Facilitated communication (FC) is a method designed to assist individuals with autism and related disabilities to communicate through the use of a typewriter, keyboard, or similar device.< The technique involves a trained "facilitator" holding the disabled persons hand, arm, or shoulder while the latter apparently types messages on the keyboard device. The basic rationale behind FC is that persons with autism suffer from a neurological impairment called apraxia, which interferes with purposeful motoric behavior. This neurological abnormality in motor functioning is often hypothesized to be unrelated to intellectual functioning.

Thus, many if not all people with autism are believed to possess a "hidden literacy" that can be expressed by overcoming these motoric deficits (Green, 1994). [Note: It is important to distinguish facilitated communication from methods of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), in which disabled persons independently utilize various keyboard devices to communicate.

Syracuse University education professor Douglas Biklen witnessed Crossleys use of FC in Australia and brought the technique to the United States. In 1992, Biklen formed the Facilitated Communication Institute at Syracuse University and began to promote its use for persons with autism. Biklen continues to maintain the Facilitated Communication Institute at Syracuse University and to be a vocal proponent of FC for autism (Gardner, 2001; Jacobson, Mulick, & Schwartz, 1995).

American Academy of Pediatrics (1998). Auditory integration training and facilitated communication for autism. American Academy of Pediatrics. Committee on children with disabilities. Pediatrics, 102, 431-433.

Burgess, C. A., Kirsch, I., Shane, H., Niederauer, K. L., Graham, S. M., & Bacon, A. (1998). Facilitated communication as an ideomotor response. Psychological Science, 9, 71-74.

Gardner, M. (2001). Facilitated communication: A cruel farce.

Gorman, B. J. (1999). Facilitated communication: Rejected in science, accepted in courtta case study and analysis of the use of FC evidence under Frye and Daubert. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 17, 517-541.

Green, G. (1994). Facilitated communication: Mental miracle or sleight of hand? Skeptic, 2, 68-76.

A history of facilitated communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science working group on facilitated communication.

Wheeler, D. L., Jacobson, J. W., Paglieri, R. A., & Schwartz, A. A. (1993). An experimental assessment of facilitated communication.

This is a process in which a "facilitator" supports the hand or arm of a severely handicapped person who spells out a message using a typewriter, a computer keyboard, or other device containing a list of letters, numbers, or words. It is alleged to help individuals strike the keys they desire without influencing the choice of keys. Some speech therapists and other special-education providers are using this procedure for nonverbal individuals with autism or severe mental retardation. Proponents claim that it enables such individuals to communicate. However, many scientific studies have demonstrated that the procedure is not valid because the outcome is actually determined by the "facilitator." In one study, for example, autistic patients and facilitators were shown pictures of familiar objects and asked to identify them under three types of conditions: (a) assisted typing with facilitators unaware of the content of the stimulus picture, (b) unassisted typing, and (c) a condition in which the participants and facilitators were each shown pictures at the same time. In this last condition the paired pictures were either the same or different, and the participant's typing was "facilitated" to label or describe the picture. No patient gave a correct response when the facilitator had not been shown the picture. The researchers concluded that the facilitators were not aware that they were influencing the patients . The American Psychological Association has denounced facilitated communication and warned that using it to elicit accusations of abuse by family members or other caregivers threatens the civil rights of both the impaired individual and those accused . In 1994, the FTC settled charges that two companies had made false and unsubstantiated claims about "facilitated communication" devices they had marketed.

American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Children with Disabilities. Auditory integration training and facilitated communication for autism. Pediatrics 102:431-433, 1998.

Mulick JA and others. Anguished silence and helping hands: Autism and facilitated communication. Skeptical Inquirer 17:270-280, 1993.

Wheeler DL and others. An experimental assessment of facilitated communication. Mental Retardation 31:49-59, 1993.

Jacobson JW, Mulick JA, Schwartz AA. A history of facilitated communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science Working Group on Facilitated Communication.

American Psychological Association. Resolution on facilitated communication. Aug 14, 1994.

This is a process in which a "facilitator" supports the hand or arm of a severely handicapped person who spells out a message using a typewriter, a computer keyboard, or other device containing a list of letters, numbers, or words. It is alleged to help individuals strike the keys they desire without influencing the choice of keys. Some speech therapists and other special-education providers are using this procedure for nonverbal individuals with autism or severe mental retardation. Proponents claim that it enables such individuals to communicate. However, many scientific studies have demonstrated that the procedure is not valid because the outcome is actually determined by the "facilitator." In one study, for example, autistic patients and facilitators were shown pictures of familiar objects and asked to identify them under three types of conditions: (a) assisted typing with facilitators unaware of the content of the stimulus picture, (b) unassisted typing, and (c) a condition in which the participants and facilitators were each shown pictures at the same time. In this last condition the paired pictures were either the same or different, and the participant's typing was "facilitated" to label or describe the picture. No patient gave a correct response when the facilitator had not been shown the picture. The researchers concluded that the facilitators were not aware that they were influencing the patients . The American Psychological Association has denounced facilitated communication and warned that using it to elicit accusations of abuse by family members or other caregivers threatens the civil rights of both the impaired individual and those accused . In 1994, the FTC settled charges that two companies had made false and unsubstantiated claims about "facilitated communication" devices they had marketed.

American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Children with Disabilities. Auditory integration training and facilitated communication for autism.

Mulick JA and others. Anguished silence and helping hands: Autism and facilitated communication. Skeptical Inquirer 17:270-280, 1993.

Wheeler DL and others. An experimental assessment of facilitated communication. Mental Retardation 31:49-59, 1993.

Jacobson JW, Mulick JA, Schwartz AA. A history of facilitated communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science Working Group on Facilitated Communication.

American Psychological Association. Resolution on facilitated communication. Aug 14, 1994.

Devices whose seeming utility depends ultimately on a rubbing plate or some related form of ideomotor action are still widely promoted on the fringes of medical, agricultural, forensic, geological, mining, and other applied fields. The preceding account provides the barest outline of the extent to which theories, systems, and machinery, dependent on some kind of ideomotor action, delude intelligent, sincere people -- sellers and buyers alike. The following are three contemporary instances of ideomotor action in medicine: "facilitated communication," "applied kinesiology," and certain aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

In "facilitated communication," the "facilitator" attempts to aid autistic children or those with other cognitive and language deficits to communicate. The child is placed in front of a keyboard, letters of which appear on a screen. The facilitator physically steadies the child's finger as it presses the keys.

Spitz H. Nonconscious Movements: From Mystical Messages to Facilitated Communication. Manwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum; 1997.

Dillon K. Facilitated communication, autism, and Ouija. Skeptical Inquirer. 1993;17(3):281-287.

Mulick, J.A., J.W. Jacobson, and F.H. Kobe. 1991. Anguished silence and helping hands: Autism and facilitated communication.