I had expressed scepticism concerning a TV news report of the exceptional ability of an autistic girl to communicate using a typewriter.
On 21 Feb 2008 at 10:49, Rick Froman wrote: > If there is some kind of a continuum from Aspberger's to Autism, it > makes sense that people may be at various points along that scale. I > wouldn't be surprised if some of them could learn to type. My scepticism isn't concerning her typing ability. Some autistic children produce repetitive motor movements, sometimes with considerable dexterity. It's not hard to imagine that an autistic child could be trained to type (although the video suggests that Carly's ability is rather limited). Rather, it's directed at what is claimed she does with the typing, namely express articulate opinions which would be notable for any 13-year-old, let alone a severely-impaired autistic chilld. This is summed up in the quote I provided from the father, ""Inside, she is a perfectly normal 13- year-old girl". The claim, which is reminiscent of those by facilitated communication suppporters, is that Carly's problem is in speech production, not in cognition, and autism is a kind of locked-in syndrome. I can understand how much parents would want to believe that their severely-impaired child is really "normal", waiting for her talents to be unlocked by a simple technique, and this report on Carly gives encouragement to such a hope. But this makes no sense from what we know of autism. The hope is a vain one, and it's a cruel trick to promote it. As in Carly's case, where there are apparently no complicating factors such the need for a "facilitator", it should be easy for an independent observer to test whether her abilities are real. I'm not going to buy this one until someone does exactly that. Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
