Gifted girl ‘denied’ state education due to autism Teen created own version of ‘Siri’ – yet cannot find a school
A13-YEAR-OLD girl – who has invented her own virtual assistant like Apple’s Siri – is unable to get a school place because she is autistic, her father claims.
Gifted Kari Lawler created her virtual assistant after teaching herself computer programming languages.
Yet her family’s efforts to return her to mainstream education have proved in vain, leaving her parents proud but frustrated.
“When Kari started, I don’t think even she thought she could do it,” said father Brett Lawler, who is an IT consultant.
“It’s incredible when you consider what the large technology companies have spent on producing something not very different to what Kari has managed to achieve in such a short space of time.
“We are proud, but frustrated. She needs to be at high level education – in a grammar or independent school. But as soon as you mention the word autism you hit a brick wall.”
Kari was a highly gifted pupil at Castle Bromwich Junior School, but the autism diagnosis at the age of 11 turned her school life upside down.
It came while Kari was preparing for the move to Park Hall Academy, Castle Bromwich.
As an autistic child, she was unable to partake in a number of group activities – and the sense of isolation took its toll.
Her parents pulled her out of the academy 12 months ago and last week met education chiefs in a bid to find a school for their daughter.
Mr Lawler, 44, believes the academy over-reacted to Kari’s autism and blamed a lack of understanding of the condition. He said: “The resistance Kari is facing is solely down to a complete lack of understanding of autism. Even though Kari has never had any learning needs, behavioural issues, communication or high-anxiety issues, schools we’ve approached just assume the worse based on stereotypes. They dismissively say ‘no’ without looking at her as an individual.
“Kari wants nothing more than to be back in school, doing what she loves the most, which is learning.”
Tutors who visit Kari at her Castle Bromwich home have been stunned by her intellect. They feel she is ready to sit GCSEs now, even though she is only 13.
Kari excels at English, maths and science – but even her father has been surprised by her latest computer invention.
“She wants to develop it further,” he said, “but she’s hit a roadblock when it comes to accessing facilities.
“She has always been interested in robotics and wanting to learn more about artificial intelligence.
“After purchasing a few books, she very quickly taught herself the necessary programming skills and within a few days it became apparent she was making considerable progress.
“Amazingly within just one week she had a working prototype of a virtual assistant. It’s amazing what she has achieved at her age with very little resources. The fact her personal assistant responds in a similar manner to Siri and even has the same witty attitude when asked something out of the ordinary, is marvellous.”
Mr Lawler added: “To me, a genius is someone like Albert Einstein but she is very bright, very gifted.”
Kari now wants to expand her prototype and feels the human interaction it offers could help dementia sufferers.
Her father added: “Realistically, she appreciates she has a long way to go before realising this vision.
“However, in the meantime she would like to connect and learn through a mentoring role with any individuals or companies in this field.”