"Autism is hard because you want to act one way, but you can't always do that. It's sad that sometimes people don't know that sometimes I can't stop myself and they get mad at me. If I could tell people one thing about autism it would be that I don't want to be this way. But I am, so don't be mad. Be understanding."
~Carly Fleischmann
ABC News featured a story yesterday about Carly Fleischmann, a beautiful teenage girl with a story to tell. You can view it here or read the story here.
Yes, Carly has autism. But as you can see from this report, she is so much more than that.
Thank you Carly for creating more understanding. We heard you ... loud and clear.
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14 comments:
Stories like this go a long way into helping our understanding.
Wonderful.
Frankly, I am speechless. My ability to understand autism remains confused. I actually was skeptical about facilitated communication, yet it appeared that this lovely young woman typed on her own.
This is a case where I pray for the magic key to unlock the verbal articulation for all children on the spectrum.
Words fail me now.
I understand completely Robin. The fact that she was typing without any support was so exciting ...
I can't help but wonder what doors will open, what discoveries are right around the bend....
Mother of Shrek,
Understanding is wonderful ... we need more of it!
I'm naturally skeptical. I'd love to see more independent verification of this story. Sure, Carly is shown in the video typing on her own, but it's not like television has never lied to us before.
Here's an interview with Carly's parents addressing those very questions:
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Story?id=4323585&page=1
It would be interesting to see her in person, to see how this all works ...
Carly also received years of ABA therapy.
Good point. I definitely believe in the power of ABA...
Thanks so much for mentioning this Judith...I loved reading all of it, especially the info from her parents. And it meant a lot to me to hear what Carly has to say. :)
As a retired teacher of kids with autism, I firmly believe that ALL kids with autism, whether they speak or not, should be taught to read, by whatever method. Back when facilitated communication WAS in vogue, I used a modification of it to teach my non-verbal six year old student letters and words. Through facilitated communication he DID start typing independent thoughts. One day, for example, he wrote 'muy j' through facilitation. When I told him I did not know what he meant and that he should show me, he got up, walked out of my room and back to his regular classroom and stood in front of his jacket...it WAS time for him to get his jacket and go to lunch when he typed it. If we had stuck to the program, I believe he would eventually have been able to type independently, but that was at a time when FC fell out of favor, so I could not do it in school any more.
Judy,
Your insight is so appreciated! It's ironic that you talk about reading ... in Jack's current program they are focusing on learning some site words. This is very exciting to me for the very reason you pointed out .... hopefully this will lead to a way for him to communicate with us!
I can't help but wonder what happened to your student ... I hope he's grown up to find a functional way to communicate with the world.
Thank you again for contributing to the comments. I'm so excited to have heard from an educator. :)
Judith, I have been following your blog for awhile now, and have made a couple of comments over at Sunglasses Required, but this one loads much faster.
Surprisingly, I 'found' that student recently...decided I wanted to send him a copy of my book, because I have listed him in the acknowledgement page. I searched the internet for his mother, but could not find her, so decided that SHE would have to find me, because I am easy to google. Amazingly enough, I received an email from her that very day. Bryan is in his late 20s now, or maybe thirty--he still does not speak, but his Mom says he is able to let you know what he wants. He is living successfully in a group home near his mom, who goes down to cook dinner for him and the others there every Sunday.
Glad to hear they are working on word recognition with your little one. My grandson did not speak until he was four, and his first words that I heard were Zero, 10, 20, 30, 40, all the way to one hundred, which he must have picked up a couple years earlier when he was riding in his stroller as his mother walked his older brother to school, and they practiced counting by tens on the way. So even though Jack is not talking, believe he is learning.
Judy,
What an amazing story. I am blessed to have your input.. Thank you so much!
Hi. Carly's dad here. Just getting around to checking the blogs. I wanted to be clear that we have never used FC with Carly. Many people have seen her type. tho i will say, she does not always type and wont do it "on command." as she has said, "i'm not a trained animal." hear, hear. But we are doing our best to give her the tools for greater independence and fulfillment. thank you all for your supportive and inquisitive comments.
And thank you Carly's dad for sharing the story of your inspirational daughter with those of us who need to hear it most. (I know, I know ... sounds so cliche, but it's true!) Please pass our appreciation on to Carly. What an awesome kid!
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