Historical issues in intervention research: Hidden knowledge and facilitating techniques in Denmark

Abstract

S Facilitating techniques have recently both gained wider popularity and stirred considerable controversy. They are usually assumed to originate in Australia but the present paper documents that similar techniques created a major public event in Denmark and appeared occasionally in the USA in the 1960s and 1970s. However, in spite of the dramatic claims made by proponents of the techniques, their use did not spread widely and the international network has remained tenuous. It is argued that the ‘discovery’ of facilitating techniques as a means to disclose unexpected literacy depends on the use of hand guidance and a context of professional beliefs where responses of unclear origin may be attributed to the person whose hand is being guided. Les techniques de facilitation ont gagné récemment en popularité, cependant qu'elles soulevaient des controverses considérables. L'on pense d'habitude que leurs origines se situent en Australie, mais il est montré ici que des techniques analogues avaient eu un retentissement considérable au Danemark et qu'elles ont été utilisées à l'occasion aux Etats‐Unis lors des années soixante et soixante‐dix. Malgré tout, en dépit des déclarations spectaculaires des tenants de ces techniques, leur usage ne s'est pas beaucoup répandu et leur réseau international est resté limité. L'on avance ici l'idée que la ‘découverte’ des techniques de facilitation comme moyen de révéler une capacité inattendue de lire et d'écrire dépend de la façon dont la main est guidée et d'un contexte de croyances chez les professionnels selon lesquelles des réactions d'origine mal établie peuvent ětre attribuées à la personne dont la main est guidée. Die Anwedung von ‘vermittelnden Methoden’ (facilitating techniques) hat in letzter Zeit zugenommen aber gleichzeitig eine beträchtliche Kontroverse erweckt. Es wird ublicherweise angenommen, daß sie Australien stammen, aber in diesem Artikel wird dokumentiert, daß ähnliche Methoden öffentliches Aufsehen in Dänemark verursachten und gelegenlich in den 60er und 70er Jahren in den USA in Erscheinung traten. Aber trotz der dramatischen Anspruche, die Verfechter dieser Methoden stellen, hat sich ihre Anwendung nicht sehr stark ausgeweitet und das internationale Netz ist schwach ausgeprägt. Es wird hier argumentiert, daß die ‘Entdeckung’ von vermittelnden Techniken als Methode der Erschließung unerwarteter Lesefähigkeiten von der Verwendung von Handführung und vom Kontext professioneller Überzeugung abhängt, wo Antworten unbestimmter Herkunft der Person zugeschrieben werden können, deren Hand geführt wird.

See What I Mean: Interpreting the Meaning of Communication by People with Severe and Profound Intellectual Disabilities

“…It has been used extensively in Australia and in the USA, and is employed in a small number of centres in the UK. Research has shown that the meanings produced via Facilitated Communication are likely to be projected by the facilitator (Datlow-Smith et al 1994;Von Tetzchner, 1997). Bunning (1995) states 'reported evidence of facilitator influence demonstrates the risk to ownership of the communication act, and may even be viewed as an infringement of civil and personal rights'.…”

Understanding facilitated communication: Lessons from a former facilitator—Comments on Boynton, 2012

“…The first published descriptions of ''hidden knowledge'' appeared in Denmark in the 1960s, including descriptions of accusations of sexual abuse made with facilitated communication (von Tetzchner, 1997), but the events in Denmark had less influence internationally than the publications of Rosemary Crossley and Douglas Biklen in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., Biklen, 1990Crossley, 1988Crossley, , 1994Crossley & Remington-Gurney, 1992).…”

“…Rather, we were tapping language that was already present'' (Crossley & Remington-Gurney, 1992, p. 37). However, a considerable number of experimental studies have failed to substantiate the claims of hidden knowledge and have instead demonstrated that it is the facilitators who produce the messages (for reviews, see, for example, Bober, 2010;Cummins & Prior, 1992;Green, 1994;Jacobson, Foxx, & Mulick, 2005;Mostert, 2001Mostert, , 2010Probst, 2005;Sénéchal, Larivée, & Richard, 2004;von Tetzchner, 1996von Tetzchner, , 1997.…”