Facilitated Communication—what harm it can do: Confessions of a former facilitator

Abstract

This article is a response to the most recent media coverage of sexual abuse allegations against parents obtained through Facilitated Communication (FC). Some parents, caregivers, educators, and researchers continue to use FC, despite overwhelming evidence within the scientific community that messages obtained through FC are facilitator-authored. In 1992, I was the facilitator in the Wheaton case and, through the guise of FC, brought sexual abuse allegations against the family of the autistic child, Betsy, with whom I worked. Authorship of the messages were challenged through scientific testing. The results of the testing concluded beyond doubt that I, not the child, authored the messages. Despite my reticence to give up my belief in FC, I could no longer ignore the scientific studies that replicated my own personal experiences with the purported technique. What follows is an overview of how I became involved with FC, how the sexual abuse allegations surfaced, and what happened when my belief in FC was challenged through scientific testing.

Source of funding: No source of funding reported.

Keywords:

• Facilitated Communication
• Abuse
• Scientific testing
• Evidence
• Unsupported treatments

Acknowledgments

Declaration of interest: I decided to write this article because I have experienced FC in a way that few critics or proponents have: first as a believer and defiant defender of FC, then as a demoralized ex-facilitator, and now, 20 years later, as a skeptic solid in my belief that FC is more about the facilitator's desire to connect with their disabled family member or client than it is about the disabled person's ability to communicate through FC. Although I was an educator at the time these events occurred, I am no longer employed in any school system. I left education nearly 15 years ago. I am not affiliated with any groups (pro or con) associated with FC, and I have not had contact with the Wheaton family since the taping of the 20/20 show. I decided to write this article of my own volition because nothing I have currently read or seen in the media has dissuaded me from believing that FC is not a valid form of independent communication. I cannot change the events of the past, but I can continue to speak out about and take responsibility for my part in bringing about the events of 1992. My hope is that this brings some small comfort to the Wheatons and to the others so adversely affected by the use of FC.