Ad Hoc Committee on Facilitated Communication (FC) and the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM), American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2018).
Rockville (MD): American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Available from: https://www.asha.org/policy/ps2018-00352/.
This is a position statement from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) detailing the Association's official policy regarding the use of facilitated communication (FC) by its members.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
"The substantial and serious risks of [facilitated communication] FC outweigh any anecdotal reports of its benefit. The scientific evidence against FC, evidence of harms of FC, and potential for future harms to people who use FC and their families cannot be ignored in clinical decision making. SLPs who use FC—despite being informed of and knowing these harms and risks—could face additional risks in terms of their own liability in the event of harms arising to people with disabilities or their families related to the use of FC" (p. 3).
"It is the position of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) that Facilitated Communication (FC) is a discredited technique that should not be used. There is no scientific evidence of the validity of FC, and there is extensive scientific evidence—produced over several decades and across several countries—that messages are authored by the 'facilitator' rather than the person with a disability. Furthermore, there is extensive evidence of harms related to the use of FC. Information obtained through the use of FC should not be considered as the communication of the person with a disability" (p. 1).
