A naturalistic approach to the validation of facilitated communication.
By manipulating the facilitator's knowledge of a student's just-completed activity, facilitated communication ability and the extent of guiding were assessed. Seven students diagnosed with mental retardation and their facilitators participated in the study. All 7 students were purported at the start of the study to be communicating via facilitation at levels far above what was previously thought possible given their level of intellectual ability. A large degree of facilitator guiding was revealed for each of the 4 facilitators. Minimal evidence of facilitation was found for 4 of the 7 students. One of the 7 students demonstrated validated facilitated communication on two trials.
Simon
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Elwyn, Inc., Pennsylvania 19063.
Toll
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DM
Whitehair
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PM
D000293:Adolescent; D003142:Communication; D003143:Communication Devices for People with Disabilities; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008297:Male; D012813:Sign Language; D012944:Social Support