[tips] Re: Facilitated Communication ?

[Christopher D. Green]

Bill, It is clear to me that FC always has been, and still remains, BS. If you'd like a more "nuanced" view to quote, try this one from the National Autistic Society (of the UK): http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=297&a=3285. As for the APS (which has recently changed its name to the Association for Psychological Science), here's a reference to a study published their flagship journal (though it is not an "official" communication of the Society/Association): Burgess, C.A., Kirsch, I., Shane, H., Niederauer, K.L., Graham, S.M., & Bacon, A. (1998). Facilitated communication as an ideomotor response. Psychological Science, 9, 71-74. This article seems to be available on-line at:  pubpages.unh.edu/~jel/713cog/facilitated_comm.pdf It is an interesting study in which college students were trained to "facilitate" and then asked to do so with a confederate, who they were told was "developmentally delayed and unable to speak." Even though the confederate had no comminucative intentions, the subjects managed to "faciliate" intelligible "communications" 89% of the time. The phrase, "Ouija board" appears soon afterwards. :-) Regards, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-5115 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo ============================= Bill Southerly wrote: Does the scientific opinion continue to be that facilitated communication does not work? APA adopted a policy statement in August 1994 stating this and I find nothing new that suggests that APA's opinion has changed on this. I didn't find any statements by APS. The reason I ask is that I just received a statement that an expert on facilitated communication was going to be running a workshop at Frostburg as part of an special education class and I am concerned that this approach may be presented as a valid approach to be used in the local communities. I have not kept up with this literature so I thought I would ask to see if anyone has and can point me to the present view of such an approach. Thanks, Bill Bill Southerly Department of Psychology Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD 21532 301-687-4778 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english