MCPS wasting money on thoroughly debunked practices?

[Anonymous]

My DC's school has a program in Facilitated Communication (a method where a facilitator supports a non-verbal autistic student to type by supporting their hand as they access a keyboard). I just read about this in Forbes (link below) and apparently it is totally debunked and scientists and psychologists think that it is ineffective and abusive. How is MCPS paying for this? DC says that these students are mainstreamed and get nothing done in class. Thoughts?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/06/18/facilitated-communication-may-be-an-abuse-of-human-rights-why-is-a-university-teaching-it/#1884125a29f3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC's school has a program in Facilitated Communication (a method where a facilitator supports a non-verbal autistic student to type by supporting their hand as they access a keyboard). I just read about this in Forbes (link below) and apparently it is totally debunked and scientists and psychologists think that it is ineffective and abusive. How is MCPS paying for this? DC says that these students are mainstreamed and get nothing done in class. Thoughts?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/06/18/facilitated-communication-may-be-an-abuse-of-human-rights-why-is-a-university-teaching-it/#1884125a29f3

Huh. I don't know much about this, but I have a friend who has posted on Facebook about the way facilitated communication has enabled her non-verbal autistic daughter to communicate (and has even posted some of her daughter's messages). Didn't realize it was considered a hoax, and my friend is highly educated so not the type to fall for junk science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC's school has a program in Facilitated Communication (a method where a facilitator supports a non-verbal autistic student to type by supporting their hand as they access a keyboard). I just read about this in Forbes (link below) and apparently it is totally debunked and scientists and psychologists think that it is ineffective and abusive. How is MCPS paying for this? DC says that these students are mainstreamed and get nothing done in class. Thoughts?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/06/18/facilitated-communication-may-be-an-abuse-of-human-rights-why-is-a-university-teaching-it/#1884125a29f3

Huh. I don't know much about this, but I have a friend who has posted on Facebook about the way facilitated communication has enabled her non-verbal autistic daughter to communicate (and has even posted some of her daughter's messages). Didn't realize it was considered a hoax, and my friend is highly educated so not the type to fall for junk science.

I have a friend whose son was nonverbal until he had exposure at age 14 to facilitated communication. They had thought he was low IQ and it turned out he was brilliant. He’s talked publicly about how awful it was to be “locked in,” essentially. So I would do more research than one article in Forbes before casting doubt on a program that has helped some of our most vulnerable kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC's school has a program in Facilitated Communication (a method where a facilitator supports a non-verbal autistic student to type by supporting their hand as they access a keyboard). I just read about this in Forbes (link below) and apparently it is totally debunked and scientists and psychologists think that it is ineffective and abusive. How is MCPS paying for this? DC says that these students are mainstreamed and get nothing done in class. Thoughts?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/06/18/facilitated-communication-may-be-an-abuse-of-human-rights-why-is-a-university-teaching-it/#1884125a29f3

Huh. I don't know much about this, but I have a friend who has posted on Facebook about the way facilitated communication has enabled her non-verbal autistic daughter to communicate (and has even posted some of her daughter's messages). Didn't realize it was considered a hoax, and my friend is highly educated so not the type to fall for junk science.

I don't know much about this either, but Forbes isn't the best source of evidence on medical impact (or lack thereof).

[Anonymous]

Even if it is not scientifically proven to work, if a parent demanded it for their DC but MCPS refused, the parents would be here on DCUM howling about how MCPS is failing to meet their kid’s needs.

[Anonymous]

How some are being taught may be abusive but giving non-verbal people tools to be verbal is not and very much needed. But, clearly you don't have a SN child if you feel its a waste of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC's school has a program in Facilitated Communication (a method where a facilitator supports a non-verbal autistic student to type by supporting their hand as they access a keyboard). I just read about this in Forbes (link below) and apparently it is totally debunked and scientists and psychologists think that it is ineffective and abusive. How is MCPS paying for this? DC says that these students are mainstreamed and get nothing done in class. Thoughts?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/06/18/facilitated-communication-may-be-an-abuse-of-human-rights-why-is-a-university-teaching-it/#1884125a29f3

Huh. I don't know much about this, but I have a friend who has posted on Facebook about the way facilitated communication has enabled her non-verbal autistic daughter to communicate (and has even posted some of her daughter's messages). Didn't realize it was considered a hoax, and my friend is highly educated so not the type to fall for junk science.

