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    Carly's Voice: Breaking Through Autism
    Carly's Voice: Breaking Through Autism
    Carly's Voice: Breaking Through Autism
    Audiobook11 hours

    Carly's Voice: Breaking Through Autism

    Written by Arthur Fleischmann and Carly Fleischmann

    Narrated by Patrick Lawlor and Cassandra Campbell

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    At the age of two, Carly Fleischmann was diagnosed with severe autism and an oral motor condition that prevented her from speaking. Doctors predicted that she would never intellectually develop beyond the abilities of a small child. Although she made some progress after years of intensive behavioral and communication therapy, Carly remained largely unreachable. Then, at age ten, Carly had a breakthrough. While sitting in her kitchen with her devoted therapist Howie, Carly reached over to the laptop and typed "MEAN," referring to Howie's efforts to get her to do her work for the day. She then went on to further explain her recalcitrant mood by typing "TEETH HURT," much to Howie's astonishment.This was the beginning of Carly's journey toward self-realization. Although Carly still struggles with all the symptoms of autism, which she describes with uncanny accuracy and detail, she now has regular, witty, and profound conversations on the computer with her family, her therapists, and the thousands of people who follow her via her blog, Facebook, and Twitter. A 2009 segment on 20/20 brought her story to national attention, and she has since appeared on television with Larry King, Ellen DeGeneres, and Holly Robinson Peete, all of whom have developed warm relationships with her.In Carly's Voice, her father, Arthur Fleischmann, blends Carly's own words with his story of getting to know his remarkable daughter. One of the first books to explore firsthand the challenges of living with autism, it brings listeners inside a once-secret world in the company of an inspiring young woman who has found her voice and her mission.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 27, 2012
    ISBN9781452675558
    Author

    Arthur Fleischmann

    Arthur Fleischmann lives with his wife, Tammy Starr, and their three children, Matthew, Taryn, and Carly, in Toronto, Canada, where he is partner and president of john st. advertising.

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    Reviews for Carly's Voice

