 This annotated
bibliography is not intended to be a comprehensive bibliography. Rather it includes the
major books on the topic and many research and commentary articles. Among the research
articles emphasis is given to those studies in which facilitated communication users were
able to confirm their communicative competence with the method; also included are several
often cited studies in which researchers were unable to confirm the effectiveness of
facilitation.
Biklen, D. (1993). Communication unbound. New York: Teachers College Press. This
book includes Biklen’s first article on facilitated communication, originally
published in the Harvard Educational Review (1990), as well as information about
the method and a discussion of how findings from facilitation challenge prevailing
understandings of autism and related developmental disabilities.
Biklen, D. & Cardinal, D. (Eds.) (1997) Contested words, contested science:
Unraveling the facilitated communication controversy. New York: Teachers College
Press. A collection of studies (controlled, quantitative ones as well as qualitative
investigations) of facilitation, focusing mainly on the authorship question: who is doing
the typing, facilitator or the person with the communication impairment. The book includes
a chapter by Marcus and Shevin in which Marcus, an FC user, replicates a classic
facilitated communication authorship test.
Biklen, D., Saha, N., & Kliewer, C. (1995). How teachers confirm authorship of
facilitated communication. Journal of the Association for persons with Severe
Handicaps, 20, 45-56. A qualitative examination of the authorship question,
examining authorship of all students (17) in several school settings who were using
facilitation. Teachers provided and described evidence for 13 of the 17 students of
message passing skills (i.e., typing information not known to their facilitators that
could be verified as accurate).
Blackman, L. (1999) Lucy’s story: Autism and other adventures. Brisbane:
Book in Hand. Lucy Blackman was at one time thought to have significant intellectual.
She learned to communicate using facilitated communication and now is able to type without
physical support and has earned a bachelor’s degree in arts and letters from Deakin
University in Australia.
Bristol, M.M., Cohen, D.J., Costello, E.J., Denckla, M., Eckberg, T.J., Kallen R.,
Kraemer, H.C., Lord, C., Maurer, R., McIlvane, W.J., Minshew, N., Sigman, M., and Spence,
M.A. (1996). State of the science in autism: Report to the National Institutes of Health. Journal
of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46 (2), 121-154. This article suggests that
motor disturbance may be related to difficulties of expression. "Many individuals
with autism lack speech and have limitation in gestural communication and in the use of
augmentative communication systems. These problem areas may be caused or complicated by
specific sensory difficulties
Botash, A., Babuts, D., Mitchell, N., O'Hara, M., Manuel, J., Lynch, L. (1994).
Evaluations of Children who have disclosed sexual abuse via facilitated communication. Archives
of Pediatric Medicine, 148, 1282-1287. A medical team’s evaluation of
cases in which individuals using facilitation purportedly made allegations of abuse.
Several students were found to have medical evidence of abuse. The pattern of evidence in
this group parallels the patterns seen in the nondisabled, speaking population in the
region in which the study was conducted.
Broderick, A. & Kasa-Hendrickson, C. (2001). " Say just one word at
first": The emergence of reliable speech in a student labeled with autism. The
Journal of the Association for People with Severe Handicaps, 26, 13-24. "As
a nonverbal child, Jamie was provided with a text based system of communication presuming
that he could and would become literate in reading and writing." p. 23.
Candelora, V.J. (1995). Facilitated communication: A scientific theory or mode of
communication? Should people with autism have a voice in court. Dickinson Law Review,
99 (3), 753-778. Law review article that critiques the application of the frye
test as a measure for determining admissibility of evidence given via facilitation.
Cardinal, D., Hanson, D., & Wakeham, J. (1996). An investigation of authorship in
facilitated communication. Mental Retardation 34, 231-242.. The
largest scale validation study to date. Forty-three individuals were asked to type words
that they had seen but their facilitators had not seen. Seventy-four percent of the
participants demonstrated that facilitation aided them in conveying words their
facilitators had no way of knowing.
Crossley, R. (1994). Facilitated Communication Training. New York: Teachers
College Press. A classic how-to book about facilitation with people with severe
communication difficulties.
