Facilitated Communication of Child Abuse

Michael C. has severe autism and mental retardation. He is almost completely non-verbal in his communication. In 1991-92, when Michael was 16 years old, he attended a special education class operated by the Lancaster-Lebanon (Pennsylvania) Intermediate Unit, also known as IU-13. His teacher was Kerry Stauffer. In early 1992 several of the teachers and teaching assistants at IU-13, including Stauffer, received inservice training in "facilitated communication," or FC, which was then at its zenith of popularity. FC is a technique by which a person, called a "facilitator," supports the hand or arm of a communicatively impaired individual, enabling the person to extend an index finger in order to point to or press the keys of a typewriter or computer keyboard. It has been used primarily as a communicating tool for people afflicted with autism, cerebral palsy, and Down's syndrome. In June 1992 IU-13 representatives on the individualized education program (IEP) team suggested the possibility of using FC with Michael, and his parents and the rest of the team agreed to try it. The IEP team also decided that he would have a full-time teaching assistant for 1992-93. During the summer Michael participated in an extended school year program at IU-13. His teacher, Lisa Lantz, who had been his one-to-one assistant during the 1991-92 school year, had received FC training. Using FC, she believed that Michael communicated to her that his father was sexually abusing him. Early in the fall, after Michael made cryptic references through FC that seemed to suggest that the abuse was ongoing and of a sexual nature, Lantz reported her suspicion to Rita Foster, the program's social worker. Foster relayed the information to Stauffer, who continued to be Michael's teacher during the 1992-93 school year. Stauffer concluded that the information was not sufficient to report it to the county children and youth social service agency. Near the end of 1992, because other IU-13 teachers had received FC messages about child abuse from other students, Foster contacted the agency to request clarification on when suspected abuse - particularly in cases when the information had been obtained through FC - should be reported. The applicable state statute mandated that abuse be reported whenever there was "reasonable suspicion. " An agency representative advised Foster that information received through FC regarding possible abuse should be reported provided that 1) the allegation was fairly detailed, including particulars as to time, place, and body parts; and 2) the child conveyed such information consistently through more than one facilitator. The agency also provided Foster with anatomically correct drawings so that school personnel could attempt to confirm any allegations of abuse independently of FC. By early 1993 Michael's new teaching assistant, Curtis Elledge, who had become his primary facilitator after a transition from Lantz during the fall, came to suspect, also via FC, that Michael was being sexually abused by his father. The statements made to Elledge, however, were somewhat inconsistent with those that Lantz had received. On 9 February 1993 Michael came to school crying and in an agitated state. In an attempt to elicit information from him about what was troubling him, Elledge and Lantz separately used FC with him, while Stauffer and Foster observed. Michael allegedly communicated that he felt sore and that his father "stuck d - k in my butt, . want to go to hospital, . I need a nurse. " When they showed him the anatomically correct pictures and asked him where he hurt, he appeared to point several times in the direction of the buttocks area of the male figure. Based on their collective decision, Foster reported the allegations to the agency that afternoon. Immediately after receiving Foster's call, agency personnel telephoned county juvenile court judge James Cullen. Based on their conversation, an agency case-worker filed an emergency petition for temporary custody in Judge Cullen's court and accompanied two state troopers to Michael's home to execute it. …