Autistics Typing Along

“We are the parents of a wonderful little girl. When she was a year and a half old, we realized that our daughter could not communicate with us, as if she was closed off in her own world. Then, at age three, she was diagnosed with non-verbal autism. At the time, we lived in Paris and we were worried; thoughts about her future were very dark. All the French experts were very pessimistic and told us that she would never communicate and there’s nothing to be done about it. We took our daughters to all the best doctors in France, Israel, and even England, but we still couldn’t communicate with her. As parents, it was very hard not to be able to have an open discussion with our daughter: to know what she feels, what she likes, how her school day was, what she wants to eat, to wear– simply to know our sweet daughter. She was able to say just a few simple sentences; however, she likes to sing and sings beautifully, and always manages to make people understand what she wants. When our daughter turned 6, we moved from Paris to Israel. Here, she attends a special school for autistic children. They tried everything to help our daughter be more independent and communicate more and more; however, she still couldn’t communicate freely with us. Nine months ago, one of my closest friends told me about Eden Shakah, who developed a special method for non-verbal autistic individuals to communicate through typing. We contacted Eden and in her first meeting with our daughter, a miracle happened– our beautiful girl communicated with Eden! She reads and writes perfectly. Over all those years, none of the experts understood our daughter like Eden; only she understands them completely. She has a special connection with them that allows them to speak freely about their deepest feelings. Today, thanks to the angel Eden, our amazing daughter shows us how smart and sensitive she is. She’s completely taking part in our family lives. She can, like our other kids, express her feelings and communicate with us freely. We wholeheartedly recommend all parents of non-verbal autistic kids to turn to Eden– she is the only person who can help!” - Esther A.