Questions from twitter
Caringchildren asked: Who do you like hanging out with more? “typical children” or “Autistic children” Why?
Carly:
I like hanging out with typical children because it pushes me to control my behaviors and find different stims that look more suitable. But it is not easy. I get judged for sounds and noises I make. However this summer I did walk away with lots of friends and emails.
I do hang out with autistic children as well and like that too. I have many friends in L.A who spell like me. Its fun to hang out with them because I don’t have to explain anything to them, they just get it.
Momtoalltweets asked: You talk about audio filtering, how did you learn to audio filter?
Carly:
I am glad you asked that question. I learned how to audio filter on my own. However I did pick up different techniques from therapists, even though they did not know they were teaching me. I have been getting better at audio filtering in the last 2 to 3 years. It has helped me be able to understand better and communicate with others.
Bigheartofgold asked: Do you have a service dog? If yes do you find it helps? If No why not?
Carly:
I don’t have a service dog. No one has ever offered me one. I did see a kid at my school with one and I could see how it would help. Who ever thought of the idea was really smart. I do have a regular silly dog but she cant do much. She is still looking for her tail.
Ndwells05 asked: I just finished Sean’s Autism Service Dog website! You can check it out at
www.4pawsforsean.webs.com
Carly:
Sean is 10 years old and needs your help to get a service dog. Pls go to his website and donate what ever you can. Since I don’t have a service dog I asked Sean to let me know if it helps him so I can let you know. I have lots of people twittering questions about service dogs but did not have the answers. Sean should help me shed some light on this. Oh and to Seans mom you did a great job on his web page!
pamsfan1 asked: So many people don’t understand autism. We have been advocating for our son since he was diagnosed.
Carly:
A lot of times its not that they don’t under stand its that know one has educated them. The only time an autistic person is on the news is when something bad happens. Or one day a year to raise awareness for autism. But autism day should be every day. People like Larry king Oprah and news stations around the world should publicize it every day. That’s the only way we will get people to learn.
jhannah asked: Am i the only person with a child who dips pizza in hummus? Danny’s autistic so i guess that makes it OK, LOL!
Carly:
Its funny you should say that. A lot of times when autistic children and adults eat food, we have a hard time with textures and smells. It can be a little over barring some times. We block these things out buy adding dips to mask the problem. I like dipping my pizza in mustard and at camp I dip my food in ranch dressing.
Caringchildren asked: Whats it like being a silent observer of things going on around U? When you found your voice did it open the world to you?
Carly:
Being able to hear things that people don’t know I hear or no I’m in the room but don’t think I hear it is cool some times. But some time you don’t want to hear things that you do. Spelling has helped open some of the world to me but has also cased some problems.
In a world of silence communication is everywhere. You just have to know how to look.
Momtoalltweets asked: What thing about being autistic do you like? What’s the worst thing about being autistic?
Carly:
I like when I shock people because they think just because I’m autistic I am not smart. The worst thing is not being able to control my self even though I know what I am doing is wrong.
Healher, AlternaMom, Gfcf4autism, pddnosfamily asked: What is audio filitering? Can you explain audio filtering?
Carly:
Audio filtering is what we do when we take in too much audio information. Its why so called experts say we cant process information. But we are processing the information but we are weeding out all the incoming sounds and it can takes a long time.
Think of a autistic person like a I-pod. We take in over a hundred sounds a minute. Lets call them songs for the ipod. you down load all your songs on to it and get put into different categories. In order for us to understand sometimes when we are overwhelmed we have to categorize all the sounds. We label the ipod. That is the run on sentence that we say over and over again. It could also just be a word or sound that we use. Audio filtering can take up to a week to weed through all the sounds and information we are processing.
A lot of the sounds I hear people tell me they cant hear them because they can focus on one sense at a time and it blocks out all the other incoming sounds.
My answer to that is:I was once told a blind man wanted to be deaf and a deaf man wanted to be blind. But its always better to be your self.
I just came across this site and I find it quite interesting and fascinating. Thank you for sharing and explaining what Audio filtering is all about.
Hi Carly,
My 15 year old daughter Courtney is autistic. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with all of us. It helps me as a mom to try and understand and help Courtney. She talks, but it is repetive and I am not sure if she understands everything she says, but it is a start. She is very smart and her memory is amazing. However, She is very negative and possessive with everything, especially people. For example, if her sister talks with me she wants her to stop talking and wants my attention only on her, she does that with many people in our family. She also gets violent when she gets upset and trys to bite and hit. She recently tried to bite me in the store because I took the basket from her because she was trying to run it into her sister. I know we just dont understand her. Anything anyone can tell us that may help will be greatly appreciated! Tammy
Thank you for volunteering to spread a hope we are a parent of a fantastic littel Boy who is making amazing progress. Reading your history supported our hope. Thank you Carly.
dear carly, It was so nice to read about you and your family. our 14 yr. old son, Joshoua is also autistic. He like yourself is finding his way out of his head. He has beta tested games for caiman and other game sites. He enjoys singing very much, as well as shopping. stay well, keep up the fantastic work ! please tell your parents hi from me.
