David’s Facilitated Communication Evaluation
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This fascinating video shows David, a young non-verbal autistic boy, working with a trained facilitator (possibly for the first time, although that is not made clear) to communicate with his mother.
Photo courtesy David vs Autism website
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To the uninitiated, it may well look like the trainer is moving David’s arm, but watch closely and you will see her lift her thumb off of his arm as she waits for the subtle indications she is trained to observe that indicates where on the keyboard he wants to go next.
Additionally, the trainer does not move David’s hand forward to hit a key; rather, you can observe David extend his finger to hit the keys on his own.
“An amazing day! Our son David was evaluated for Facilitated Communication and chose to type his first message ever to mom! To the untrained eye it appears the facilitator is guiding David’s arm, but I was sitting on David’s left side and can assure anyone, this was all David’s doing.
“Our David, after just one year using FC, is now considered verbal! He had been non verbal for many years. Once given the opportunity we found he has lots to say, and at just 10 yrs old is working at the 6th grade level and higher academically.”
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