Facilitated Communication

Psychology 101
Discussion



The purpose of this study is to test the methodology of facilitated communication in order to prove what is really taking place, beyond appearances, whether disabled subjects are actually able to communicate as a result of their own free will using facilitated communication, or are subjects being intentionally or unintentionally persuaded by the facilitator to type messages not of their own volition. The hypothesis posed in the introduction is as follows: that subjects are indeed being influenced by the facilitator as a result of the facilitators interaction with the subject, therefore subjects are not typing of their own volition.
The general design of this study was experimental. The dependent variable was the number of correct or incorrect responses to stimulus cards throughout the sessions. The independent variable was the manner in which the stimulus was presented, and the method or absence of communication or contact. There were...