    4/5

    47 ratings10 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Such an ableist way to view autism. I enjoyed Carlys parts but the fathers writing the entire time is negative and abusive.
    • 5/5
      Carley and her dad have given me a new hope that there is something that can be done to help our 16 year old to find his own voice. We know it is in there, we just haven't tapped into what will make him want to do the work yet.
      Carney and my boy have so many similarities it is astounding. I can truly relate to her father's emotional rollercoaster - continuously running the gambit of frustration, hope, fear, exasperation, love, curiosity and joy.
      This book gave such insight to what could be going on in our boy's head, which now I think we've misinterpreted a lot thus far on our own. It has shed light on techniques and methods we can try for ourselves. Whether they work will only be revealed in time, but hopefully one day he will be able to tell us himself what works for him.
      I will be forever grateful to Carley for her persistence and perseverance-today it is that which has inspired me to keep going in this fight and help our boy past his autism to bring out his inner voice as well.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. Having spent time with kids on the autism spectrum, this really helped me to understand a bit more about what might have been going on behind the behaviors. But Carly's story is also unique to her, and it was cool to hear about her experiences and feelings.
    • 5/5
      I am normally not the type to cry over books. This one, I did. Good crying, though. It was a beautiful book. Carly is an amazing girl, and she's very lucky to have the family she does. Reading her story taught me more about autism than I've ever known. Definitely recommended.
    • 5/5
      This is a book about a severely autistic girl who cannot speak, written by her father. The family lives in Toronto, Canada.Carly is one of fraternal twin sisters; the other twin, Taryn, is completely normal as is the big brother, Matthew.There are problems with Carly from the start; “she was missing most of her developmental milestones such as walking, talking, playing, and following basic instructions. She had lack of eye contact, social engagement, and speech. Her inability to make more than garbled sounds was diagnosed as apraxia – a motor-planning deficiency in which the muscles in her mouth failed to obey the directions from her brain”.Carly finally walked at two and was toilet trained at five. She was diagnosed with severe autism and oral apraxia.The parents, Arthur and Tammy, “dragged her from doctor to clinic to lab”.On top of the problems with Carly, Tammy was diagnosed with lymphoma and needed chemotherapy.Re Carly, they try everything – “a daily regimen of physiotherapy, speech.-language therapy, music and art therapy, and social skills development.They find Barb, a speech-language pathologist who works with Carly for many years, and Howard, another excellent therapist; and also discover applied behaviour analysis, or ABA, a form of behaviour therapy. Carly benefits greatly from the ABA.Carly tears around the house, jumps up and down, flings herself on furniture, hurls things from cupboards onto the floor, rips open packages and dumps their contents.She learns to spell and is rewarded for her application with “potato chips”, which I think are what I would term “potato crisps”.The parents persevere in trying new things with Carly and progress slowly occurs.In order to get some rest and sleep, they at times place Carly in a residential facility for short periods,Carly has learnt to spell and at one point her helpers are shocked by her using one of her voice output devices to spell out “Help teeth hurt”.Through the years Carly spells out messages more and more and reveals her inner life and intelligence. This is a remarkable book, wonderfully written by Carly’s Dad; he goes into full detail about her life; and we are given examples of her writing from her blog posts, where she answers questions from her many fans.I would recommend the book to parents of other non-verbal sufferers of autism since it will provide them with hope and inspiration.But Carly does not learn to SPEAK and I am wondering why her parents do not seek treatment, traditional or alternative, to heal her apraxia, if that is the problem, in order for her to gain speech.In order to resolve various health problems, I am myself working with Jean Logan’s healing glyphs, which include one called Brain and Nervous System and another called Detoxification II, which clears the body of heavy metals like mercury and aluminium, and other toxins.Also, the Medical Medium, Anthony William, tells us that autism is caused by mercury and perhaps other toxins in the brain. He therefore provides us with a recipe for his Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie, which clears them out for us.Many of us are in need of this cleansing and I am drinking this smoothie as I write this. However, for optimal effect the smoothie needs to be taken daily or as much as possible.To sum up, this is an inspiring book and all parents of children with severe autism should read it since it shows that miracles are possible for them.
    • 4/5
      It was a little slow but it was a wonderful insight into a world that before we had little information. You see now that these people are emotional, thoughtful people just like us. They just have huge barrier not allowing them to be able to express themselves in a way they want, or act how they want.
    • 4/5
      If you have an autistic child, an autistic family member or work with autistic individuals, you need to read this book. Although the family's story is compelling, what I found to be most valuable is the insight that Carly herself provides into how autism feels, why she is irresistibly compelled to behave in certain socially unacceptable and even dangerous ways, and why her form of autism makes receptive and expressive communication so extremely difficult.As the mother of an autistic teenager with severely impaired communicative abilities, I am desperate to understand how my daughter experiences the world so that I can help her adapt and progress to the best of my ability. Though I can't know or assume that her perceptions and feelings are exactly the same as Carly's, I have a better sense of what her internal life may be like and why she reacts to things the way she does. I have always suspected that there is much, much more going on within her than meets the eye, and thanks to this book, I am more sure of it than ever.
    • 4/5
      This was an absulitely fascnating book about a young girl with Autism. I will never view autism in the same way again. I think every teacher should have to read this book. Carly's parents, while it was difficult, had the means to make such a huge difference in their child's life. What breaks my heart is how may families do not have the financial means, emotional fortitude,or dogged perserverence to do the same for their child?
    • 5/5
      There have been many fiction books released that feature an autistic protagonist - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend and just recently Love Anthony. I've read all three and really enjoyed them. Each author has brought their own 'version' of Autism and Autism spectrum to the written page. But Arthur Fleischmann and his daughter Carly Fleischmann bring more than an imagined protagonist to the written page. Carly's Voice is an absolutely riveting memoir recounted by a father and his autistic daughter.Arthur and his wife Tammy are overjoyed when they give birth to twin daughters. With son Matthew their family is complete. Taryn meets her milestones and thrives.....but, Carly doesn't. Carly is non verbal and severely autistic. What follows is an exhaustive tale of appointments, diagnoses, therapies, frustrations, and more. (Mom Tammy is fighting cancer as well.) I just could not even begin to fathom what the Fleishmanns went through. Arthur and Tammy are tireless advocates; determined to do whatever they can to help their daughter. "Carly has autism. Three short words must suffice to explain a tome of weird behaviours and limitations. It's a shorthand for Carly-is-different-she-acts-in-odd-ways-she-loves-taking-off-her-clothes-especially-if-what-she-is-wearing-has-a-spot-of-water-on-it-she-likes repetitive-motion-like-that-of-a-swing-she doesn't speak. We didn't know what Carly knew and what she was incapable of knowing. She made odd movements and sounds and covered her ears when it was noisy. She cried often. And she never, ever stopped moving. Never."And, in one of those 'what if we hadn't' moments....Carly types...Help Teeth Hurt. Although Carly was able to point to pictures for what she wanted, no one had any idea that she was able to communicate in this fashion. And at last Carly has a voice - she is finally able to 'speak'. But Carly's story doesn't end there - her fight to control her body, her desire to live like any other teenage girl, her family's dedication to helping Carly be the best she can be is an ongoing, uphill battle. And you won't believe the places it's take her....so far."What keeps us moving forward? Sometimes its just inertia. But we keep sight of Carly's dream to be accepted. She wants to live life fully, accomplish great things, and not be pitied. She just wants to be understood. What else can we do? We get up in the morning when the alarm goes off. And never accept 'no' or maybe."I really couldn't put the book down. I was so humbled and inspired by Carly. As I type this up using all of my fingers, I am struck by the image of Carly labouriously typing one letter at a time with one finger while trying to control her body's spasms. Carly is an inspiration to all, but especially to those who are living with, coping with or touched by autism. For those who haven't got a clue - it's an eye opener. Highly recommended. "I am an autistic girl but autism doesn't define who I am or how I'm going to live my life." Carly.
    • 3/5
      This wasn't quite the book I was hoping for. After seeing Carly's amazing story on YouTube, I was eager to read more about her--from her point of view! (Carly is severely autistic, and unable to communicate--until one of her caregiver/teachers let her loose on a keyboard. Difficult though it may be, Carly can type, and voice her brilliance--as well as her strong opinions--for all to see!) Mostly, though, the book was written by her father who describes how hard it is to live with a child as disabled as Carly, and, how practically impossible it is to find someone or some place willing to take on her education. Even now, with her photographic memory and high IQ, it's impossible for her clumsy typing to keep up with the speed of her thoughts. So--interesting, but for me, way too much dad, and not enough Carly!