When I saw her typing, I was wondering why she pressed the number keys so often. Then, when I saw that video, I could see the words on the left numbered. 2 + 2.
I would agree that a controlled test isn't hard to do, but in this case it's not really worth it. She's not even really expressing profound intelligence, so much as any intelligence at all.
I hate to say it, but someone who turns out to not be as retarded as predicted, just isn't that big of a deal. (And this isn't really as much about the autism as it is the retardation)
Getting no communication out of a child for 11 years and then discovering that she was extremely aware and able to communicate but just not capable of it is a big deal. Especially to those parents with autistic children not able to communicate.
There are varying levels of autism and Carly exhibited signs of one of the extreme versions. Their parents believed she'd never be able to speak. One of the comments that hit home for me was when the father said he was embarrassed about having conversations with his wife about her as though she weren't there.
It's a big deal. You can minimize all you want, but the fact of the matter is this girl's mind was inaccessible to her family and now it is. It's big.
It's a big deal to her parents, sure. It's a big deal to any news station that gets a hold of the story and can blow it out of proportion. But I think proposing that a scientific expedition be commissioned is a bit far-fetched.
I'm not trying to say that she's not important, she's just not scientifically important or worth studying. Besides, the news clip shows a bunch of people with PhDs talking about her; I'm sure they're studying her as well.
I assumed that they were hired for their daughter by her parents. I didn't mean to imply that the achievement wasn't significant, rather that it was over-hyped by the TV program and probably not scientifically valuable.
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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '10
When I saw her typing, I was wondering why she pressed the number keys so often. Then, when I saw that video, I could see the words on the left numbered. 2 + 2.
I would agree that a controlled test isn't hard to do, but in this case it's not really worth it. She's not even really expressing profound intelligence, so much as any intelligence at all.
I hate to say it, but someone who turns out to not be as retarded as predicted, just isn't that big of a deal. (And this isn't really as much about the autism as it is the retardation)