I don't know much about this either, but Forbes isn't the best source of evidence on medical impact (or lack thereof).

Well, below is a link to an article from the Atlantic. It mentions that the practice has been rejected by the American Psychological Association, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, The May Institute’s National Autism Center, The International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. It seems like the only credible institute that believes it works is Syracuse University’s Facilitated Communication Institute. The Atlantic author opines that the reason the practice still exists is because parents and educators “were taught these individuals were so oppressed that we weren’t supposed to doubt their communication; if we doubted FC, we’re doubting the person.”

So, if it's legit, I'm happy for your friend and her child, but I also hope your friend isn't being mislead.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/a-controversial-method-for-autism-communication/491810/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC's school has a program in Facilitated Communication (a method where a facilitator supports a non-verbal autistic student to type by supporting their hand as they access a keyboard). I just read about this in Forbes (link below) and apparently it is totally debunked and scientists and psychologists think that it is ineffective and abusive. How is MCPS paying for this? DC says that these students are mainstreamed and get nothing done in class. Thoughts?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/06/18/facilitated-communication-may-be-an-abuse-of-human-rights-why-is-a-university-teaching-it/#1884125a29f3

Which school has a program in Facilitated Communication? Name the school, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC's school has a program in Facilitated Communication (a method where a facilitator supports a non-verbal autistic student to type by supporting their hand as they access a keyboard). I just read about this in Forbes (link below) and apparently it is totally debunked and scientists and psychologists think that it is ineffective and abusive. How is MCPS paying for this? DC says that these students are mainstreamed and get nothing done in class. Thoughts?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/06/18/facilitated-communication-may-be-an-abuse-of-human-rights-why-is-a-university-teaching-it/#1884125a29f3

Which school has a program in Facilitated Communication? Name the school, please.

Pyle middle school has one.

[Anonymous]

OP, what is your source for the information about your school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC's school has a program in Facilitated Communication (a method where a facilitator supports a non-verbal autistic student to type by supporting their hand as they access a keyboard). I just read about this in Forbes (link below) and apparently it is totally debunked and scientists and psychologists think that it is ineffective and abusive. How is MCPS paying for this? DC says that these students are mainstreamed and get nothing done in class. Thoughts?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/06/18/facilitated-communication-may-be-an-abuse-of-human-rights-why-is-a-university-teaching-it/#1884125a29f3

Which school has a program in Facilitated Communication? Name the school, please.

Pyle middle school has one.

Pyle Parents get what Pyle Parents want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is your source for the information about your school?

My child spoke with me about the program when she had a class with an FC student with a one-to-one typing helper para-educator. I did speak with my child's teacher for that class at a school event and she told me a little about the program but I hadn't done further reading until now.

I'm not comfortable identifying the school, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is your source for the information about your school?

My child spoke with me about the program when she had a class with an FC student with a one-to-one typing helper para-educator. I did speak with my child's teacher for that class at a school event and she told me a little about the program but I hadn't done further reading until now.

I'm not comfortable identifying the school, sorry.

OP, your thread is basically: my kid told me something, and then I read a Fortune article about it, I can't believe MCPS is doing that!

It is difficult to verify that there actually is such a program if you won't tell us the school (unless the school is Pyle).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what is your source for the information about your school?

My child spoke with me about the program when she had a class with an FC student with a one-to-one typing helper para-educator. I did speak with my child's teacher for that class at a school event and she told me a little about the program but I hadn't done further reading until now.

I'm not comfortable identifying the school, sorry.

I don’t know where OPs kid goes, but I can definitively state that Pyle has a program. I work in MCPS. Here’s info from the MCPS website:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2014/Report%20Facilitated%20Commun_Nov%2024_Final.pdf

[Anonymous]

Sigh.
Here is a draft ASHA position statement:

https://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/Facilitated-Communication-Peer-Review.pdf

MCPS has even done a study on the efficacy of its FC/RPM program, and MCPS found that they could not establish that the communications were the students’ own. Yet the program continues.

As an autism parent myself, I Do not support FC/RPM.