Facilitated Communication: Holding on to (False) Hope

Facilitated Communication (FC) is a technique used on people with severe communication difficulties as an alternative to valid Augmentative and Alternative Communication methods. Proponents claim that simply by providing emotional and physical support, people with disabilities can unlock inner language and literacy skills. However, controlled studies of the technique repeatedly show that facilitators, not people with disabilities, are authoring messages obtained via FC.

Most major health and educational organizations have opposition polices for FC and strongly urge its members not to use the technique. Still, the practice persists. Former facilitator, Janyce Boynton, believes FC is not a communication technique, but a belief system within the facilitators themselves. She will discuss the various forms of FC that exist today, as well as social, emotional, and political forces that attract people to FC in the first place and make it particularly difficult to let go once the belief system takes hold.

About the Speaker:
Janyce L. Boynton, M.Ed., B.S.
Janyce is an artist, educator, and advocate for evidence-based practices in the field of communication sciences and disorders. As a speech/language clinician in the early 1990s, she became involved with facilitated communication. Her story, first as believer, then as critic, is well-documented and was featured on Frontline’s “Prisoners of Silence”. She left teaching to pursue her artwork but has continued to be active in educating people about the dangers of FC and other facilitator-influenced techniques. An overview of her experiences with FC can be found in Stuart Vyse’s “An Artist With a Science-Based Mission”, published in Skeptical Inquirer (November 2018). Her 2012 article, “Facilitated Communication: What Harm it Can Do – Confessions of a Former Facilitator”, published in the journal Evidence-Based Communication and Intervention, was the first of its kind. To date, she is one of the few facilitators world-wide to publicly acknowledge her role in producing FC messages and speak out against its use. She is currently co-hosting a series of talks with Susan Gerbic exploring the many facets of FC.

This is a FREE event, brough to you by Bay Area Skeptics.