(no subject)

[holly_evolving]

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol1190279887182A551

Bit of sheer awesomeness. Maybe speech therapists will start using parrots? It would take a lot of screenings to find therapy parrots, though. They're generally pretty temperamental. Still, this rules.

Comments

[jenn-girl.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing. That's awesome.

[ariestar.livejournal.com]

I hate to burst the bubble, but the possibilities of this working on anything more than word-learning, and any more than a few situations, is pretty slim. Parrots can "parrot" sounds, but cannot form sentences--or even multi-part words--so the child will have to interact with humans in order to acquire syntax. Still, if this opens the door for the boy, it's a good thing.

[holly-evolving.livejournal.com]

By and large, you're absolutely right. Still, there was Alex, and I'm sure there will be more birds like him. I think it would be possible to find them, if researchers were willing to look.

But mostly, yeah. It's just cool that Barney was able to get through to him; so many autistic kids are just left inside their own bubbles.

More on Alex:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot)