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Letter by non verbal teen explaining his autism

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ASPartOfMe
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22 May 2016, 10:41 pm

This nonspeaking teenager wrote an incredibly profound letter explaining autism - Washington Post

Quote:
For the first 14 and a half years of Gordy’s life, Evan and Dara Baylinson had no reason to think their son could comprehend anything they said: He had never spoken, and he couldn’t really emote. They worried aloud about his future, not filtering what they said, because they didn’t think he understood.

But Gordy, it now appears, was absorbing everything.


The story has been picked up by other news organizations


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23 May 2016, 11:04 am

Not only is he just severely autistic, it looks like he can see from different perspectives.


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MidnightLupin
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23 May 2016, 5:42 pm

It's nice to read some positive stories for once.



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25 May 2016, 1:57 am

I have mixed feelings about this. I like the article, but whoever edited this article gave it the wrong title. The article has nothing to do with the letter that he wrote, and everything to do wit the existence of technology that allows non-speaking autistics to communicate through writing. The editor of the article also seems to have misinterpreted the intent of the letter. It was not intended to explain autism or describe it in any way. The main point of the letter can be summarized by the sentence "With your attention, I can help you recognize the signs of nonspeaking autism." Gordy does this by describing common easily identifiable stims.



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25 May 2016, 7:06 pm

Hey, autism speaks!! Again!! And I note, with better syntax and grammar than the average NT sixteen-year-old.

More insight, perspective, and compassion, too.

That just shot a whole lot of myths full of holes.

Except, of course, that those myths already had more holes than a prairie dog town. And most people, even (especially?) parents and professionals, choose not to listen.

I'm glad about the assistive communication tech. Hopefully it will help open doors-- and minds-- for more of us. And other people.


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25 May 2016, 9:32 pm

These examples give me hope. My largest worry is that my nonverbal has no method to communicate if separated from familiar people. I hope he has a breakthrough and can find a single method.
So far he sings and is interested in foreign languages that are somewhat removed from the English and Spanish he grew up with, he always selects French or similar sounding languages in his DVDs when available. He stalled in ASL. He stalled in PICS. He can sing but speaks at a toddler level.
He is become very good at handling overload situations and keeping his stimming to subtle self calming methods more often than not.

Maybe he will have his own breakthrough in next decade


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