Crossley, R. & McDonald, A. (1984) Annie's Coming Out. New York: Viking
Penguin. An autobiographical account of one person’s struggle to leave an
institution. McDonald, who learned to communicate via facilitation, had to pass several
validation tests before being declared competent and permitted to leave the institution.
Crossley, R. (1997) Speechless. New York: Dutton. This book, written by the
Australian educator widely recognized as one of the first to use facilitated
communication, and certainly the first to prove the method’s effectiveness through
validation tests, includes a series of case studies of her work.
Crossley, R. & Remington-Gurney, J. (1992). Getting the words out I. Topics in
Language Disorders, 12 (4), 29-45. Part of a special issue of this journal
devoted to facilitated communication. This article provides some background on the method
and its use with individuals in Australia.
Donnellan, A.M. & Leary, M.. R. (1995). Movement differences and diversity in
autism/mental retardation. Madison, WI: DRI Press. The authors explore the idea
that conceptions of mental retardation have failed to acknowledge the importance of
movement disturbance in relation to communication: "The fact that these symptoms have
been either ignored or misunderstood for more than 100 years has created the impression
that they are part of the package of certain syndromes, such as autism and many categories
of mental retardation" (p. 40).
Duchan, J.F., Calculator, S., Sonnenmeier, R., Diehl, S., & Cumley, G.D. (2001). A
framework for managing controversial issues. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in
Schools, 32, 133-141. "This article offers a clinical practice
framework for gathering information about controversial approaches and for implementing
and monitoring their use. The framework ... (is) illustrated using facilitated
communication as an example of a controversial practice." p. 133.
Dwyer, J. (1996). Access to justice for people with severe communication impairment. Administrative
Law Review, 3 (2), 73-120. An exceptionally well documented, thorough review
of legal issues surrounding facilitated communication in Australia, New Zealand, and the
U.S.
Eastham, M. (1992). Silent words. Ottawa: Oliver Pate. A mother’s
account of how her son learned to communicate with facilitation and to become an
independent typist.
Eberlin, M. McConnachie, G. Ibel, S., & Volpe, L. (1993) Facilitated communication:
A failure to replicate the phenomenon. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,
23, 3, 507-530. One of the early studies in which the tested individuals were
unable to demonstrate that they were communicating their own thoughts.
"Twenty-one subjects participated in a study,… no client showed unexpected
literacy or communicative abilities when tested via the facilitator screening procedures,
" p. 507
Facilitated Communication Institute (2000). Facilitated Communication Training
Standards. Syracuse, NY: Author. Available on-line at: http://soeweb.syr.edu/thefci
This document explains the fundamental principles of facilitated communication, best
practices, methods of training, and competency levels. Appendices include a bibliography
as well as a supervision check-list and skill building elements.
Grandin, T. & Scariano, M.N. (1986). Emergence labeled autistic. Novato, CA:
Arena Press. A classic autobiography by Temple Grandin about her life with autism,
including accounts of her experiences as a child before people knew she could understand
them even though she could not let them know through speech. This is not a book about
facilitation, but it is nevertheless important to understanding facilitation, for many of
her experiences parallel those reported by people who now use facilitation.
Grayson, A. & Emerson, A., 1996, A microanalysis of video-taped facilitated
communication interactions. In Autism Research Unit (Eds), Therapeutic Intervention in
Autism: Perspectives from Research and Practice, pp. 169-185. Sunderland: Autism
Research Unit.
Grayson, A., Griffiths, A., Basire, C., Potts, M. & Emerson, A. (2000). Facilitated
communication and external executive control: A fine-grained video analysis. Paper
presented at the conference Crossing dis/ABILITY Borders: Beyond the Myth of Normal.
Syracuse University, USA, May 2000.
Grayson, A., Howard-Jones, P.M. & Emerson, A., 1998, Facilitated communication and
attributions of authorship: Brief excerpts from a case study. In Autism Research Unit
(Eds), Psychobiology of Autism: Current Research and Practice, pp. 93-104.
Sunderland: Autism Research Unit.
