S1E8: Gatekeepers of Truth - Telepathy and the Spelling Controversy

episode

Previously titled “Ep. 8: Gatekeepers of Truth - Telepathy and the Spelling Controversy” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 5, 2026

The Telepathy Tapes 52 min 13 speakers 2 chapters transcribed
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What is the Telepathy Tapes podcast about?

Unknown Speaker 0:00
Hey, what's up, everyone? This is Kai Dickens, and you're listening to the Telepathy Tapes podcast. When I put out the Telepathy Tapes in 2024, I didn't put any ads on it. But since then, this endeavor has evolved into a full-time job. We're producing a season two, and we just rolled out the talk tracks. And I've been excited to finally hire a staff in order to help me make those things happen. And we've just had to grow in a way that I was never anticipating. And so in order to pay for this, we are turning on ads. But that is a critical piece in being able to continue this work so that those of us doing the research and working to bring these episodes to you are getting paid for our time. So thank you so much for understanding as we move into this new phase of the telepathy tapes and the talk tracks.
Katie 0:41
My son said to me, I can hear thoughts. What is this phenomena happening? Why are his mind and my mind completely connected? Telepathy is the tip of the iceberg with their spiritual gifts.
Unknown Speaker 0:53
People don't understand that they can do this. They don't even have to be in the same room, the same zip code. For decades, a very specific group of people have been claiming telepathy is happening in their homes and in their classrooms. And nobody has believed them. Nobody has listened to them. But on this podcast, we do. Welcome to the eighth episode of the Telepathy Tapes. Spelling is the greatest hope parents have to unlock their kids, and it's also the sharpest weapon used against them. If you're not in this world, it's difficult to understand how contentious and vicious the attacks are against spellers and their method of communication. Lily, the speller that you met in episode four, sent me this message.
Lily 1:58
Spelling is the only method that has given hope to non-speakers and shown the world our beautiful minds. But so many people don't want to believe that the words are our own.
Unknown Speaker 2:06
The very existence of this episode is controversial because there is so much at stake. For the parents, it's hope. For the spellers, it's their autonomy and education. And for those railing against spelling, there's money, systems, and the ramifications of admitting a mistake that has costed thousands of kids their education, their hope, and personhood. In episode three, you met Katie in Houston. And Katie had lost all hope that her son would ever communicate. And just before he was done with high school, he found his voice.
Katie 2:38
When Houston first began communicating, I was so excited. I was writing down every single word he spelled and telling every single person I knew. And of course, one of the most important people to tell was his school and his teachers and the administrators. And so I was thrilled when I finally got his teacher on the phone and over the summer and let her know about what Houston was doing. And she shocked me by saying, oh, oh, that's been discredited. I was shocked by that because I was looking at it. I knew it was true. I was watching it. And I thought to myself, she must have never seen it. I think this is a great example of how we have prejudices and don't believe things until we see them.
Katie 3:26
If someone else says it's not true, then we just take their word for it instead of actually finding out ourselves. He only had a few months of school left, but I wanted him to be able to be included in a general ed classroom for the tiny amount of time he had left.
Unknown Speaker 3:40
So Katie and the principal scheduled an IEP meeting to get Houston on a different educational track for the remainder of the year.
Katie 3:46
At that point, I'd been to about 20 IEP meetings and I was shocked when I walked in that day and found triple the number of people that were usually there. There were people I'd never met before. And this was not normal at all. I was nervous and I sat down and I had always had such a good relationship with with his teachers and everyone in the schools and before I even sat down this woman who was the director of speech services for the county leaned forward very aggressively and very aggressively gestured at the stencil and said we don't believe in that we don't support that and I was thinking what you don't support letters I was confused I didn't know what she was talking about I was clueless

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