Carly Fleischmann: 'Autistic Girl Expresses Unimaginable Intelligence' - VIDEO

A friend of mine alerted me to this amazing video the other day. I am sure I have watched it before, when I was new to the autism journey. But this time, it had an even greater impact. It has more meaning now. I understand what milestones mean, more than ever.

Watch as Carly Fleischmann finds her voice:

Carly describes herself like this on her web page:

"My name is Carly Fleischmann and as long as I can remember I’ve been diagnosed with autism.

I am not able to talk out of my mouth, however I have found another way to communicate by spelling on my computer. (and yes that is me typing on the computer by myself)

I used to think I was the only kid with autism who communicates by spelling but last year I met a group of kids that communicate the same way. In fact some are even faster at typing then I am.

Last year a story about my life was shown on ABC news, CNN and CTV here in Canada.

After my story was played I kept on getting lots of emails from moms, dads, kids and people from different countries asking me all sorts of questions about autism. I think people get a lot of their information from so-called experts but I think what happens is that experts can’t give an explanation to certain questions. How can you explain something you have not lived or if you don’t know what it’s like to have it? If a horse is sick, you don’t ask a fish what’s wrong with the horse. You go right to the horse’s mouth."

You can follow Carly on Facebook here.

'My Name Is David' - Autism Viral Video. Watch.

'My Name Is David' is a powerfully simple animated short film from one of the animators of 'Robot Chicken', Matt Manning, for the Autism Speaks site.

It depicts a young student's speech to his fellow classmates about his autism.

The short film features the actual words and voice of the author of the speech - 14 year old David Shapiro Sharif.

David's speech does an exceptional job in not only educating kids and adults about autism [in my opinion, educating adults of school-aged kids is just as important], it also gives a voice to millions of autistic kids around the world. I love it.

Watch. And share:

How wonderful was that? If you don't have an autistic child, did you come away feeling like you know much more about autism?

And if you do have an autistic child, don't you feel somehow validated on their behalf?

For more on Autism Speaks, click here.

Joshua and Sarah Littman: "Q&A" from StoryCorps

My friend showed me this recently...

This is what I love about being open about your child's autism diagnosis... friends are always on the lookout for links and news and articles. It's wonderful.

Watch and be moved by this actual conversation between a mother and her son, who has an Asperger's diagnosis.

Joshua Littman, a 12-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome, interviews his mother, Sarah. Joshua's unique questions and Sarah's beautiful, unguarded answers demonstrate a beautiful relationship - and makes you so happy to be a parent of a special needs child, or otherwise.

Wasn't that wonderful to watch?

Oh, and if you're wondering about the different accents between mother and son, here's why:

"Hi - this is Josh's Mom. The reason is that he was born in the UK and I'm American. Even though he moved here, he kept his accent. It is apparently more common with children with Aspergers. These days (he's now 19) people think he is Canadian or sometimes Australian, which he finds really amusing."

What kind of conversations do you have with your child with autism?