As a parent of an amazing son with autism, hats off to the entire family !!!!!!!!!!!! The years of 24/7 hard work,love,understanding do pay off***********
Carly,
Have you ever been on some sort of diet for autism? My baby brother is autistic and we have him on a gluten free, dairy free, and corn free diet. If yes, has it helped in any way?
Hi Carly, you remind me of a young woman who I used to work with who has severe autism. We did intensive therapy when she was younger. When she was four, we found she could read. She could read before she could ever speak. We all knew she was smart but you give us the evidence we need to validate what we already have known!
Hi Carly,
Can you talk specifically about the process of how you learned to type? I am the mother of a daughter with autism who is seven and I am also a behavior therapist now. I have a thirteen year old boy client who is non-verbal and who has no means of communication.
How do you think I should do to teach him to type? I know it is very frustrating to him to not be able to communicate, so any advice you could provide me would be fantastic!
Thank you! Your story is very inspiring to me, and listening to your dad talk about how much he enjoys talking to you now made me cry tears of joy!
Rhonda
Carly
Thanks for explaining what you go through on a daily basis. It helps me to understand what my 4 year old son is going through – he has SPD. God bless.
Lisa
Hi Carly-
I heard about you from one of my 3 1/2 year old’s therapist. She said you reminded her of my daughter Brooke in so many ways. You said it helped you know spelling if words from them being on your pecs cards. Was there any other thing that helped you learn letters and spelling? My daughter has many stims and behaviors but her understanding of what is going on around her is amazing. Her problem solving and sense of humor is great. Did you do ABA therapy? Did you like it? Brooke gets very frustrated with them. Any insight you can give us would be so helpful. Like you she just can’t seem to speak the words but is a very smart little girl. We just need to find the right key to help her find some way to communicate to help her not be so frustrated. Thank you! You are amazing and give us hope and piece of mind that what we know she can understand and do is possible.
-Robin
I know you have been to your fair share of doctors, but you may want to contact Dr. Stephanie Cave in Baton Rouge, LA. She has had surprising success with autistic children. She may able to help you, where others have failed.
Good luck. Take care.
Hello Carly!
I am so excited to learn about you and your newfound voice through Twitter! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your knowledge with us moms who have been aching to know what is going on inside of our kids! There are probably about a million questions I could ask you but I’ll try to limit myself to one. I have an 18 year old daughter named Lisa who is developmentally disabled and autistic. She is verbal but cannot tell me about what is going on inside her when she is rocking, covering her ears, jumping up and down, flapping her arms, and making loud noises. She is a very happy girl. There have been teachers that have tried to stop her from doing these things, say, at the bus stop, or out in the school yard. They want her to act appropriately. It is my understanding that she needs to do these things to “maintain herself” in that environment. I do want her to fit in with the normally functioning teens on campus, but is it realistic to ask her to stop doing these things? How can we help her? People seem to love her just the same and seem to accept her for who she is which is why I believe she is so happy. I feel like stopping her will steal her happiness away and will make her angry. I want to do what is right which may mean she will have a very difficult period trying to adjust her actions. I don’t know what to do. What is your opinion?
Saw you on TV in Australia tonight. Best wishes Carly, and thank you for sharing yourself with us to help us understand better the great diversity of the human experience.
Hi Carly,
I have a 10 year old daughter who is non-verbal and just started typing 1 or 2 words at a time on a label maker that I picked up at Staples! We are so excited and impressed and I wondered what devices you used at school, when out shopping or at home. Do you use anything with a voice output? Kids in our neighborhood are more interested in talking to my daughter now that she can type a response to their greetings and questions. I love being able to ask her what she wants to eat or if she has a headache and many other things that a Mom wants to know about their child.
Thanks for sharing your success with us, it is very inspirational.
Samantha
Dear Carly, My son was diagnosed on the autistic spectrum about two months ago, he has just turned 3 years old and I know within myself that he understands me but gets frustrated because he cannot communicate or express his needs. It was my sons autism teacher that told us about you! She was very excited to tell me about you as she has always believed that children with autism understand more than what some specialists claim. I live in Australia and your story has brought some much needed hope to myself and my family in this early period of ajusting to the fact that my son is autistic. I thankyou from the bottom of my heart for sharing your story with the world! Love from Jo from Australia.
Hi Carley,
I just came across your site tonight thank you so much for sharing with the world. I have a beautiful nephew who also has autism he is 6 years old. I want to do all I can to help Jonathan what do you think is the most important thing to do? He is very loving and I believe he understands what I say to him I just don’t know alot about autism. Have you ever heard of horse therpy for autism? if so what do you think?
When I look at Jonathan I just know he wants to come out of the place he is trapped in (that is the only way I know how to describe it) Can you help me help him?
Again I want to thank you so much! and God Bless You
carly, you are amazing, i have such a special brother, and hes almost 16, and hes made almost no prgress over the years, but maybe he will, what can i do to make this world a happier place for my love able brother?