Here are 15 examples of messages which Galia could not have passed on if Heaven had not given her special soul power; and 10 insights into Facilitated Communication (FC), showing its authenticity. All in all, 25 validations of Galia and FC.
15
SUPPORTS FOR GALIA’S AUTHENTICITY
#1: First
Session With Galia:
Galia
Knows Her Grandmother’s Name
I first heard about facilitated communication or FC in a lecture.
I was impressed. I obtained the telephone number of a facilitator from the US
who had studied special education and FC in the States and immigrated to
Israel.
We spoke and arranged a time to hold a communication session
with Galia.
I began to think about the questions I would put to Galia. Then
I got afraid that during the session, I would get emotional and forget what I
planned to ask. So I decided to write my questions down. Among my questions
were ‘Galia, why did you come to the world in a such a terrible condition?’ and
‘What can I do to help you?’ Of course, at the top of the sheet, I wrote to
tell her, ‘Galia, I love you.’
* * *
We held the session on Tuesday, 9 January 1996. The facilitator
arrived, carrying a spelling board. There was nothing special about the board
other than it was drably marked with a row of numbers along the top, 1 - 9,
with zero after it, and the letters of the alphabet set out in rows underneath
it.
She put the board down in front of Galia and told Galia she was
to start writing by pointing at the letters. She gently clasped Galia’s right
hand from underneath, taking in her palm all Galia’s fingers except for the
index finger.
- You want to write now? the facilitator asked.
Galia, the autistic defined as “turned in on herself and
detached from her environment,” immediately sprang into communicative action,
exuding delight and enthusiasm. She raised her forearm from the elbow and
energetically pushed it downwards. Her hand lightly supported, and finger by
default extended, traveled circularly downwards till the tip of her finger hit
a letter on the board. Without looking, she repeated this action again and
again, successively, without hesitation. The hand would come back to its raised
starting point and crane down again. Sometimes her action was forceful.
Sometimes gentle.
The facilitator watched the letters Galia indicated and spelled
out words letter by letter.
- M-U-M, I L-O-V-E Y-O-U.
I burst out crying.
Galia, however, went on writing busily and determinedly,
undisturbed, as if self-assured. All I could do was watch and listen in
contained shock. As for my list — that was far from my mind.
Galia had this to tell me:
- Mum, I am the soul of your grandma, Simcha, who died.
Heaven sent me to this world to rectify her failure to give her children a
Torah education. Heaven has decided to favor you because of the mitzvot of your
forbears and sent me to bring you to do tshuva [observe Torah].
I was traumatized. But there and then, I knew it was genuine.
The one writing was Galia, not the facilitator — if only for the reason that
the facilitator didn’t know my grandma's name. She died before I was born. Even
my children didn’t know what my grandmother was called.
#2: Galia
Talks Of Deep Religious Concepts
All Completely New To Me
My belief in Galia deepened as in the weeks following, Galia
would speak to me of religious ideas. By this time, I had learned to facilitate
with Galia by myself. Yet I was still in the early days of my tshuva and knew
nothing of what she was talking about. She would speak to me of mashiach,
redemption, angels, transmigration, old age, dreams, celestial influence on the
spiritual and material welfare of the world, the composition of the incenses
burnt in the Temple, Song of Songs, suffering.
Galia knew I was bewildered by what she was saying and
eventually told me to go to a certain Rabbi who was a renown scholar and talk
to him about her and her messages. He would explain everything.
The Rabbi she sent me to was flattered that Galia singled him
out. He calmed me down about the whole experience. He also told me that Galia‘s
religious pronouncements were all sourced in classic texts such as Zohar,
Talmud, Mishna, Rabeinu Yona, and other major religious works.
- How did Galia know all these things? I asked.
The Rabbi explained to me that Galia was a soul. Souls know the
whole Torah. Facilitated Communication had put me in touch with a soul, and by
passed Galia’s cognitive capacity which was that of a small baby.
Here are some examples of what Galia talked about.
Jerusalem
In one session, Galia spoke to me of Jerusalem:
- Mum, Jerusalem is the holy city and every speck of dust in
that town is wrapped full of holiness. Anyone who can live there is greatly
privileged. Because he will be surrounded by heavenly holiness. Since Israel is
the holiest country; and Jerusalem is the holiest city in Israel; and the
Temple Mount is the holiest place in Jerusalem — the Temple Mount is the
holiest place in the world. It is the entrance gate for the abundance which
HaKadosh Baruch Hu in His great mercy and love for His precious Jewish people
pours down on us from Heaven.
