Syracuse University: Facilitating a Voice for the Voiceless

In our blogging class about 2 weeks ago we had a screening of: 

source

Wretches & Jabberers

and apart from all of the issues and ideas it brought to light, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to talk about, or rather, advertise Syracuse Universities (SU) presence in the facilitated communication community.  

It was very peculiar seeing multiple members of the cast wearing Syracuse apparel, which didn't seem as strange after our teacher, Lance Mannion, informed us that they had received some training at SU. 

Although, for some off reason, IMBD does not list them as part of the cast, Harvey Lavoy, and Pascal Cheng played supporting roles (as facilitators, discussed further down in this post) for the actors: Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonette (here is a blog that describes their roles and lives).

Of the two "supporting actors", in 2006, Harvey [Lavoy] received a Certificate of Recognition as a Master Trainer in Facilitated Communication Training from Syracuse University". After a bit more digging, I found that IMBD lists Douglas Biklen as a co-producer with Geradine Wurzburg. Of these two producers, "Biklen is Dean of the School of Education; and is a Professor in Cultural Foundations of Education and Teaching and Leadership, faculty in Disability Studies, and the Senior Researcher at the Institute on Communication and Inclusion at Syracuse University". What ties to Syracuse University this great film has!

So without further ado, 

What is facilitated communication and it's relationship with SU? 

In 1992, Douglas Biklen founded SU's Facilitated Communication Institute. This institute has since been renamed to the Institute on Communication and Inclusion in order to "[represent] a broadened focus developed over the past 20 years, reflecting lines of research, training and public dissemination that focus on school and community inclusion, narratives of disability and ability, and disability rights. Its initiatives stress the important relationship of communication to inclusion".

Facilitated communication (FC): 

"Facilitated communication is a technique by which a “facilitator” provides physical and other supports in an attempt to assist a person with a significant communication disability to point to pictures, objects, printed letters and words, or to a keyboard."

A facilitator, or communication support person "supports", the communication aid user, or FC user, in communication.

For example, in Wretches & Jabberers, Tracy Thresher and Chammi Rajapatirana (amongst others) are users of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices for FC.
Tracy's facilitator in Wretches & Jabberers was Harvey Lavoy, and Chammi's was his mother.

For the record, FC has had a rocky road, BUT has been taking leaps and bounds in the right direction to depart from controversy.

Syracuse Universities Institute on Communication and Inclusion (ICI)
The ICI does research and provides training for those who want to become facilitators and trainers.

Current research:

• Master Trainer’s Research Project
• "to identify qualities, skills, characteristics and competencies of highly effective trainers in the practice of supported typing"
• Lexical Analysis Research Project
• "to examine a corpus of texts produced by both FC users and their facilitators for lexical traits and patterns"
• Independence Research Project
• "This study aims to understand how individuals who type to communicate work with their facilitators and trainers to develop greater physical independence and improvement of other typing skills during training sessions over a period of 4 months"
• Mothers’ Life Stories Research Project
• to understand "the perspectives of families and, particularly, mothers of individuals who type to communicate", in order to "[understand] the larger historical, social, familial, and even educational contexts that influence and effect people who type to communicate and their families. With a better understanding of these social contexts (schools, families, friends, professional, general public) [they] hope to improve support and opportunities for the families of people who type to communicate"

Training:

• Facilitator Training
• And Trainer of Facilitator Training

Syracuse University has continued to be heavily involved in aiding the voice of those previously thought to be voiceless for the past two decades. SU under the direction of Biklen have been large advocates for the idea of Presuming Competence, an idea outlined in this article by Biklen and Jamie Burke. Jamie Burke is a user of AAC devices, and graduate of Syracuse University. 

Here is a trailer of Wretches & Jabberers: