Carly's Story

"Don't give up. Your inner voice will find its way out. Mine did."

These closing words from Carly Fleischmann's story speak of perseverance, determination and hope in the face of great challenge. While Carly was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, her parents presumed competence, probably before they knew the meaning of the term. Knowing this was not a journey they could embark upon alone, they sought the support of Early Intervention , which they described as intensive and unrelenting, and they never gave up, constantly being willing to try something else if one intervention didn't seem to be working.

One day Carly demonstrated for them something no one had expected. On the computer, she spelled "HURT" and then "HELP."  "It told us there was a lot more going on that we knew..." said her parents.

This became Carly's mode of self-expression. Through a computer, Carly "had power over her environment."   She was able to describe to others what she was experiencing. "It's like I have a fight with my brain," she typed. Through this medium, Carly was given a voice.  Carly had a great team who worked with her. Her parents, her therapists, and others were better able to see the potential inside her. Had that technology not existed or been available for Carly, how would she have been able to express all that is inside her?

I am reminded of the play, "Gulls", by Robert Hewett. It tells the story of a brain injured man who is left unable to speak after an accident. Because he is aphasic, those around him make assumptions about his competence, but he communicates his thoughts and feelings about his predicament to the audience, revealing his unreachable but intact mind.

When Carly began communicating through the computer, her father shared a startling epiphany: "We had spoken in front of her as if she wasn't there." That is an important lesson for all of us. What assumptions have I made about students I work with?