Mum, now Jerusalem is a destroyed city and HaKadosh
Baruch Hu is pained over its destruction, and ours, his beloved Jewish people.
Also the Jerusalem in Heaven is waiting for the great lights to be lit in it
with the help of Hashem Yitbarach.
All the mitzvot of the Jewish people light up bright,
radiant lights in the city, and when the Jewish nation returns to our Father in
Heaven, the Jerusalem in Heaven fills with happiness and joy.
I thought that Galia was revealing some Heavenly secrets. I was
even a little afraid. It turned out that Galia was conveying a message
contained in a variety of sources. Look at the following quotations, for
example:
(1)
Zohar (parshat Truma): The
Holy Land is the center of the world and the middle of the Holy Land is
Jerusalem and the middle of Jerusalem is the House of the Holy of Holies, and
all the good and all the sustenance of the whole world, comes down there from
above, and there is nowhere in the world which does not receive its sustenance
from there.
The rule of the secret of faith is
within the central point of the entire Holy Land in the House of the Holy of
Holies, and even though it does not exist at present, its merit sustains the
world, and sustenance and material support goes out from there to everyone, and
even though Israel is not presently functioning as the Holy Land, nonetheless,
the existence of sustenance in the world is due to the power and merit of the
land.
(2)
Massechet Ta’anit (p.5:1): HaKadosh
Baruch Hu said, ‘I will not come to the Heavenly Jerusalem, until I come to the
earthly Jerusalem.
(3)
Medrash Tanchuma: The
Holy Land is the navel of the world since it occupies the middle. And Jerusalem
is the middle of Israel. And the Temple is the middle of Jerusalem. And the
inner Temple is the middle of the Temple. And the Ark is in the middle of the
Inner Temple. And the source stone is in front of the Inner temple, from
which the world flows.
(4)
Rav Chiyun writes in his work, Treasures of the Final Days: When this joy existed in the lower
world, this joy existed in the higher world. Now that there is mourning in the
lower world, there is mourning in the higher world; and since this was built in
the lower world, it was built in the higher world.
It is extraordinary how close Galia’s comments on Jerusalem are
to original scriptural sources. And, again, when Galia spoke to me of
Jerusalem, I had no knowledge of all this background.
Spiritual Clothing
In one session, Galia conveyed a message which left me
speechless.
Galia explained to me that:
- Keeping mitzvot sews a man clothes whose beauty is
impossible to imagine. Everyone is dressed up in accordance with his deeds in
this world
In the next world, there is no such thing as being
without a body. In each world, a person is given a body appropriate to that
world and its purpose. In the next world, which is a spiritual world, there are
spiritual clothes. And the clothes a person wears depends entirely on his
actions and how far he rectified himself in this world.
So it’s extremely important to fulfill the mitzvot and do
good deeds. Each mitzva builds our glorious spiritual clothes and decorates
them with countless jewels.
Those who do not do mitzvot are in a pathetic plight
there — because what clothes have they got to wear? They are naked without
clothes. And they do not have a further chance of getting clothes. Because that
possibility exists only in this world.
Their only chance is that someone will do a good deed for
their sakes in this world. And there is no guarantee that somebody will.
The bitterest fate a person can have is to arrive in the
next world without mitzvot. He is in a really sad state. And it’s a pity for
his soul because it has no clothes.
It’s like in this world when a man is poor, destitute and
has no clothes. He freezes in the rain and winter. And in summer, he goes
around ashamed. Everyone sees he’s got no clothes
In the next world, everything is clear: if he’s got no
clothes, we all know he has no mitzvot.
So, Mum, mitzvot create the most beautiful clothes. You
don’t have such beautiful clothes in this world. You can’t even imagine how
beautiful they are.
After hearing this from Galia, I was informed the Zohar (parshat
Truma) states the same thing almost word for word:
When you leave there for this world, the spirits remove the body
and the clothes of the Garden of Eden and dress in the body and clothes of this
world, and they make their abode in this world, in clothing and in this body
which is the product of a putrid drop.
