Facilitated communication: a response by child protection

Using a new technology called facilitated communication, a 7-year-old autistic child reported that she had been sexually abused. Because this method of reporting was the first of its kind at Hennepin County's (Minneapolis) Child Protection Agency, steps were taken not only to understand facilitated communication, but also to assess the reliability of the child's report. This article includes a description of the client's complaint, the subsequent referral process that it provoked, and a background description of the client and family situation. It also describes the client's method of communication, including the assessment procedure that was devised to examine her communication production. The article ends with a summary of results from implementation of the assessment procedures, and a discussion of the limitations of these procedures. What is evident is that facilitated communication cannot be ignored.