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Ronald - My
First Facilitated Communication Student
Ronald - My
First Facilitated Communication Student
by Mary Ann Harrington
Ronald was a frail nonverbal ten-year
old boy with autism. He held a pencil in his right hand as he tapped a
continuous rhythm against his left forearm. The rhythm of the pencil
tapping his arm engaged him more than anything else.
Ronald was in my classroom in 1990 when
I read an article in the New York Times about Ben Lehr and his use of
facilitated communication, a technique where hand or arm support is
given to an individual, usually nonverbal, who has difficulty typing on
his own. When he began typing, people were surprised by his apparent
literacy skills.
Most of my nonverbal students were able
to match picture to word cards. Many had also used facilitated
handwriting, but I had never thought of using a letter board until that
fateful day.
Ron—due to apparent movement issues and
his interfering self-stimulatory arm tapping—had difficulty matching
word cards to picture cards, and selecting answers from a field of
choices. However, if I stood behind him, pulled one hand back and then
released it as I held the other arm quiet, he could choose the correct
word and/or picture response from a group of possible responses. Since
it appeared at the time he was able to read when interfering stimuli and
motor issues were dealt with, I felt he was an excellent candidate for
FC.
He immediately took to it. However,
since we were providing arm support, I wanted to be sure I was not
inadvertently cuing him. His former teacher, Sally, and I decided to
test him. We were trying to think of a question that I did not know the
answer to, as I was going to facilitate. Sally asked me, "Do you know
Ronald’s sister’s name?" After I said “No”, I vaguely remember a
fleeting thought that it might possibly be Tina, but I did not say
anything. Sally, on the other hand, was confident that she knew Ronald's
sister's name. As she stood about three feet behind us, I provided
Ronald with wrist support as I asked, “What is your sister’s name?”
Ronald typed “Tina.” Immediately, I turned around and I asked Sally to
tell me Ronald’s sister’s name. She confidently said, “His sister’s name
is Tina.” Overjoyed, we called Ronald’s mom our incredible news. She
casually replied, “That’s nice that he typed Tina, but his sister’s name
is Sue.”
As soon as I recovered from the initial
shock and disappointment, I analyzed what had occurred. Had he picked up
my fleeting ambiguous thought, that his sister's name might possibly be
Tina? Or even more astonishing, had he picked this misinformation from
his former teacher, Sally, standing a few feet away, who was so
confident in her misinformation? Or, had Ronald picked up the name
"Tina” from both of us? From that day on, I knew that some type of
telepathy for want of a better word was powerful component of the
process.
Lessons Ronald taught me:
• It helps some children if you work
from behind as it prevents gestures and eye cuing. Speaking into the
right ear may help them process.
• Holding one arm back and releasing
may help some children with motor planning issues.
• Some children may glean information
from mental prompts of the facilitator or a third party privy to the
information. This can occur when working on language or activities using
responses from a field of choices, as well as facilitated communication.
(See Critique of FC article.)
I have served as a teacher of
individuals with autism for 18 years. What they have taught me was to be
sure of nothing, and open myself to the extraordinary. It has been and
continues to be a remarkable ride. Please share your stories. Questions
and comments are appreciated.
Mary Ann Harrington
http://web.mac.com/maharrington
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