And when the time comes for him to leave
this world, he does not go until the Angel of Death removes the clothing and
this body. Since the Angel of Death has removed the body from the spirit, the
spirit goes and dresses itself in the other body, that of the Garden of Eden
which was removed from it when it came to this world.
The spirit has no happiness without that
body there. And it is happy to be rid of the body of this world and dress in
the other, perfect clothing of the Garden of Eden which is like this world. In
this body, he sits and walks around in his quest for the higher secrets —
secrets which he cannot know and see while he is in this world in this body.
And when the soul dresses in the
clothing of that world, how many delights and how many joys he has there.
HaKadosh Baruch Hu performs people a
kindness by not divesting man of his clothing in this world until they dress
him in the fine, wonderful clothes of the Garden of Eden. Except for the wicked
of this world who do not fully repent to their Master before dying. They come
naked to this world and they return there naked. And the soul goes around
ashamed in front of the other souls because it has no clothing at all.
And they are sent to Gehinnom ... those
who did not think of repenting, go down to Hell. And they never go out of there
for generation after generation. And to the extent that a rasha sins — so is
his place in Gehinnom.
Similarly,
Yalkut Meam Loez, Bereshit, part 1:
In the second chamber of Heaven, there
are many types of clothes which good Jews are invited to wear before appearing
before HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Every mitzva which a man does in this world with the
right intention for the sake of Heaven causes the multitudes in that chamber to
prepare a pleasant outfit for him. If the soul is very pure, it leaves the
Dinor River quickly and they dress him in that outfit and bring him to Heaven
in the charge of the angel, Michael.
If it is a soul bare of mitzvot and
polluted from sin, they push him to the other side of the chamber and there
hordes of punishment angels beat him and drag him away to Gehinnom.
#3: Galia
Names Her Grandfathers
In one of the early sessions, when I communicated with Galia
through a facilitator, I asked Galia,
- What’s my father’s name?
Galia replied correctly —
- Abraham.
Galia also reported the name of her paternal grandfather, Menachem.
My father died over 20 years before this session and Menachem also died a long
time ago. The facilitator could not have known either of their names.
#4: Galia
Is One Of Tens Of Brain-Damaged Children In Israel Who Lecture On The Religion
Galia is one of
a number of brain-damaged people in this country who work with facilitators.
The children live in different places and, for the most part have different
facilitators. The facilitators have little, if any, contact with each other.
All these brain-damaged communicators, however, speak a great
deal of the religion and there is a great deal of correspondence in their
pronouncements. You can identify popular themes: souls, redemption, mashiach,
prayer, loshon hora (slander), Gehinnom, Garden of Eden, angels, tshuva,
becoming aware, messages to the Jewish nation, the Heavenly court, Torah and mitzvot,
etc.
All this demonstrates the authenticity of the messages of the
children, including Galia. The correspondence leaves no doubt that the
information they convey derives from the same source in the higher worlds. They
are messages from the world of truth to comfort and reassure us. HaKadosh
Baruch Hu shines a little supernal light on the path in the dark forest of our
time.
#5: Galia
As Personal Counselor
At the time I became religious, I was a divorcee. I had met a
certain man and thought about marriage to him. In my second session with Galia
(16-1-96), Galia wrote
- Mum, don’t marry him. He is not a yirei shomayim. He’s
not for you. He’ll cause you problems in becoming religious. He’s not sincere.
He’ll bring you down.
She followed this with other specific points about the man which
made me check into him more thoroughly than I had done. I discovered that
everything she said was correct. If I’d’ve married him, I would have gone right
down and been lucky to extricate myself with all that that might have involved.
Thank G-d, I ended the relationship.
I subsequently conveyed to Galia,
- I want to thank you. You saved me. Everything you said about
the man was correct.
Galia responded,
- Hashem sent you the message.
Galia frequently spoke with me about my personal affairs and
revealed precise information about them which the facilitator could not have
known.
#6: No
Need For An Operation
My sister ( a police-woman on the Israeli Police Force) suffered
from a serious gastric complaint and underwent surgery. But the operation did
not help and she went on suffering from frequent, horrible attacks of stomach
cramp, and high temperature.
She wanted a new medical opinion. Since her surgeon and
consultant went abroad, she went to three top specialists. All of them were
resolute that there was no alternative but to perform a further operation.
