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Date:         Tue, 29 Sep 1992 11:17:29 +1000
              <AUTISM@SJUVM.BITNET>
From:         LNCJB@CC.NEWCASTLE.EDU.AU
Subject:      Re: Facilitated Communication Question

In reply to "kasab@luther.che.wisc.edu (John J. Kasab)":-
(I don't know why this post hasn't shown up in my mailbox yet..... I picked it
up on the newsgroup.)

John,

I can't offer any explanations for 'how or why' facilitated communication
seems to work - my children are too 'high-functioning' never to have
needed that type of assistance. I did, however, teach them to use a
typewriter (and subsequently, a computer) at a very early age and I wasn't
surprised to find that their ability to express themselves in typewritten
language was far superior to anything they had ever produced previously -
in speech or handwriting. Therefore, I see no reason to deny that a 'lower
-functioning' autistic child, even a non-verbal one, would have far greater
intellectual abilities than the exterior signs would indicate. Talking with
other parents on this list, whose children are using facilitated communication
techniques, has convinced me that I am not mistaken in this view. I may be
wrong about many things, but I KNOW I'm not wrong about this - autistic
children at all levels are more intelligent than they appear.

>Has there been a study that tests whether this "facilitator effect" is
>actually the source of the perceived intelligence?  I mean, this is not all
>that different from the old Ouija Board party game where "the spirits are
>moving the pointer to the letters," which is, of course, a lot of bullshit.

The first part is the 'bullshit'..... ever heard of 'experimenter bias'?
Subconsciously any experimenter will influence the outcome of his experiment
by his notion of the 'expected outcome'.... that is why it is so important to
always keep an open mind about everything. How do you know that 'spirits'
don't exist and that 'Ouija Boards' are 'bullshit'? Where's your proof?
I have experiences to the contrary...... Once while playing that game years
ago, the glass flew off the table and smashed against the wall beside the
head of someone who had been antagonizing 'our spirit'. At the time the only
hand near the glass was mine, but I wasn't in contact with it.... so in my
opinion either 'spirits' do exist or one of us at that table had psychokinetic
powers (also considered 'bullshit' by most people).

I can't understand why parents of autistic children need proof that FC works
before they'll try it. I'd rather try it to see if it will work... it's
always better to do something than to do nothing at all. If it doesn't work
then all that's been lost can be measured in quantity - time, money and
parental disappointment.... but if it DOES work the gains are measured in
'quality of life' for both parents and child.

Let's all try to assume that autistic children ARE more intelligent than they
appear and introduce our own 'experimenter bias' into the situation. :-)

Carolyn
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