Facilitated Communication

WHAT IS FACILITATED COMMUNICATION?

Facilitated Communication (‘FC’) is sometimes considered to be a controversial method of helping people with severe developmental impairments to communicate.  Usually the child is encouraged to communicate by a ‘facilitator’.  The facilitator offers them emotional and physical support and also makes physical contact with the arm or wrist of the child. Sometimes the child communicates by pointing toward a communication device like a keyboard.

Facilitated Communication is sometimes used with people who have Autism. The reason given is the idea that many of the difficulties faced by autistic people are movement related rather than social or communication related. In other words it is speech skills rather than language skills which are thought to be mainly affected by Autism.

INDEPENDENT TYPING

Supporters of FC also believe that it can lead to ‘independent typing’ which is considered to be typing without physical support. However, it has been suggested that this definition is misleading since it does not stop a child from being influenced and helped by the facilitator. For example even if a child does type by themselves, they may require the facilitator to hold the keyboard and offer other assistance.  In this sense some say that the typing is not ‘independent’. Critics remain convinced that the facilitating techniques used leads only to automatic typing which displays the thoughts and feelings of the facilitator but precludes any ‘real’ communication by the person using FC. 

THE DEBATE

FC has therefore been met with as much criticism as enthusiasm. Unfortunately the problem is that there seems to be a lack of independent evaluation of how successful FC is. Advocates of FC are sometimes reluctant to try and use such evaluation because they think that it may interfere between the trust relationship between the user and the facilitator. Therefore this places practitioners in a difficult position. While some practitioners limit themselves to techniques which have been scientifically corroborated there are others who think it is worth the risk to try something new on the basis that it might work on the particular child or adult involved.

However, despite people expressing strong reservations about it, there can be no doubt that FC has helped certain individuals to cope better with their lives. 

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Although the information we have provided here is meant to be helpful to you, Douglas Silas Solicitors cannot be held responsible for any damage or loss caused by any inaccuracy or reliance placed upon it. If you have any concerns about your child, you should seek professional educational or healthcare advice as soon as possible.