Halle, J.W., Chadsey-Rusch, J., and Reichle, J. (1994). Editorial introduction to
special topic on facilitated communication. The Journal of the Association for Persons
with Severe Handicaps, 19 (3), 149-150. A good example of the parameters of
the current dialogue over facilitated communication. Much of the debate centers on the
meaning and assessment of mental retardation. The article by Williams, cited below in
full, is of particular interest.
In the Matter of Luz P. (anonymous). Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate
Division, Second Judicial Department, 92-07565, March 29, 1993. The first, and most
cited court decision in which it was found that individuals using facilitation should have
a chance to prove they are communicating their own words.
Intellectual Disability Review Panel. (1989) Investigation into the reliability and
validity of the assisted communication technique. Melbourne: Department of Community
Services, Victoria. An often cited study, the first formal study, of facilitated
communication. Four of the six individuals tested demonstrated that they were able to
communicate their own thoughts via the method. One individual who produced valid
communication also demonstrated that he could be influenced in his communication by the
facilitator.
Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J.A., and Schwartz, A.A. (1995). A history of facilitated
communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience, American Psychologist, 50
(9), 750-765. Starting with a biting attack of facilitated communication, the authors
suggest that this method’s acceptance is related to "anti-science" views
that they say have led to deinstitutionalization and inclusion which the authors also
attack.
Janzen-Wilde, M.L., Duchan, J.F., and Higginbotham, D.J. (1995). Successful use of
facilitated communication with an oral child. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research,
38, 658-676. "A 6 ½ -year-old child’s oral and spelled utterances
were compared over a 3-month period as he was trained to use FC. The child’s language
with FC was significantly better than his oral language in length of utterances, novelty
of utterances, and syntactic complexity" p. 658
Kangas, K.A. & Lloyd, L.L. (1988). Early cognitive skills as prerequisites to
augmentative and alternative communication use: What are we waiting for? Augmentative
and Alternative Communication, 4, 211-221. While not about facilitated
communication, this is an important article in the field of augmentative and alternative
communication. It makes the point that children with developmental disabilities are often
not given means of communication because they are unable to demonstrate certain motor and
response skills. The article argues for providing students with developmental disabilities
literature rich and communication rich environments as well as access to communication
devices and methods, even if traditional prerequisites have not been demonstrated.
Kliewer, C. & Biklen, D. (2001) "School’s not really a place for
reading": An analysis of the literate lives of people with severe disabilities. The
Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 26 (1), 1-12. Suggests
"that people construed as having severe intellectual disabilities demonstrate a
symbolic and literate presence when supported by those who believe in their capacities and
with whom they share an intimate relationship." p. 11.
Kliewer, C. & Drake, S. (1998). Disability, eugenics and the current ideology of
segregation: a modern moral tale. Disability & Society, 13, (1), 95-111.
This article examines how the discourse of facilitated communication has included attempts
to use the language and authority of science to silence individuals, including those who
have proven their communicative competence
Kochmeister, S.J. (1994). Reflections on a year of turmoil and growth. Facilitated
Communication Digest, 2, (4), 6-8. An account by a person who was once
presumed severely retarded and who since learned to communicate with facilitation before
progressing to the point where she can type without any physical support.
Koppenhaver, D.A., Pierce, P.L. & Yoder, D.E. (1995). AAC, FC, and the ABCs:
Issues and relationships. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 4
(4), 5-15. The authors suggest that knowledge from the fields of AAC and literacy be
integrated into the research and clinical practice of facilitated communication.
Leary, M.R. & Hill, D.A. (1996). Moving on: Autism and movement disturbance, Mental
Retardation, 34 (1), 39-53. A detailed account of motor problems seen in
individuals with developmental disabilities; motor difficulties may block individuals from
revealing intellectual abilities.
Luxton, M.S. (1994). Facilitated communication for people with autism in the courts:
Balancing the need for reliable evidence with the requirements of the Constitution. Hamline
Law Review, 18 (2), 201-230. Law review article argues for the right of
people using facilitation to participate in the courtroom, under certain conditions.
