autistic girl of 13 finally speaks through computer: articulate and intelligent!

abcnews.go.com...

Carly Fleischman has severe autism and is unable to speak a word. But thanks to years of expensive and intensive therapy, this 13-year-old has made a remarkable breakthrough.

amazing, although not shocking. It's ignorant to assume someone is only as smart as they look/speak (especially considering disabilities)

"It is hard to be autistic because no one understands me. People look at me and assume I am dumb because I can't talk or I act differently than them. I think people get scared with things that look or seem different than them."

Great post, scientist.

Apparently it's the special software that's being used, presumably developed (or marketed) by the providers of what is described as "expensive therapy". I hope it's not the case, but don't you think that the software can be made smart enough to embellish child's attempts to communicate? Via AI or something? The purveyours of "expensive" service have every motivation to garner even more clients.

Those interested in stories about those working to overcome and/or cure autism may be interested in this thread I posted here:

Lorenzo's Oil for Autism

I hope we will discover many modalities to help these people as well as discover the root causes and do something to change them especially if they are environmental and somewhat within our control.

it doesnt sound like software is making the words for her, but rather a certain system was designed to allow her to type in a way meaningful to her. Ill certainly keep my eyes open for further links on this matter.

today is not a good time for people who, for whatever reason are not popular with their surroundings.

way too superficial, i mean no-one wants to ever consider that there might be more than meets the eye....

As many of you know my 5 year old son is autistic. He is highly functioning, but autistic nonetheless.
I have enrolled him in every type of therapy which exists, and introduced him to a plethora of activities to see what he picks up on. He goes to the best doctors and therapists which exist.
Anyway, while he is so intelligent it is scary, he has virtually no fine motor skills. He cannot write 1 letter, or draw one shape, and it's beginning to look as though he may never overcome that. However, if you sit him at a computer keyboard, he can type out just about any word thrown at him. This is a great story, and I absolutely believe it.

i pray that this is true. i am the parent of a 17 year old autistic boy. his symptons run the spectrum from very mild in some things and strong in tohers. he is bright and figures things out, but does not speak much, if at all.

i pray for one day to be able to speak with him normally as a father to son.

have a good day!

This is an exciting, yet disturbing development.

It raises the question of how many other people with autism would benefit from this technology, and more importantly are "stuck" in their bodies with no way of communicating and growing in the "outside" world?

I attended high school in a small rural country town, which had a school for people with autism, downs syndrome and other conditions. Whilst they were treated well, there was an air of feeling (both in adults and being shown to so called "normal" students) that these "special kids" were somewhat sub-normal. Sure they have a disabling condition of one kind or another, but now question has been raised as to how different (or not) they really are?

I beleive the medical healcare industries should take this development on board and research it further. This could just be a statistical anomaly, but what if it isn't?

We really have a lot to learn about the various human conditions.

Just my 2c

[edit on 26-2-2008 by tycho1]