Facilitated communication and authorship: a systematic review

Area of Science:

• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
• Disability Studies
• Linguistics

Background:

• Facilitated Communication (FC) involves individuals with communication impairments typing messages with facilitator support.
• The core debate surrounding FC is the authorship of the typed output: the individual with a disability or the facilitator.
• The International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) established a committee to review evidence on FC authorship.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize the peer-reviewed literature to determine authorship in Facilitated Communication.
• To inform an official position statement by ISAAC regarding the validity of FC.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature search was conducted, including database searches and citation tracking.
• Systematic reviews and individual studies with quantitative experimental data on authorship were analyzed.
• Evidence was categorized into quantitative experimental, quantitative descriptive, qualitative descriptive, and anecdotal reports.

Main Results:

• Analysis focused exclusively on studies with quantitative experimental data to assess authorship.
• Unequivocal evidence demonstrated that facilitators, not individuals with disabilities, control and author messages generated via FC.
• The findings indicate that FC is not a valid communication method.

Conclusions:

• Facilitated Communication lacks validity as a method for individuals with disabilities to express themselves independently.
• The evidence strongly supports facilitator control over message generation in FC.
• This synthesis provides a basis for understanding the limitations and invalidity of FC.