Facilitators who work closely with individuals with autism, as well as other
developmental disabilities (e.g., mental retardation, cerebral palsy, etc.)
report that individuals with little or no language are fully expressive about
life experiences, thoughts, feelings, choices, preferences, and decisions, when
allowed to communicate through facilitation.
Biklen and other
proponents of facilitated communication have been strongly opposed to objective,
empirical validity testing. They maintain that testing undermines the
individual's confidence, places him or her under pressure, and introduces
negativism that destroys the communicative exchange.
Rather, under the surface of autism is a person with full
cognitive faculties. Smith and Belcher (1993) indicate that much of this
suggests a basic unwillingness on the part of families, professionals, and
caregivers to accept the individuals with disabilities for what they are, thus
diminishing the value of the individual in a way that the disability itself
could not have.
Thompson (1993) describes facilitated communication as a classic example of
the self-fulfilling prophecy. The facilitator wants to believe that the person
with a severe cognitive and language disability is actually of normal to
superior intellectual ability. Parents especially want to believe that a way has
been found to finally unlock the door to their real son or daughter.
In short, people want facilitated communication to work.
Advocates of facilitated communication often respond to naysayers, "It
can't hurt to try it." Biklen agrees, "It is not harmful to teach
people to communicate through pointing." However, he qualifies his claim
with the caveat that "it can be harmful if the facilitator over interprets,
does not monitor the person's eyes, facilitates when the person is looking away,
is not sensitive to the possibility of guiding the person, and asks leading
rather than clarifying questions."
Some argue that "false communication" may distort
beliefs, understanding, and rehabilitative approaches to persons with autism and
other developmental disabilities.
Additionally, facilitated communication in the
past few years has been the source of many contested abuse allegations, usually
allegedly reported by an individual with very limited unassisted communication
skills against a family caregiver or caregivers.
There are at
least 50 legal cases in the U.S. involving allegations of sexual abuse produced
through facilitated communication (Berger, 1994). Several such cases have
already occurred in Australia, and some have arisen in Europe (Green, 1992).
With the exception of three empirical studies (Intellectual Disability
Review Panel, 1989; Calculator and Singer, 1992; and Velazquez (in press)) which
provide preliminary validation of facilitated communication, most of the support
for the validity of facilitated communication is based on anecdotal reports.
Unfortunately, validity questions surround anecdotal reports of facilitated
communication. In general, these reports lack the controls necessary to rule out
experimenter biases, reliability concerns, and threats to validity (Cummins and
Prior, 1992; Jacobsen, Eberlin, Mulick, Schwartz, Szempruch, and Wheeler, 1994).
Although Biklen (1990) admits that facilitator influence is a real
possibility, facilitated communications are typically reported as though they
are the words of the person with a disability.
Without exception, these empirical studies have
questioned the authenticity of the communication as truly coming from the
individual versus the facilitator.
Interdisciplinary Party
Report (1988) and the Intellectual Disability Review Panel (1989) both of which
examined the source of facilitated communications produced by persons in
Australia, and found strong evidence that responses obtained through
facilitation were influenced by the facilitator.
Gina Green, Director of Research for the New England Center for Autism and
Associate Scientist for the E.K. Shriver Center for Mental Retardation, Inc.,
has reviewed over 150 cases where empirical testing was performed and cites 15
independent conduct evaluations involving 136 individuals with autism and/or
mental retardatiion who were alleged to have been taught to communicate via
facilitated communication. In none of the cases were investigators able to
confirm facilitated communication by the 136 individuals.