On 21-11-97, I asked Galia how I can help my sister. Galia wrote
out,
- Mum, in a short time, the whole illness will disappear
as though it never existed. In the meantime, she is atoning for her sins,
because suffering very much purifies the soul. So, mum, she’ll get out of it
all very soon and there is no need for any operation, because her doctor will
locate the problem and treat her for it.
- You mean, I replied, the doctor who operated on her?
- Yes, he will know how to solve the problem. Because
that is the plan of Heaven.
My sister had her doubts about Galia’s pronouncement. After all,
three specialists had declared that my sister must undergo another operation.
To this day, she is in possession of their written opinions. Nonetheless, she
decided to wait till her surgeon came back to Israel.
On 23-11-97, my sister went to him at Wolfson Hospital in Cholon
for a further consultation, expecting to be told to prepare for another
operation. Instead, the surgeon insisted there was no need for an operation and
prescribed simple external treatment which, sure enough, brought an end to my
sister’s suffering.
This brought my sister to observe Shabbat.
Blessed is the Healer of All Flesh and the Worker Of Wonders.
#7: Her
Expressions, Reactions And Gestures
Even a so-called stony-faced person displays, when speaking,
facial and body signs which reflect his speech, mood and purpose.
Galia's facial expressions and gestures show she understands
what she is saying.
Normally, Galia is easygoing and smiles a lot. If in a session,
Galia relays sad or painful messages (mainly, her messages to the Jewish
people) she cries all the time. With messages on other issues, she does not
cry. In giving happy messages, she laughs and makes sounds and gestures which
indicate her joy.
After I produced a tape about my story with Galia, I played it
to her. The tape starts with me describing all the difficulties we had gone
through with Galia: the times she passed out, running to hospital all the time,
the treatments, the sadness and the pain, the nights we didn’t sleep.
Galia’s reaction was to weep. It broke my heart to hear her and
I asked her for an explanation,
- I don’t like listening to unhappy things, she replied.
I then stopped the tape and she calmed down.
#8: Galia
Communicates Without Looking At The Spelling Board
Galia generally moves the facilitator’s hand to letters without
looking at the board. She sometimes even communicates when she is asleep.
In fact, in FC, not looking at the board is the rule rather than
the exception. I possess a number of American and Australian videos showing
brain-damaged children communicating through a spelling board or keyboard
without looking; and there is enormous documentation of this besides what I
have.
Unless trained, an ordinary person would not be able to
communicate through an alphabet board without looking at it. However, it is
common for brain-damaged children to have this ability with little or no
training.
Communication with Galia is communication with a soul. The level
of understanding of Galia’s cognitive functioning is that of a baby a few
months old. The communicator in Galia is not her mind, but her soul. The soul
is spiritual, part of G-d, eternal. The soul knows everything. It knows all the
languages; sees the secrets of the higher world; hears the voice of Heaven
announcing what is about to take place in the world (as reported by the Zohar
in parshat Shmot); and is able to communicate through a wider range of
communication methods than a human being. The soul can print by supernatural
methods.
This is in evidence in the seance. A seance is communication
with a dead soul. Here the soul will communicate through moving a glass from
letter to letter on an ouija board and spell out words and messages.
FC is the same thing, except the communicator is alive as a
brain-damaged person.
By the way, the Torah forbids conducting seances in its law, None
Of You Shall Seek Out The Dead (Devorim 18: 10, 11). It is also
extremely dangerous and can result in spiritual and material damage which can
never be put right. Galia too spoke against seances.
When you think of the vision of Galia, uninhibited by physical
limitations, you wonder who is actually handicapped — Galia and those like her,
or normal people? In Hebrew the word for world also implies hidden. And
this is intentional. The world hides its spiritual truth.
#9: Galia
Tells Me The Contents Of My Briefcase
In one of the early sessions, I went into Galia’s room carrying
a briefcase and did not open it the whole of the session. The next day, I asked
her,
- When I came to see you yesterday, what was inside my
briefcase?
Via the board, Galia replied,
- A megillah.
That was correct. I was carrying with me Megillat Esther.
The facilitator assisting the session could not have known this, and the source
of information was certainly Galia.
#10:
Speaks Of Her Home Visit
One session (21-4-96) was on a Sunday following a Shabbat when
Galia made a home visit. During the session Galia told me:
- Mum, you were so good to me on Shabbat. All the feeling you
had. You were so happy. I love you so much. You’re closer to the truth. In your
heart, you are getting very near to Hashem, and His truth. And the atmosphere
of the home on Shabbat — you look for what is in truth allowed and forbidden.
