The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

We will: a) explain how the disparate results of FC studies are in fact not incompatible with one another, b) describe how the development and application of best-practices standards can maximize the integrity of the communication and minimize influence, and c) hear one individual with autism describe her journey from silence to fully developed independent thought and communication. It seems difficult to reconcile the studies debunking facilitated communication (FC) with those that have demonstrated its validity.  In the first portion of this talk, we will examine and compare the most frequently cited studies on both sides of the issue.  In particular, we will make explicit the hypotheses that have implicitly been the bases of the various studies.  We will show that researchers seeking to discredit FC have been asking and answering fundamentally different questions from those attempting to demonstrate its validity.  Consequently it is no surprise that the two groups produce results that seem totally at odds with one another.  As a result of this talk, we hope that the audience will become aware of the (often unstated) hypotheses that are the basis of many studies of FC in particular and autism in general, and judge the results accordingly.

In Facilitated Communication, the job of the facilitator is to enable authentic communication to occur.  Sometimes people attend a two-day workshop on FC, or they might observe someone using FC and decide that it looks easy enough and they too can do it.  That is when problems occur.  The FC community is well aware that facilitator influence can and does occur, much to the detriment of this form of augmentative communication.  The second part of the presentation will discuss Best Practices as described in the “Facilitated Communication Training Standards” from the Facilitated Communication Institute at , so the audience will realize how complex FC is when properly used.

The ultimate goal of FC is that the user be able to type independently.  The presentation will address physical, emotional, behavioral, and communicative supports supplied by the facilitator and the fading of these supports to achieve independence. 

In the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) world there are catalogues full of communication devices and adaptive technology to enable a disabled person to communicate independently. However, many children and adults with autism and other disabilities do not respond as desired to the efforts of the communication specialist.  They might perseverate and keep banging one key, or hit keys randomly, or throw the device, or not look at it, or type the same words repeatedly, or engage in any number of behaviors, none of which results in communication.  This where a facilitator is necessary to help establish meaningful communication.

An effective facilitator must understand neuromotor concepts such as apraxia, seating and positioning issues, hand function, motor planning problems, and the importance of sensory integration issues.  The facilitator must then know how to devise accommodations so the person can move functionally in spite of these difficulties, whether it be accessing pictures or letters on a keyboard. The facilitator must also know how to recognize and minimize influence with the explicit goal of eliminating it entirely.  Those facilitators who have earned certificates as “Master Trainers” from the FC Institute at not only have demonstrated mastery of FC, but also continue to hone their skills by learning from each other.  They insist upon Best Practices when training new facilitators.

Sue Rubin was fortunate to live in a community open to the use of AAC, including FC.  She was one of those children with autism who was non-verbal and could not effectively use communication devices.  Her mind and body did not work together.  She has described it as her body having a mind of its own.  She also lacked the ability of process all but the most rudimentary spoken language.  She says it was like sounds going over her head.  She exhibited challenging behavior such as head banging, biting, pinching, head butting, etc.  In the third portion of this presentation, she will tell her story of how she developed from this unorganized person, with an I.Q. of 24, lost in autism, to a young woman who types independently to communicate, graduated with honors from high school, achieved a very respectable score on the S.A.T., and has been a student at Whittier College for the past ten years.  She now enjoys the friendship of disabled and non-disabled peers, lives in a small house near campus, and is a respected member of her community.  The stark contrast between Sue’s outward appearance and actual abilities forces people to reassess their assumptions about the cognitive abilities of so called low functioning people with autism.  This message has reached around the world through the Academy Award nominated documentary about her life “Autism is a World”.

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