Autistic girl reveals her intellect trapped inside her body by using computer.

[Powermoloch]

Holy smokes...

Amazing and sad at the same time. Kudos for the breakthrough !

 

[kevman]

fecal smearing ???

 

[jinduy]

lol amd...

 

[AndroidVageta]

TOO OLD!!!

And as touching and amazing as it was, some of you guys are just too emotional...one man admits to crying and next thing you know we have a river from all of you!

Either way, very cool story...kinda like a Helen Keller type thing...makes you wonder how many other autistic people are like this...because I do believe that some of them really are retarded...shes just an exception...maybe not a very rare one, but she certainly is a very intelligent person.

 

[0roo0roo]

questionable diagnosis

 

[TruePaige]

If they didn't cut the footage to pieces to try and make a story, it would be easier to see, but this looks a lot like Facilitated Communication which is really just a bunch of bullshit taking into account the facilitators bias.

Thought someone out of the scientific minded people here would have brought it up.

http://autism.about.com/od/alternativetreatmens/a/FC.htm

Seriously, they don't even shown her typing out a full word other than a snipped together piece of footage for "hurt" that might count.

 

[dahunan]

 

[Syringer]

If they didn't cut the footage to pieces to try and make a story, it would be easier to see, but this looks a lot like Facilitated Communication which is really just a bunch of bullshit taking into account the facilitators bias.

Thought someone out of the scientific minded people here would have brought it up.

http://autism.about.com/od/alternativetreatmens/a/FC.htm

Seriously, they don't even shown her typing out a full word other than a snipped together piece of footage for "hurt" that might count.

Thank you, I was hoping someone would point this out.

I watched the entire video looking for actual evidence of her typing things out, but the way the story is put together it's hard to believe.

I was instantly reminded of this case: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/houben-communication/

In that video you could see a woman typing out the words for him, but countless news agencies picked it up as truth, because they wanted to believe and ignored the scientific process in the meantime.

I want to believe this and hope I'm completely wrong here, but given these advanced sentence structures, and deep thoughts she is supposedly writing, I have to remain completely skeptical of this..

 

[TruePaige]

Thank you, I was hoping someone would point this out.

I watched the entire video looking for actual evidence of her typing things out, but the way the story is put together it's hard to believe.

I was instantly reminded of this case: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/houben-communication/

In that video you could see a woman typing out the words for him, but countless news agencies picked it up as truth, because they wanted to believe and ignored the scientific process in the meantime.

I want to believe this and hope I'm completely wrong here, but given these advanced sentence structures, and deep thoughts she is supposedly writing, I have to remain completely skeptical of this..

As humans we have a nasty little habit of believing what we want to believe, regardless if it is true or not. The science behind this field is shaky but for many parents and family members of the disabled they seem to buy into this pretty easily.

The snake oil behind it all kind of pisses me off, taking advantage of people and diverting attention from real advancement.

 

[Syringer]

From reading other discussions on this subject, it's suggested that it's special software that generates words on keystrokes, so instead of having a human "facilitated communicator" (which has proven to be bunk), the software acts as the medium here.

Again, as TruePaige points out, watch the video and try to see her type something out. They show one key stroke then cut out, and her eyes are staring into blank space, not much different than how a toddler would act with a keyboard.

Now I'm not saying she needs to be using proper 10 key techniques, but even at the end the reporter said he waited hours for her to type something, and when he finally got her to type something, they still didn't show her type out "is hhe cute".

And it's not like ABC is immune to jumping to false conclusions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_de_Deus_%28medium%29#Controversy.2C_ABC_News_Report

 

[Praxis1452]

If they didn't cut the footage to pieces to try and make a story, it would be easier to see, but this looks a lot like Facilitated Communication which is really just a bunch of bullshit taking into account the facilitators bias.

Thought someone out of the scientific minded people here would have brought it up.

http://autism.about.com/od/alternativetreatmens/a/FC.htm

Seriously, they don't even shown her typing out a full word other than a snipped together piece of footage for "hurt" that might count.

That was my immediate first thought, but considering it had what seemed like legitimate reporting I bought it.

Looking at it again, it's quite possible that this is the case.

 

[Wheezer]

fecal smearing ???

LOL...great story, but that is the one thing I will definitely retain from this, now I just have to find a way to work it into a conversation.

 

[Insomniator]

this is all highly unlikely

 

[Azraele]

The idea that she is trapped inside her body like that is horrifying.

 

[ultimatebob]

http://twitter.com/carlysvoice

This is an awesome story.

Meh... it looks like her parents are updating her Twitter feed for her. Kinda lame, if you ask me.

 

[KDOG]

I have a 12 year old son who is severly autistic like her. We are trying to get him to communicate any way he can as well. We've managed to get him to say a few phrases based on basic needs like "I want bathroom, I want a drink" etc. Its a tough road. People who don't deal with this have *NO* idea what it is like.

As far as some posters here expressing doubt about the slow one finger typing, - its legit, trust me, my son does the same thing. You gotta remember, like the girl said, even her everyday world is a massive sensory overload for her. Thats why routine is so important for them, keeping the overload down. Now add a strange guy (reporter) asking questions in her environment, a camera man and possible sound guy all standing there throwing all sorts of "extra" sensory load on her, and yeah, its gone more slow going than normal...

 

[rasczak]

I have a 12 year old son who is severly autistic like her. We are trying to get him to communicate any way he can as well. We've managed to get him to say a few phrases based on basic needs like "I want bathroom, I want a drink" etc. Its a tough road. People who don't deal with this have *NO* idea what it is like.

As far as some posters here expressing doubt about the slow one finger typing, - its legit, trust me, my son does the same thing. You gotta remember, like the girl said, even her everyday world is a massive sensory overload for her. Thats why routine is so important for them, keeping the overload down. Now add a strange guy (reporter) asking questions in her environment, a camera man and possible sound guy all standing there throwing all sorts of "extra" sensory load on her, and yeah, its gone more slow going than normal...

I'm glad someone who has actually been there can speak up about it. I only got a glimpse of it as an aide, I could not even imagine the life of a parent. Much respect.

 

[Tweak155]

I have a 12 year old son who is severly autistic like her. We are trying to get him to communicate any way he can as well. We've managed to get him to say a few phrases based on basic needs like "I want bathroom, I want a drink" etc. Its a tough road. People who don't deal with this have *NO* idea what it is like.

As far as some posters here expressing doubt about the slow one finger typing, - its legit, trust me, my son does the same thing. You gotta remember, like the girl said, even her everyday world is a massive sensory overload for her. Thats why routine is so important for them, keeping the overload down. Now add a strange guy (reporter) asking questions in her environment, a camera man and possible sound guy all standing there throwing all sorts of "extra" sensory load on her, and yeah, its gone more slow going than normal...

Best of luck to you, man.