Arthur Fleischmann - Carlys Voice: Breaking Through Autism

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. Born in New York, he grew up in the Boston area and attended Brandeis University, where he graduated with a B.A. in English literature and economics. He later earned an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

CARLY FLEISCHMANN lives in Toronto, Canada, and attends a mainstream high school where she is enrolled in gifted classes. She corresponds with her thousands of friends and followers via Twitter and Facebook.

www.carlysvoice.com

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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 the age of ten, she had a breakthrough.

While working with her devoted therapists Howie and Barb, Carly reached over to their laptop and typed in HELP TEETH HURT, much to everyones astonishment.

This was the beginning of Carlys 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 many thousands of people who follow her via her blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

In Carlys Voice , her father, Arthur Fleischmann, blends Carlys 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 readers inside a once-secret world and in the company of an inspiring young woman who has found her voice and her mission.

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Copyright 2012 by Arthur Fleischmann

The names of some individuals, entities, and social network users have been changed.

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First Touchstone hardcover edition March 2012

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fleischmann, Arthur.
Carlys voice : breaking through autism/
Arthur Fleischmann with Carly Fleischmann.
p. cm.
A Touchstone book.

1. Fleischmann, Carly, 1995 2. Fleischmann, Arthur. 3. Autistic childrenOntarioTorontoBiography. 4. Parents of autistic childrenOntarioTorontoBiography. 5. Autism in childrenTreatmentCase studies. 6. Autistic childrenEducationCase studies. 7. CommunicationStudy and teachingCase studies. 8. Voice output communication aidsCase studies. 9. Toronto (Ont.)Biography. I. Fleischmann, Carly, 1995 II. Title.
RJ506.A9F587 2012
618.92858820092dc23
[B]

2011032733

ISBN 978-1-4391-9414-0 (print)
ISBN 978-1-4391-9416-4 (eBook)

For those who have not yet found their inner voice and those who will help them do so.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.

Helen Keller

It was the end of the day. Two of my business partners were slumped in the stylishly uncomfortable club chairs across from my desk. I was leaning back with my feet up.

That was an awful meeting, I observed.

We were terrible, said one partner.

We talked way too much. Blah, blah, blah, said the other.

At one point, I said, I thought, Oh my God, whos talking so much? Im so bored. Then I realized it was me .

We laughed. The three of us had just wrapped up a business meeting with a prospective client, one we didnt really want. As a fledgling ad agency, however, we only ate what we killed in those early days, and we shot at most anything that moved.

There will be plenty of other opportunities, I concluded with a shrug as I stood to signal that it was day over, time to go home.

I left the office, a place of hipness and friendly banterwhich my assistant had dubbed the epicenter of loveand climbed into my car.

As I headed home to our comfortable house in a central Toronto neighborhood, I was probably listening to The Fray or Creed blasting on the stereo and singing. With the windows and sunroof open, I could enjoy the warm evening air. As I cut through the Annex, then up University Avenue through Yorkville, I wondered how I could view Toronto as such a beautiful, livable city and my wife could view it as so not . Then again, she grew up in Toronto and saw it through a different lens. As someone who grew up in a suburb but always preferred the city, I appreciated Torontos cosmopolitan charm.

The sun had started sinking, casting a golden light. The summer colors were fading, coming to the end of their all-too-short season. But the dying maple leaves found one more blast of energy and painted a palette of gold and red on the trees lining the streets.

I arrived home and parked my car in the driveway that extended to the back of the house, noting that my wife, Tammy, was out. This was not unusual on a weekday evening. Typically, one of the kids had an activity, or Tammy had an appointment or an errand to run. Before entering the house, I stopped to survey our little dollop of tranquility outside our back door: a cedar fence that surrounded the small, vibrant garden; a limestone patio; and a lawn that had kept its vigor well, considering the lateness of the season. I paused on the back porch for a moment, listening to the babble of the waterfall I installed that summer, and steeled myself with a deep exhale.