"Autistic Girl Expresses Profound Intelligence"

The story expressed in the video below is touching, heartbreaking and inspiring. The video highlights the story of a nonverbal girl who had grown up labeled severely autistic and mentally deficient. Everyone had a assumed that she was not able to speak or understand what they were saying until one life-changing day when she walked over to a laptop and typed the following words: "hurt" and "help." She then proceeded to throw up. Her family and therapists couldn't believe what happened! It was at this time, that her parents and therapists realized there was a lot more "going on" inside Carly than they had previously thought. While this was a major breakthrough, the communication process developed slowly.At age 14, typing became more of a normal tool for her. She learned that by communicating with others, she had some control and power over her environment. She also used a text-to-speech program to communicate with her friends, family, and therapists. I think this is a testimony to how we cannot just write our students off and not challenge them or push for them to succeed. This is also a truly amazing example of the power that assistive technology devices can have for people.