accept it, there's nothing you can do about it. That's not true. Anybody telling you that just doesn't know about brain development. So I would just say, you know, go to my book, Reconnected Kids.
I have lot of diagram, you know, we diagram a lot on my Instagram as well. And we have a lot of videos out there for parents that they can access through my website, Dr. Robert Mililow.
Len Arcuri (28:19.234)
Fantastic. No, and your books are dynamite where so much of it really is spelled out and easy to understand language. again, parents can benefit significantly from your books, but if your book's so great, right? Why would people come to you in person? then from my standpoint, personally going through that, the book can cover so much, but there's nothing like the precision of what your team can actually see to make refinements into a plan.
perhaps significant refinements. That's where sometimes that's just, especially if you want to accelerate progress, that personalization and that precision from a personal visit really, really, you can't even put a value on that. That really can help you make your at-home program and what you're doing from a lifestyle perspective every single day cumulatively to really stack the deck for success.
Dr Robert Melillo (29:14.914)
Yeah, doing these stimulations on the reflex alone. First of all, really assessing for them. I know that the way that we assess for primitive reflexes is the most accurate because of all the research we've done. And I know the way that we integrate them is the most effective, but it takes some skill. And when people come here, this is an intensive training program for the parent or caregiver or therapist that's working with.
And we also give them videos. And these are the same videos that we train our staff. you know, we are, we, the parents come in, they're in the room with us, they're working with us. And also, you know, in the beginning, as most parents know, many of these kids have trouble regulating their emotions because they're right brain. Many of them may have still what we call a fear paralysis reflex where they may get very dysregulated and aggressive.
and that may be difficult for a parent to know how to handle. We deal with this every day. So we know how to work with that. We know how to work with the parent and the child to be able to help that bottom line is unless we change their brain, that's never going to go away. And we usually are able to get rid of that first and foremost, which then makes it much easier for the parent to go back and do it. But you know, it's a training program and
you want to do the best version of our program. And if you're not here in person, then you may not get that. Even, know, not the best version is very effective. But here's the thing, that maybe foreshadows another thing that we can talk about. Because we were talking about, you know, many of these kids have immune issues or overactive immune responses, autoimmunity, food sensitivities. Many of them may have things like chronic mold and things like that that we were talking about.
So what most people also don't understand is that the development of the gut, the development of the right amount of acid, like nobody should be able to have mold in their body. Nobody. Why do they have it? Well, because they're not producing enough acid. Why? Because they're in this sympathetic fight or flight dominant state. Why? Because that's the way they're born. And the nuclei in the brainstem that regulate that are online.
Dr Robert Melillo (31:40.694)
And then as they develop over the first year, as the reflexes go away, the parasympathetic nuclei comes online in the medulla and the brainstem and inhibits that. And when we're born, we're born with an open leaky gut. That's how it's supposed to be. Most people don't know that. They're told that, well, it starts with these kids developing a leaky gut. No, they have a leaky gut. And if the gut doesn't mature, it stays open.
But it's open in the beginning. Why? Because we want it to be open because babies aren't producing antibodies yet. And they won't for the first year or so, six months to a year. So they need it through the mom's breast milk. These are really large proteins that wouldn't actually get through a normal mature stomach lining. We also want the lining to be open in the beginning. The new thinking is that because we want some of these larger food proteins to get through early on.
so that the immune system sees it before it fully develops and recognizes it so that we don't develop life-threatening allergies later on, like peanut allergies, like rye, right? But if the gut doesn't close up and the immune system isn't closed up when it's supposed to, then we might develop other sensitivities. We also don't want to produce acid and enzymes in the beginning because that would kill those antibodies.
which are these large proteins that wouldn't get through a normal stomach lining. And so when the reflexes go away and the brainstem matures and the parasympathetic, the nucleus ambiguous and the dorsal motor nucleus kick in, now the gut closes up. Now we don't want large proteins like lutein and casein to get through. Now we produce acid and enzymes which can create the right pH balance that
promotes good bacteria and kills bad bacteria, candida, yeast, fungus, mold and parasites, which shouldn't be able to live in our gut. And the really cool thing is that all of that information being sensed in the immune system, know, many people believe the immune system just operates completely on its own. We now know that it operates really directed by the brain.
Dr Robert Melillo (34:06.878)
And it needs that the brain needs to sense what's going on in the immune system and get the balance of inflammation and anti inflammation. know that sympathetic nervous system promotes inflammation parasympathetic anti inflammation. These kids are in an inflamed state in a fight or flight. But again, because of what's going on in the brainstem in the brain. So the ability to sense
When we have too much inflammation and trigger anti-inflammation is a new term in immunology called immunosception. And guess where that takes place in the brain? In the right insula, in the same area with interoception. And that is fascinating. And that is where the future of neuroimmunology is going. And all of this is being tied together through
So it's pretty cool stuff.
Len Arcuri (35:07.81)
No, that's totally very, very exciting in terms of what we're learning and kind of revealing exactly what's happening. And yes, I'm just nodding in agreement because all roads go to that right brain from, from, from many kids. Like some, some kids maybe have a balance the other way, but would you say the majority, really is this super fast left dominant with a right brain that's just behind and the two are the two are not in any way.
balanced.
Dr Robert Melillo (35:39.426)
Yeah, and that's the thing. mean, as I tell parents always, you you gave your child a gift. This kid is a genius with their left brain. And I don't say that to make them feel good or exaggerating. They are. And even the kids that are nonverbal and you're told that they're intellectually disabled, they're not. They're geniuses. You know, we hear 10 % have savant level skills. That's not true. 10 % actively show them. The other ones have it, but they can't show you.
Or you see it. You see their memory for certain things is incredible. Or they have hyperlexia where they can read early. I had a kid last week that was reading at seven months. That shouldn't happen with anybody, but yet the kid can't speak. How can they read and not be able to speak? That doesn't make any sense. It's basically the same area of the brain, right? So again, these are the mysteries. And it's important because you need to understand that
you know, that child is really is in there and they are gifted and and they want you to speak to them like you would speak to anybody else. You know, they're not deaf. They don't want you to speak about them like they're not there and they want you to treat them like you would treat anybody else even if it looks like they're not paying attention or they don't know. They do just assume they know everything.
Len Arcuri (37:01.848)
That's a very, very safe assumption. And it's actually advice that we were given early on with my son when he was totally nonverbal and didn't demonstrate whatsoever he knew what was happening. And there was a therapist who was with us who said, hey, just assume he does. And we ran with that. I'm so thankful that she gave us that guidance because absolutely, I know now, because he can tell me, he was taking it all in.
And just, you know, even though his affect didn't demonstrate that, you know, it didn't mean it wasn't true. And I think that's the exciting thing with this whole spellers revolution with, you know, our starting with RPM and now there's a whole different, a number of practices, but it's really unlocking the genius and the greatness in these kids. And it's, and I agree with you, it's a much higher percentage than 10%. And so again, lots.
to be excited about in terms of what we're now only really better understanding. And again, I appreciate these conversations so much because I'm always learning and appreciate again, the passion that you're bringing to this topic because as we know more about what literally is going on in the brain, which I know you're obsessed with, it unlocks so much that we can do for these kids. So as always, thank you for this conversation.
Dr Robert Melillo (38:20.704)
It's so important and thank you for bringing this out there for other people and you know, it's great. So God bless what you do and your son, Ry, tell him I said hello and thank you again.
Len Arcuri (38:30.424)
I will. He's a big fan. So we will be seeing you soon. Thanks so much, Hakanulola.
Dr Robert Melillo (38:35.682)
Okay.