Marcus, E. and Shevin, M. (1997) Sorting it out under fire: Our journey. In D. Biklen
and D. Cardinal (Eds.) Contested words, contested science: Unraveling the facilitated
communication controversy. New York: Teachers College Press. One of the authors
(Marcus) has autism. In this article, Marcus replicates the Wheeler study cited below.
Then with modest modifications (e.g. numerous practice sessions, extended time to answer,
etc.) demonstrates that he is the author of the words he types with facilitation.
Martin, R. (1994). Out of silence: A journey into language. NY: Henry Holt and
Company. A popular book that recounts the author’s nephew’s introduction to
facilitated communication and his subsequent experiences. This book was very favorably
reviewed in the New York Times Book Review and other major media outlets.
Maurer, N. (1995). Facilitated communication: Can children with autism have a voice in
court? Maryland Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues, 6 (2), 233-282. A
detailed analysis of cases in the U.S. involving facilitation, and a concise argument for
how, when, and under what conditions testimony via facilitated communication should be
accepted in the courtroom.
Muckopadhyay, T.R. (2000). Beyond the silence: My life, the world and autism.
London: National Autistic Society. An autobiographical account by a boy who learned to
communicate with physical support and who now types independently and can speak.
Nolan, C. (1987). Under the eye of the clock. New York: St. Martins Press. A
best-selling autobiographical novel by a writer with cerebral palsy, including a brief
description of his writing method, that includes facilitation.
Olney, M. (1995). A controlled evaluation of facilitated communication.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. A
controlled, quantitative study in which five of nine participants succeeded in validating
their communicative competence at statistically significant levels.
Oppenheim, R. C. (1974). Effective Teaching Methods for Autistic Children.
Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. A parent/educator’s account of a touch method
of handwriting with individuals with autism that appears to be the same thing as
facilitated communication. Includes a theoretical explanation based on apraxia.
Reed, D. (1996). Paid for the Privilege. Madison, WI: DRI Press. This is a
facilitator’s humorous and poignant account of how a
business-man-turned-day-center-marketing-director learns about disability from people who
had grown up without speech and who all the world believed were mentally retarded.
Rubin, S., Biklen, D., Kasa-Hendrickson, C., Kluth, P., Cardinal, D.N., &
Broderick, A., (2001). Independence, participation, and the meaning of intellectual
ability. Disability and Society, 16 (3), 415-429. "I was thought to
be retarded (but) all this changed ... once I could type without support... My very
existence challenged beliefs about mental retardation. Able to type independently... my
presentations (at conferences) were acts of advocacy.... When people see me they are
forced to admit that their assumptions about mental retardation were wrong."
Shane, H.C. (Ed.)(1994). Facilitated communication. San Diego: Singular
Publishing Group. In the editor’s own words, the series of articles that comprise
this book conclude that "the theory behind the practice of FC is misguided and
simplistic" (p. ix).
Schneiderman, H (1994). Letter to the editor: Personal experiences with facilitative
communication. Journal of Child Neurology, 9, (3). A father/pediatrician
recounts his own experiences in being a facilitator for his son and the conversations they
have had together.
Seal, B.C. & Bonvillian, J.D. (1997). Sign language and motor functioning in
students with autistic disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 27,
4, 437-466. One of a number of recent studies that document the motor disturbance
difficulties associated with autism. This study notes that apraxia is most evident in
those individuals who have the greatest communication difficulties.
Sellin, B. (1995). I don't want to be inside me anymore: Messages from an autistic
mind. New York: Basic Books. An autobiographical account of one person’s
learning to communicate via facilitation. Exceptionally rich material on how one person
experiences autism.
Sheehan, C. & Matuozzi, R. (1996) Validation of facilitated communication. Mental
Retardation, 34 (2), 94-107. "Three individuals (8,10, and 24 years old
with diagnoses of autism and mental retardation) participated in a message-passing format
to determine whether they could disclose information previously unknown to their
facilitators. Results showed valid facilitated communication from each participant."
