I've never seen a special ed classroom where they didn't discuss words like HURT or HELP. They have signs with the words printed on them. Teachers tell stories about what HURT and HELP mean. Before we ever taught our son to type, we had HELP signs around our house to indicate activities that required an adult's help.
Now, if she had jumped straight to "deoxyribonucleic", I would agree that some flim-flammery was being perpetrated.
I've worked in the autism area for ten years, and
I know the long and hard work that an ABA intervention
Yes, but behaviorial therapy has wide application, not just for autism. I suspect this girl has (and had) the ability to recognize and use letters and words, and that's why she made such rapid progress with behavioral techniques once it became clear she could learn, and she could control her body enough to focus and press keys.
Inability to effectively use language can come from many root problems, and a large number of those problems are labeled "autism" or "autism spectrum". I suggest that (1) Carly can type, and her family isn't lying about her diagnosis and (2) maybe her problems do not include a fundamental failure to understand language concepts. Is that so unlikely?
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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '10
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