Autism Breakthrough: Girl's Writings Explain Her Behavior and Feelings

[Guest guest]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4311223 & amp;page=1

By JOHN MCKENZIE

Feb. 19, 2008

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 breakthroughan 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.

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 first and a million ants are crawling up my arms," Carly said through the computer.

Carly writes about her frustrations with her siblings, how she understands their jokes and asks when can she go on a date.

"We were stunned," Carly's father Arthur Fleischmann said. "We

realized inside was an articulate, intelligent, emotive person that we

had never met. This was unbelievable because it opened up a whole new

way of looking at her." This is what Carly wants people to know about

autism.

"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." "Laypeople would have assumed she was

mentally retarded or cognitively impaired. Even professionals labelled

her as moderately to severely cognitively impaired. In the old days you

would say mentally retarded, which means low IQ and low promise and low

potential," Arthur Fleischman said.

Therapists say the key lesson from Carly's story is for

families to never give up and to be ever creative in helping children

with autism find their voice.

"If we had done what so many people told us to do years ago, we

wouldn't have the child we have today. We would have written her off.

We would have assumed the worst. We would have never seen how she could

write these things —

how articulate she is, how intelligent she is," the grateful father added.

Video

"I asked Carly to come to my work to talk to speech pathologists and

other therapists about autism," said Nash. "What would you like to tell

them? She wrote, 'I would tell them never to give up on the children

that they work with.' That kind of summed it up."

Carly had another message for people who don't understand autism.

"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."

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