Help With Autism

13-year-old Carly Fleischman has severe autism and has spent her life unable to verbalize.  After years of extensive autism therapy, Carly had a breakthrough two years ago, beginning to spell out words on a computer keyboard.  Her speech pathologist and parents are amazed and excited by how articulate and intelligent Carly is.  She began to open up to them, describing what it is like to have autism, and there are things she wants people to understand about her disorder.  “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.” 

Therapists say the lesson to be learned from Carly’s story is for families to persevere and continue to be creative in their attempts to help children with autism find their voice.  Carly’s father points out that if her parents had listened to what many people told them years ago, they wouldn’t have the child they have today.  Carly’s speech pathologist asked Carly to speak to her colleagues about autism, asking what she would like to tell them.  Carly’s response?  “I would tell them never to give up on the children that they work with.”  Carly had more to say to people who don’t comprehend 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.”

Adapted from ABC World News Report story by John McKenzie, February 19, 2008

FAIR Autism Media has posted the press conference held earlier today in Atlanta with the family of Hannah Poling.

Click here to view:  http://www.autismmedia.org/media11.html

LONDON: They were certainly creative geniuses. But what was the common trait in Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton? Well, both had “autism”.A leading psychiatrist at Trinity College in Dublin has claimed that both Einstein and Newton displayed signs of autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger syndrome, which were the same as those associated with creative genius.

He came to the conclusion after comparing the characteristics of around 1,600 people he has diagnosed with ASDs and the known biographical details of famous people.

Just a quick update.  Olivia tied her own shoes, yesterday!  She got a new pair of Reeboks with the circles on the bottom of them.  She has an extreme fascination with shoes, to the point where she will stop a complete stranger and ask to see his/her shoes up close including the bottoms of the soles.  Anyway, she tied them both and is very, very proud.  We have been seeing good progress since we started using the AF-x a couple of months ago.  It is natural nutrition that is sprayed under the tongue.  Olivia actually looks forward to getting her “shot” before bedtime.

We used this Heavy Metal Detox product, PCA-Rx, and it helped Olivia right away.  We started with just 2 sprays and built up to 4.  Within a couple of days she said that she wanted to go to her own bed.  She had been on our floor for over 6 months!  Then she started to dress herself!  This is at age five (diagnosed autistic at 2 1/2).  I bought it at www.helpyourautisticchild.com.   They seem to have the cheapest price.