And even though it is difficult for you, you are progressing. And even if you
are not always ready to make some change, I know that in the end you will
change completely.
The facilitator could not have written this since she did not
know Galia had been with me on Shabbat.
Galia also noted that I would become completely
Shabbat-observant. This is what occurred. I became totally religious.
#11:
Galia’s Interpretation Of A Dream Is Remarkably Similar To The Way The Or
Hachayim Explains A Prediction Of The Bible
On 22-10-97, I told Galia of a dream my brother had. He saw 11
angels inside 11 squares which covered the whole of the sky. Each angel was
gigantic. The angels were beautiful and shone exquisitely. The angels prevented
all who wanted to descend to the earth from doing so.
In commenting on this dream, Galia made an observation about the
arrival of the Mashiach similar to a commentary of the Or Hachayim on a verse
in Bamidbar (24:17):
- Mum, his dream speaks for itself. Because you see in the
dream that the Jewish people are protected by a heavenly army. Hashem, through
his love for the Jewish people, will not let anyone harm us. These 11 angels
represent the 11 tribes. One tribe is missing. This is the tribe which will
produce mashiach very soon. I am not allowed to tell you which tribe that is.
But anyway, we are surrounded by mighty forces of Heaven which protects us
through Hashem's love for us. And there is nothing to be afraid of.
The commentary of the Or HaChayim, which I observed in Rabbi
Chiyon’s study, Treasures Of The Final Days (p. 64) states as follows:
If Israel deserves its redemption, that
will be wonderful and the redeemer will be revealed with heavenly spectacles.
The redeemer will be revealed by Heaven with miracles and signs. If, however,
the redemption comes simply because history has reached its end and not because
the Jewish people deserve redemption, it will arrive in a different fashion. In
this case, as Scripture notes, he will arrive as a pauper riding a donkey. ‘And
a tribe of Israel will emerge’ means in the way a phenomenon of this kind tends
to occur in the world, that is, through natural means.
#12:
Predictions On The Gulf War
Galia spoke much about the Gulf War. This has been described in
full in the Hebrew version of Galia. Messages From Heaven. Here are two
extracts.
As the starting date of the Gulf War drew near, I told Galia,
- Galia, I’ve brought you a mask with a pump. I’ve checked it
and it works OK. What do you say — are we going to need these masks?
- Mum, we won’t need any mask now. They are trying us in
Heaven.
So it was. Saddam did not fire at Israel missiles with chemical
warheads, and Israelis had no need for gas marks.
Before the war started (December 1989), the UN forces launched
an initial aerial attack. I told Galia,
- Operation Desert Fox has started. America has started bombing
Iraq. What do you say about it?
- Don’t get tense over the American bombing in the Gulf.
They’ll stop in a couple of days. They’re just a show of force, to show they
mean business, and frighten them. The real bombing hasn’t started.
This is what happened.
#13: Galia
Gets Me To Give Talks
Our ninth dialog was as follows:
Galia: Mum, I want to tell you that you must get Jewish
people to do tshuva. It will help me, mum. You can volunteer for Lev LeAchim or
an organization like it.
Me: What should I do there?
Galia: Talk to non-religious people.
Me: How? What should I say to them?
Galia: Give lectures to women and tell them about me. You
speak well and have belief in your heart. That’s all you need. But you have to
study Torah to understand it properly to give it over to others. This is from
Hashem. He sent you for this purpose.
Me: But who’s to say that if I prepare a talk, anyone will
invite me to give it? [Nobody knows me, I thought.]
Galia: Mum, don’t worry. That'll happen. The moment you
are ready to give talks, you’ll be invited.
It’s amazing how HaKadosh Baruch Hu causes things to happen. The
moment I finished preparing a lecture, out the blue, Galia’s caregiver when she
was a baby, rang me up. I told her about facilitated communication and my
desire to give talks about it to women.
A few minutes after the call, she rang me again and told me she
spoke to the wife of the Rabbi of the community in which she lives and the
Rabbi’s wife told her she would be happy to have me address the women’s group
which met in her home.
That’s how HaKadosh Baruch Hu got me to start giving lectures
about Galia round the country. It was as Galia described: Mum, don’t worry.
That'll happen. The moment you are ready to give talks, you’ll be invited.
