Facilitated communication has been characterized as an alternative to speech that involves providing physical and emotional support to individuals with severe communication impairments as they type or point to letters or pictures (Biklen, 1993). The method has been described as relevant for individuals who cannot speak, whose speech is extremely limited (e.g., echolalic, comprising a few words) and who cannot point independently and reliably (Biklen, Morton, Gold, Berrigan, & Swaminathan, 1992; Crossley 1992). Qualitative and controlled studies of the method demonstrate its usefulness for some individuals and that facilitators may influence the communication of some individuals. This qualitative study of seven speech and language teachers and classroom teachers working with 17 students, focused on how and on what basis the teachers determined for themselves that the words typed were authored by their students and not by them, the facilitators. The teachers provided and described evidence for 13 of the 17 students of message passing skills (i.e., typing information not known to their facilitators that could be verified as accurate). The teachers noted that 3 of these 13 and 4 of the total 17 achieved some independent typing beyond typing their names and the date. Sixteen of the 17 students were judged by their teachers to have confirmed their typing/communication ability by virtue of other features: unique physical characteristics in typing or pointing, personal themes, recurring phrases, and stylistic qualities. These features appeared in their individual work but not in others, even though several shared facilitators. These findings suggest the potential value of a communication portfolio approach to documenting individuals' abilities to communicate with facilitation.
In this paper, we describe our efforts to transform the early childhoad education major and the early childhood special education major into a single unified major. This unified major is intended to prepare early childhood educators to address competently the educational needs of botb children with and without disabilities in a general education classroom. We describe the events occurring at both the state and university levels that led to our efforts, and the progress we bave made during the first year of our work. We also identify several future challenges that we will soon confront.
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