Newsgroups: bit.listserv.autism
Date:         Tue, 6 Oct 1992 16:23:31 -0400
              <AUTISM@SJUVM.BITNET>
From:         "John M. Wobus" <jmwobus@MAILBOX.SYR.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Facilitated Communication Question
              03 Oct 92 14:30:12 +0900." <9210031625.AB09412@mailbox.syr.edu>

In message <9210031625.AB09412@mailbox.syr.edu> you write:
>As you know, I know little about the process of facilitation - all I really
>know about is what 'being autistic means' and I've had a reasonable amount
>of success in raising autistic children and dealing with their problems along
>the way...... some I must admit I've had more success with than others. My
>opinions on FC are based on my intimate knowledge of how autistic people
>react in certain situations and their peculiar language problems. I think I
>really need to know what is involved in FC, before I say anymore. Currently
>it appears that there are certain people trained(?) to do the facilitating.
>Is that correct? Is there any reason why the person facialitating the child
>couldn't be someone who already has the child's confidence and who the child
>already feels relaxed with? Is the facilitation equipment so expensive that
>it is only viable in an educational setting? Is the keyboard much different
>from standard keyboards? Does the child have to know how to read before it can
>be used? If so, what methods are being used to teach the child to read before
>facilitation is tried? How do they test a non-verbal child's ability to read
>and/or comprehend?

In my case, my son Timmy started with a piece of cardboard with a
keyboard drawn on it as well as some pictures and colored cards so he
could demonstrate the ability to point to something to identify it.
Timmy's speech teacher taught my wife and I how to do facilitation
after she had worked on it for with Timmy for a couple of months.  She
took about an hour to show us.  The purpose of this first training
session was to allow us to continue working with Timmy over a summer
hiatus in his schooling.  Up to that point, the teacher had been
working with him mainly doing things like picture and color
identification.

My wife later took a 1 day seminar on facilitated communication.  It
was helpful enough to be very desirable, but not strictly
necessary--you might succeed in facilitating without so much training,
but if you are failing, you should probably consider some training.
Mostly, the seminar showed examples in film, emphasized certain aspects
that one is likely to "slack off" on, and encouraged us to try more
difficult questions with Timmy just to see if he could do more than we
realized.  The result was Timmy being taking out of a special-ed
kindergarten class designed for kids with no speech or any hint of
academic skills, and being placed in the grade appropriate for his age
(2nd).  He now does spelling, math, and listening comprehension, but
hasn't done any writing, i.e., he only gives one-word answers to
questions rather than telling things in sentences.

Though Timmy is very passive and not inclined to show any fear of new
people or situations, we do have trouble keeping him interested in
facilitating.  For further training, our first priority would be to
learn more about motivating him.

We borrowed a Cannon communicator for a while.  Now, we use either the
piece of cardboard or a computer word processor.

In Timmy's case, before FC and outside of FC he shows very little
ability to understand the world: he seems like a 1-to-2 year-old.  For
example, in his daily life outside FC, he understands a few words and
phrases, but if you say: "There is a cookie for you on the table in the
kitchen" (he loves cookies), he doesn't demonstrate understanding by
going and getting the cookie, even if you go out of your way to make
certain you have his attention.  But with FC, he demonstrates an
understanding way beyond that.  And his FC has absolutely no
correlation with his verbal abilities which are just about nil.

Also, no one ever taught Timmy to read.  He simply demonstrated it one
day by answering a written question.  Same with addition, subtraction,
and multiplication.

John Wobus
Syracuse University
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