The technique involves a facilitator who places her hand over that of the patient's hand, arm or wrist, which is placed on a board or keyboard with letters, words or pictures. The patient is allegedly able to communicate through his or her hand to the hand of the facilitator which then is guided to a letter, word or picture, spelling out words or expressing complete thoughts. Through their facilitators, previously mute patients recite poems, carry on high level intellectual conversations, or simply communicate. Parents are grateful to discover that their child is not hopelessly retarded but is either normal or above normal in intelligence.
Most skeptics believe that the only one doing the communication is the facilitator.
Facilitated Communication therapy began in Australia with Rosemary Crossley. The FC Institute was established in 1992. While several studies have indicated that facilitated communication does tap into the mind of a person who heretofore had been incommunicado, most studies have shown that facilitated communication only taps into the beliefs and expectations of the facilitator. Many control studies have failed to produce strong evidence that facilitated communication works. There have been numerous critics of FC, including Gina Green, Ph.D. , Director of Research at the New England Center for Autism, Southboro, Massachusetts, and Associate Scientist at the E.K. Shriver Center, Waltham, Massachusetts, and Howard C. Shane, Ph.D., Director of the Communication Enhancement Center, Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Disorders at Children's Hospital, Boston, and Associate Professor of Otolaryngology in the Harvard Medical School.