Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

There are many ways autistic or brain damaged children can be taught to communicate. Facilitated Communication (FC) is not one of those ways. You can be sure that if an autistic child you know is communicating with FC it is malpractice on the part of the facilitator. This is a universally discredited technique that has been around since the late 1980's. Unfortunately, there are still people using this method and to the great detriment of the autistic kids they are supposedly helping.

Frontline did a very complete story exposing the unscientific nature of FC in 1993. Here are just a few of the many sources that have demonstrated that FC is not based on science:

1st STUDY: The results of this case study demonstrate quite clearly that the subject was not able to communicate using the facilitated communication techniques. [Hudson, et al., "Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders," March 1993.]

2nd STUDY: No client showed unexpected literacy or communicative abilities when tested via the facilitator screening procedure, even after 20 hours of training. [Eberlin, et al, "Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders," September, 1993.]

3rd STUDY: Considerable evidence was found of the facilitators influencing the attempts at communication. [Moore, et al, "Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders," September, 1993.]

4th STUDY: None of the 23 participants demonstrated authorship. There has been no instance in which a participant has successfully identified an object through F/C. [Szempruch/Jacobson, "Research on Developmental Disabilities," July/August, 1993.]

5th STUDY: These results suggest that the communications previously reported from individuals with autism may have been influenced by facilitator co-activity. [Smith/Belcher, "Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders," March 1993.]

If you know someone that has been treated with this discredited technique then in all likelihood that person has not had access to the therapies that are scientifically recognized to help the mentally disabled. You may want to call Hurley McKenna & Metz, P.C. at 312-553-4900 to discuss your rights.

As a medical malpractice lawyer in Chicago I have seen some strange and sometimes bizarre things. But the practice of facilitated communication (FC) has shocked even me. It seems that there are still psychiatrists and psychologists that use this technique to treat people that cannot speak or write due to severe mental retardation or autism. These practitioners claim that the disabled person can communicate when the facilitator places his hand over the hand of the patient and guides it on a keyboard or with a pen.

This practice has been thoroughly discredited and was featured in the program Frontline as far back as 1996:

The Frontline program showed facilitators allegedly describing what their clients were viewing, when it was clear their clients' heads were tilted so far back they couldn't have been viewing anything but the ceiling. When facilitators could not see an object which their client could see (a solid screen blocked each from seeing what the other was seeing) they routinely typed out the wrong answer. Furthermore, FC clients routinely use a flat board or keyboard, over which the facilitator holds their pointing finger. Even the most expert typist could not routinely hit correct letters without some reference as a starting point. (Try looking away from your keyboard and typing a sentence using just one finger held in the air above the keyboard.) Facilitators routinely look at the keyboard; clients do not. The messages' basic coherence indicates that they most probably are produced by someone who is looking at the keyboard.

The problem with this junk science is that while wasting time on FC the patient is not getting the therapy he needs. The result is that desparately disabled people are the victims of this unscientific fad. It is psychological malpractice.