Other invitations would follow. In a short time, I had stood before hundreds of
women.
#14:
Galia’s Prediction Of The Success Of My Books About Her
It was Galia who prompted me to write a book about her (the
first Hebrew edition of Galia. Messages From Heaven) and also predicted
its success and influence:
- My dear mum, in Heaven, they’ve decided that you should
write a book. They want to
give you this privilege. My dear mum, the book will be a success; and Heaven
will give us massive reward, far beyond what you can imagine because of the
book. We have to do as much as possible to save the people. The book and
everything you’ve been through was all meant to save Jewish people. Hashem will
help you and instead of starting with a booklet, start with the book itself,
baruch Hashem. Don’t worry. The book will sell in big quantities. Heaven will
direct you whom to go to organize it all.
The book and its publication turned out exactly as Galia said it
would. Later Galia said
- Be-ezer Hashem, the book will succeed in getting
through to the hearts of the masses. The book will convey its message to a wide
range of people.
This also came true.
When I completed the book, Galia told me,
- You finished writing the book? Heaven will see to you
receiving suitable letters of commendation from important rabbinic figures.
It’ll be printed and be issued to the blasts of a fanfare. It will be a big
bestseller.
All this came true. The book received rabbinic letters of
commendation, attracted a lot of publicity on its publication and became a
bestseller.
In response to this success, Galia commented,
- My dear mum, this gives me supreme pleasure. The book
will be a big hit and masses of Jews will become more religious and do tshuva
through reading the book. We have been granted a great merit, baruch Hashem.
A similar comment was:
- The book has great powers to influence the public on a
big scale, and everyone who reads the book will gain spiritual strength from
it. And this will accrue to our merits.
Indeed the two editions of Galia have brought thousands to
observance of Torah.
As I was about to publish a further book about Galia, Goodbye
to Galia?, Galia commented,
- With Hashem's help, the book will come out very soon,
and I am very happy. Your precious second book about me, will bring masses to
believe in Torah and will make masses of people think.
Mum, don’t worry about anything. The book will attract a
huge audience, and it will be a big success story.
This also tuned out exactly as Galia said. The second edition
was published. Many became religious because of it; and many were brought to think
about the religion. The book was very successful. Just as Galia declared. And
who knows how many people are yet to do tshuva because of the wonder which
Hashem sent us from Heaven, because of Galia, the tzadaiket, and her
messages from the world of truth.
And would I have published a further book, Goodbye to Galia?,
about Galia’s preparing me for the soon-to-occur departure and its meaning for
us all, if it wasn’t clear to me that Galia’s go-ahead to do so was reliable?
#15: She
Predicts Media Coverage
Galia told me that with the publication of the second book, Goodbye
to Galia?, the media would contact me for interviews. This turned out fact.
Following publication, Israeli Television Channel 2 and Kol Bo, the
major N. Israel weekly, contacted me.
I appeared live on the show, Avraham and Yaakov (21-12-99).
The two hosts, renowned tv. personalities, Avri Gilad and Kobi Midan,
interviewed me for a quarter of an hour and in front of a million viewers, I
spoke of the communication sessions with Galia, her messages, the books and
there was a short clip of a session with Galia.
Kol Bo ran
a 4-page feature with extensive descriptions and photos in its weekly edition
of 21 January 2000. The feature spoke about me personally and my experiences
with Galia and FC, as well as challenges to my work and answers to these
challenges.
These two grand scoops were as Galia had predicted.
* * *
10 SUPPORTS FOR
Facilitated
Communication
Facilitated Communication or FC has not
been clinically defined. But the extraordinary facts speak for themselves.
Researchers in support of FC argue, Don’t try and prove what isn’t. Understand
what is. Here are 10 supports for FC, showing why it is fast gaining worldwide
acceptance as a primary requirement in caring for autistics and others
afflicted with speechlessness.
#1: How FC
Responds To Its Challengers
FC has its
opponents in the world of medical science, who challenge its authenticity. They
state their objections against a background in which to date, no comprehensive
set of tests have shown what takes place in medical-scientific terms.
But before doubting FC, let the facts speak for themselves. This
is the well known view of Prof. Biklen, head of the University of Syracuse
communication and rehabilitation center and probably the world’s foremost
proponent of FC. How do you explain, he argues, the fact that autistic
communicators freely supply details about things which the facilitator has no
means of knowing. He agrees that medical science has not so far defined FC but
asks researchers to be human as well as clinical. Each case must be judged on
its merits.
