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()f Libera ion

Even JARC workers are amazed by Mr. Golden's ability to spell.

Ow Crossley found that support-
ing the arm of an individual
with cerebral palsy allowed
him to point to a letter on a
keyboard and spell out a se-
' lected word. After seeing the
process in action, Mr. Biklin
began training teachers to
use facilitated communica-
tion with autistic children.
Previously, both those with
> autism and cerebral palsy
generally were regarded too
disabled to communicate.

JARC workers first
learned of the process after
seeing a "Prime Time" tele-
vision segment on the
subject. Later, 10 JARC rep-
resentatives attended a
facilitated communication
seminar hosted by Dr. San-
dra McClennen of Eastern
Michigan University.
A number of JARC resi-
dents were considered before
workers selected Mr. Golden,
who lives at the Grosberg
Home, and began the facili-
tated communication about
seven months ago.
Mr. Golden is fairly inde-
pendent. He is employed at a
sheltered workshop and is re-
sponsible for a number of

"The choices are key."

household chores.
He took to facilitated com-
munication right away.
"When Howie was new at
this, we would make it a
point to ask him, 'Do you
want to continue?' He made
it clear he was not ready to
stop," says Carolyn Hafner,
manager of the Grosberg
Home. "Sometimes, we would
set the (facilitated communi-
cation) materials aside, and
he would pull them back
over."
"At first we stumbled a lot,"
adds John McCaffrey, area
supervisor for JARC. "We're
still stumbling. One of the
ways we're improving is to
constantly review tapes we've

made of the sessions. It helps
us see what works."
Today, the alphabet boards
are placed in every room at
the Grosberg Home. Mr.
Golden is quick to grab one
when he wants to commu-
nicate.
A number of professionals
consider facilitated commu-
nication something of a mir-
acle. For years, "when we
made eye contact with
Howie, it was with the ab-
solute belief that so much
more was there," Mr. McCaf-
frey says.
"A lot of people have made
the assumption that because
someone is disabled, he can't
communicate. Our success at

JARC and with facilitated
communication challenges
that assumption and spurs
us all on.
"The problem many dis-
abled have with communi-
cating is ours, not theirs," he
adds.
At the same time, facili-
tated communication is not
without its critics. Some
charge that it is, in fact, the
facilitator doing the commu-
nicating.
Mr. McCaffrey admits he
was skeptical at the outset.
"When I first saw it, I made
the assumption that the fa-
cilitator was really doing all
the work," he says. "And

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