Facilitated Communication

In the early 90's, a psychologist had a breakthrough in the mystery of autism. He held a common belief that people with autism were really intelligent individuals, but prisoners of their bodies and unable to speak or express what was really going on inside. He pioneered a practice called facilitated communication.

In this process, an autistic child was given a keyboard and a mentor (facilitator). The mentor would hold the child's wrist and help them type on their keyboard what they were thinking. Psychologists, communication specialists, and families were so excited to finally understand their children's wants, needs, and feelings.

Thousands of people flocked to facilitated communication seminars, to learn and to be trained. The testimonials were amazing. One mom was so excited to finally have her child express its love for her. Songs were even written about this breakthrough.

Autistic children started attending regular classes with their facilitators and keyboards. They seemed to understand everything, and got most answers right in math, English, science, and other subjects.

Then tables started to turn and expression wasn't always a good thing. Cases of harassment started popping up all over the country. On the keyboards, kids were typing that their parents or teachers were sexually abusive. Restraining orders and punishments took place even though the perpetrators declared themselves innocent.

Finally, someone decided to test facilitated communication. One test was done where facilitators were shown a picture of one thing (e.g. a key) and the autistic child was shown something else (e.g. a shoe). They were told to type the word associated with the picture. Every time, the autistic children typed the word that was associated with the picture the facilitator saw. Tapes were watched of the children typing and researchers noticed that these children were never even looking at the keyboard when they typed. The whole practice was complete bogus.

It was a good idea, and deserved to be tested, it just should not have been put into practice before being tested. It took people by their hearts. The founder still refuses to say he was wrong. He gave people hope and didn't want to let them down.

"People change their beliefs overnight when it grabs them emotionally."

"Stakes were high because mistakes on either side would be devastating. What if it really worked but wasn't put into practice? What if it was put into practice but didn't really work? (which happened.)"

"It is unbelievable how emotions influence people's conclusions."