The doubters were fueled by a notable academic study which
produced poor results. Rosemary Crossley, however, another FC developer, argued
that the tests used were frightening and conducted by examiners prejudiced
against FC. To get results, an examiner needs to project confidence in the
autistic’s ability.
Prof. Biklen says that until autistics start with FC, they
suffer years of non-accomplishment and feelings of uselessness. Not only do you
need to give them alternative communication. You have to move them into a
supportive environment.
Biklen goes on that autistics sense the purpose of the tests
they are submitted to. If you test an autistic with a willingness to classify
him as useless, this will traumatize the him and make him non-responsive.
Similarly, the effect of hand-holding, touching and general
supportiveness in an FC session, Biklen theorizes, is a counterblast to
developmental dyspraxia. This is a syndrome which causes cut-offs in movement
and articulation. This, Biklen believes provisionally, is the problem of the
autistic. Communication depends on supplying confidence. Thus negative tests
are de facto invalid.
#2:
Communicating Without The Facilitator
The accusation that FC is the handiwork of the facilitator is
most obviously disproved by the fact that many autistics over the time, often
quite soon after starting with FC, no longer need the hand support of the
facilitator. Just a slight grip on the arm sleeve or the shoulder or head can
be enough to promote prolonged sessions. Sometimes autistics fade out touch
support completely.
Prof. Biklen held a major conference on assisting the
brain-damaged in 1993. It attracted world media attention and the
demonstrations of his department’s achievements with autistics were widely
documented on film. In the video I possess, the viewer can see for himself,
autistics working independently or with the arm/head touch support described
above.
One father in an interview describes how his daughter had no
inability to communicate at all. Reluctantly, he tried FC. By the time of the
interview, FC had enabled the child to compose 120 poems and 9 short stories.
The documentary also shows the child typing without any support!
Geoff Paul is a student who gets by unaided in regular high
school and writes poems for the school magazine.
Thanks to Biklen and others, 38 US States include FC in their
special ed program and support it to the tune of millions of dollars.
#3: Courts
Admit FC Evidence
In one of the innumerable web sites on FC, Prof. Biklen notes
that a jury in a case in Wichita, Kansas found the defendant guilty on the basis
of FC evidence; the New York Supreme Appellate Court allowed Luz P. to prove
her ability to give satisfactory evidence and succeeded. Annie, a patient of
Rosemary Crossley, went through a number of trials before the Supreme Court of
Victoria in Australia, in which she established her right to free herself from
institutionalization in a hospital and her right to sign a contract. The trials
became the subject of a book, Annie’s Coming Out. Annie spelled out to
the court, ‘I don’t like any suggestion that my communications aren’t mine’
(Crossley, R., Speechless, NY 1997, p.23).
#4:
Professor Biklen Is Convinced
Prof. Biklen is possibly the most conspicuous personality in the
developing FC world. His rehabilitation center in Syracuse University is a vast
organization. His respect is unchallenged. As a critic of his noted, the
general opinion of the medical-educational world is that ‘There must be
something to it, if Doug Biklen is behind it.’
Biklen notes in an article in the Harvard Educational Review
(1990) that he had conventional views of autistics, until he was open-minded
enough to go to Australia to observe the work of Rosemary Crossley. Rosemary
produced two prize pupils, Jonathan and Louis, who both communicated through
FC. Biklen was not convinced; but returned later and spent weeks with Crossley
in her clinic. After this, he was convinced. He noted, ‘My past views of autism
were completely assaulted.’
#5: Test
results
In a report commissioned by the Queensland administration in
Australia, the researchers recorded that 65% of the examinees used a language
different from that of facilitator; of these, the writing of some could be
described as having a ‘personal style’; half the examinees gave correct answers
to questions whose answers the facilitator was unaware of. In conclusion, 85%
of the examinees demonstrated that their communication was theirs and not the
facilitator’s. (Queensland Report on Facilitated Communication, 1993,
p.32)
Prof. Biklen also gives examples of autistics giving information
unknown to the facilitator. One facilitator asked Brian from Australia, ‘Will
one or both of your parents come to collect you? Brain answered correctly that
both will come to collect him; and this is what occurred. Jennifer wrote about
her dog, Dorsi. The facilitator reacted — There’s no dog in your home. But it
turned out that Jennifer’s family used to own dog which they called Dorsi.
