Autistic Girl Found Her Eloquence with a Computer

Carly Fleischmann is severely autistic and cannot speak a word to express herself … until her parents put her in front of a computer:

Two years ago, working with pictures and symbols on a computer keyboard, she started typing and spelling out words. The computer became her voice.

"All of a sudden these words started to pour out of her, and it was an exciting moment because we didn’t realize she had all these words," said speech pathologist Barbara Nash. "It was one of those moments in my career that I’ll never forget."

Then Carly began opening up, describing what it was like to have autism and why she makes odd noises or why she hits herself.

"It feels like my legs are on fire and a million ants are crawling up my arms," Carly said through the computer.

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February 22, 2008 at 3:37 pm by Alex
Category: Baby & Kid, Medicine, Science & Tech

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9 comments to "Autistic Girl Found Her Eloquence with a Computer"

Em
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Wow…simply remarkable. I’ve heard other stories about similar but none this amazing; environment makes all the difference in the world.
Bix
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I’m skeptical. I want to believe but it’s facilitated communication, isn’t it? If she’s sitting there by herself typing that would be amazing…
L
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I think she’s doing the typing herself, Bix. That’s what makes the story so remarkable. I read about this yesterday (and it was a more thorough article). It even had some samples of Carly’s writing:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080215/carly_wri tings_080215/20080217/
Gellner
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Saw her on the news the other day.
Vako
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Thanks for posting this article.
rachell
February 23rd, 2008 at 1:42 am
i read about this just a few days ago. it’s so sad to think that she was always able to think these thoughts but never able to tell them to other people. it is truly amazing.
B
February 23rd, 2008 at 11:22 am
Johnny got his gun
Hugo
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Interesting article. Thanks for posting.
GoShogun
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Having worked with severely autistic children for nearly 6 years, I’m a little skeptical as well. I’ve heard some people spin some pretty crazy facilitated comm stories. Amazing if this is true though. I’m surprised that a computer works so well where picture symbols and sign language fails (assuming they tried those paths first).

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Autistic Girl Found Her Eloquence with a Computer

Carly Fleischmann is severely autistic and cannot speak a word to express herself … until her parents put her in front of a computer:

Two years ago, working with pictures and symbols on a computer keyboard, she started typing and spelling out words. The computer became her voice.

"All of a sudden these words started to pour out of her, and it was an exciting moment because we didn’t realize she had all these words," said speech pathologist Barbara Nash. "It was one of those moments in my career that I’ll never forget."

Then Carly began opening up, describing what it was like to have autism and why she makes odd noises or why she hits herself.

"It feels like my legs are on fire and a million ants are crawling up my arms," Carly said through the computer.

Link - via Linkbunnies