This article introduces two major articles and four commentaries on facilitated communication with people having severe disabilities. Ten basic facilitated communication questions which these papers address are listed. (DB)

This response to Green and Shane (EC 609 759) and Biklen and Duchan (EC 609 760), which presented opposing views of facilitated communication (FC) with people having severe disabilities, focuses on science as viewed through positivist and constructivist lenses. The paper uses Biklen and Duchan's social constructivist approach to identify three…

This article summarizes research regarding the delivery of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) supports to students with autism. Focus is on: (1) what AAC modality is preferable to use (manual signs or graphic symbols); and (2) what is known about the use of voice output communication aids with people with autism. (Author/DB)

This response to Green and Shane (EC 609 759) and Biklen and Duchan (EC 609 760), which presented opposing views of facilitated communication (FC) with people having severe disabilities, is by an author who is herself autistic. It concludes that both the critics and proponents of FC are wrong because of testing problems associated with self-other…

This introductory article to a special issue on the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for persons with autism briefly reviews the history of AAC with this population, summarizes issues identified in the following articles, and notes questions that remain unanswered. (Contains references.) (DB)

The controversy regarding the use of facilitated communication with individuals having developmental disabilities is addressed, and an oversight procedure for the use of this methodology is recommended, which includes informed consent from all involved, the inclusion of a validation protocol, and the inclusion of other potential means of…

A study evaluated the performance of 12 individuals with mental retardation on a post-perceptual discourse comprehension task. Three text-to-speech systems (DECTalk, MacinTalk, and Real Voice) were used to present stimulus passages. The DECTalk synthetic voice showed a non-significant trend toward superior accuracy scores on the comprehension…

This paper offers guidelines for professionals to follow in cases of sexual abuse accusations made by individuals with disabilities through the medium of facilitated communication. A case study of such accusations made by a child with autism illustrates application of the guidelines. (DB)

This review of the literature on facilitated communication (FC) with individuals having severe communication disorders focuses on three major issues: (1) the history and development of FC, with varying opinions on the purpose of FC; (2) criteria for selecting individuals as having potential to benefit from FC; and (3) findings and issues…

This monograph reviews the literature on the efficacy and authenticity of facilitated communication (FC). Meta-analysis of published studies is used to examine FC as a communication tool, criteria for scientific evidence of FC's effectiveness, and the value of quantitative assessment. Other questions addressed include life-span issues and…

This commentary on Steven Heckler (EC 608 725) addresses use of facilitated communication (FC) by individuals with autism; respect for the child offered by FC, who actually is communicating; reasons why FC might improve communication by autistic children; possible reasons for the remarkable spelling and linguistic competence shown with FC; and…

A study tested the quality and intelligibility, as judged by several listeners, of four users' electrolaryngeal speech, with and without filtering to compensate for perceptually objectionable acoustic characteristics. Results indicated that an adaptive filtering technique produced a noticeable improvement in the quality of the Transcutaneous…

This study examined word level intelligibility differences between DECTalk and MacinTalk speech synthesizers using the Modified Rhyme Test in an open format transcription task. Three groups of listeners participated: inexperienced listeners, speech-language pathologists, and speech synthesis experts. Within each group, listeners had higher…

Three children with autism who used facilitated communication were given sentence completion statements in which correct responses were either known or unknown to the facilitator. Responses were evaluated in relation to form accuracy (spelling) and content accuracy (correctness of answer). Results strongly suggest that the content of responses was…

This article describes a classroom data based, total immersion, augmentative communication intervention with a nonverbal and behaviorally and cognitively challenged adolescent with autism. The use of a natural aided language approach and picture communication boards resulted in increases in communication and positive behaviors and participation in…