Contested Words, Contested Science: Unraveling the Facilitated Communication Controversy

Facilitated communication is a cause of great controversy in the world of special education. Proponents claim that the technique of allowing persons with autism, Downs syndrome, and other pervasive developmental disorders to type their thoughts on a computer keyboard allows for the release of previously unknown intelligence and communicative abilities; detractors claim that it is a hoax whose validity is yet to be proven. With this book, Douglas Biklen and Donald Cardinal present a collection of studies providing evidence in support of facilitated communication, including a study carried out by a person who uses facilitated communication, Eugene Marcus, a young man with autism. Other contributors include: Darlene Hanson, John Wakeham, Shaswati Saha, Chris Kliewer, Stacey Baldac, Carl Parsons, Marjorie Olney, Mayer Shevin, Michael J. Salomon Weiss, Sheldon H. Wagner, and Rosemary Crossley.