(p. 94)
Sienkiewicz-Mercer, R. & Kaplan, S. B. (1989). I raise my eyes to say yes.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Not about facilitation, but this book is a very well written
and important account of communication with augmentative and alternative systems,
demonstrating the importance of interaction between the person doing the communicating and
a communication partner.
Spitz, H.H. (1997). Nonconscious movements: From mystical messages to facilitated
communication. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. The author argues that
facilitated communication is a hoax, much like the Ouija board, mind reading, and other
magical tricks. The author characterizes facilitated communication as something that
should be "expunged," as "a virus run rampant." Facilitated
communication, he argues, "takes its place alongside the witch trials, magic cures,
animal magnetism, and other such phenomena in the long struggle of our species to emerge
from the grip of irrationality."
State of Kansas v. Warden, S.Ct. Kansas, No. 70,337, 1995 LEXIS 41. Supreme Court of
Kansas decision allowing a conviction based on an allegation and testimony by facilitation
in an abuse case.
Steering Committee, Division of Intellectual Disability Services (1993). The
Queensland report on facilitated communication. Brisbane: Department of Family
Services and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs. A year long authorship study using
qualitative and quantitative techniques and activities. 82% of the participants
demonstrated their authorship via facilitation.
Taylor, S. (1994). Editor’s introduction to the exchange of opinion on the risks
and benefits of facilitated communication. Mental Retardation, 32 (4),
299-300. Introduces article by Levine, Shane, and Wharton that calls for evaluating
facilitated communication using guidelines developed for new medical treatments. The
authors advocate that use and promotion of facilitated communication be halted until or
unless "sound scientific evidence" establishes its validity as a means of
communication. Commentaries -- most of them are critical of the Levine et al. framework
and conclusion-- are offered by Ferguson & Horner, Goode, Halle, and Hitzing, with a
rejoinder by Levine et al.
Twachtman-Cullen, D. (1997). A passion to believe. Boulder, CO: Westview. The
author argues that facilitation is attended by an "FC culture – that
sociopolitical phenomenon in which unanimity of thought and philosophy has created a class
of believers whose ‘sacred’ mission it is not only to advance the cause of
facilitated communication but also to disparage the opposition."
Waterhouse, S. (2000). A positive approach to autism. London and Philadelphia:
Jessica Kingsley Publishers. A personal account promoting the point that facilitated
communication allows people to take an active part in the world by making decisions and
communicating their ideas, hopes and problems.
Watts, G. & Wurzburg, G. (Producers),(1994). Every step of the way
(Videotape). Syracuse: Syracuse University Facilitated Communication Institute. A
videotape featuring several individuals who are learning to communicate without physical
support. The tape focuses on the participants’ own perspectives on the process of
achieving independence, and includes diagnostic data on them prior to and after being
introduced to facilitation.
Weiss, M.J.S., Wagner, S., & Bauman, M. (1996). A case of validated facilitated
communication. Mental Retardation , 34 (4), 220-230. An article reporting
on a controlled investigation of authorship using message passing. The study is especially
important because it involves elaborate content for the message passing.
Wheeler, D.L., Jacobson, J.W., Paglieri, R.A., & Schwartz, A.A. (1993).An
experimental assessment of facilitated communication. Mental Retardation, 31
(1), 49-60. The most often cited, classic study of authorship on facilitation, where
all participants failed to demonstrate authorship and where seven were clearly influenced
in the communication by their facilitators.
Williams, D. (1994). Invited commentary: In the Real World. Journal of the
Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 19, 196-199. Best selling
author, Donna Williams, gives a brilliant critique of arguments on both sides of the
facilitation debate; she offers her own explanations for why the method may work and also
why some people may easily be influenced in their communication. This issue of JASH
includes articles by Green & Shane and by Biklen & Duchan, as well as other
commentaries on facilitated communication.
Wurzburg, G. & Watts, G. (1994). Introduction to facilitated communication; We
have a lot to offer; Part of our lives; A new beginning; The school
years Videotapes. Syracuse, NY: Facilitated Communication Institute. A series of
videotapes that introduce the method and demonstrate how teachers, parents, families, and
friends are using it in their communities.
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