#6: Dr.
Schawlow Teams Up With Carol Lee Berger
Arthur L. Schawlow and his brother-in-law invented the laser and
won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1981. But Dr. Schawlow and his wife,
Aurelia, had a problem which they could not solve. Their son, Artie, was
autistic, and although Artie’s doctors had told the Schawlows to put him in an
institution and forget about him, they wanted to find a method for Artie to
communicate.
When the Schawlows were in Sweden for the Nobel prize-giving
ceremony, a local psychologist, knowing of their interest in helping their son,
met them and told them recently a 24-year old man, apparently autistic, had
visited her office and communicated with her through a small typing device.
The Schawlows bought Artie what is today a popular device in FC,
the so-called ‘Canon,’ a compact tape puncher made by Canon Printers.
However, Artie would punch no more than X’s and Y’s. Next
Aurelia Schawlow experimented with reading. She discovered that Artie could
read The New Yorker! A little while later, Artie indicated to his mother
that he wanted the Canon. Now Artie started punching articulate messages. Mrs.
Schawlow assisted Artie in the movement of his hand.
The Schawlows wanted to publicize their findings with Artie and
help autistics. They appealed in the autism journal, Advocate, for other
workers in the field to contact them. Carol Lee Berger responded and told them
that for some time she had been working on getting autistics to communicate in
her clinic and had discovered that with hand support, autistics can type
serious messages on a computer!
Following this, the Schawlows, Berger and Biklen combined to
promote FC in the States and the world.
How amazing that different developers in the field of autistic
communication - Crossley, the Schawlows, Berger - all working independently,
had come to the same discovery — FC!
#7:
Autistics’ Expressions And Reactions As They Write
As they communicate, autistics laugh make facial and body
gestures, sounds, and so on which reflect what they are communicating. In doing
this, they authenticate their communication themselves. Rosemary Crossley
reports one student of hers writing in an early FC session,
- I am not retarded. My mother thinks I am stupid.
And a tear emerged from his left eye.
#8:
Individual Style
Prof. Biklen also notes that: every autistic writes in his own
style. Even if an autistic changes facilitators, you will see distinctive
styles, recurring themes and recurring correct and incorrect spelling,
punctuation, and grammar-use patterns. (Biklen, Prof. D., “Questions And Answers
About Facilitated Communication,” Facilitated Communication Digest, Nov.
1993).
#9:
Supernatural Element
In preparing the article on me in Kol Bo, it seems that
the writer of the article contacted the headmistress of a special ed school in
Haifa (the newspaper is published in Haifa) to obtain her reaction to FC. The
principal, Mrs. Shula Kalish, evidently responded that she would contact one of
the mothers of her children whom she knew had experimented with FC, sure that
this mother would give a negative report.
Instead the child’s mother answered as follows:
Five years ago, I contacted a
facilitator, a religious lady in Zichron Yaakov, and asked her if she would
teach me FC. The facilitator told me she would on condition that I and my
husband become religious or observe some mitzvot. After 3 meetings, the
facilitator told us she would not go on because we had not kept our promise.
I told her that I have an observant
sister and asked her if she would train her. She agreed and my sister learned
how to communicate with my daughter.
My daughter told my sister that she is
named for her father’s great-great grandmother. My sister did not know this.
My husband and I cannot communicate with
our daughter. But we reckon there’s a lot of telepathy involved. Once a girl
was here and asked my daughter what mark she would get in an exam she was soon
to take. My daughter told her. Sure enough, a few days later the girl phoned up
and said my daughter’s prediction was correct.
Another time, we asked my daughter what
my mother is doing now. My daughter answered, ‘Fixing the soup.’ We rang up and
my mum told us she was in the middle of putting spices in the soup.
Examples of the supernatural in remarks made by autistics are
without limit.
#10: A
Recent Study For An MA In Bar Ilan U
Mrs. Chani Chukat is the daughter of the head of the Special
Education Dept. in Bar Ilan U, Israel. In 1998, she submitted a thesis for her
MA which was a study of changes in the attitude of parents to their autistic
children after the children had begun communicating through FC. On p.33, she
writes,
Professional IQ Ratings Before And After Application Of
Alternative Communication
10 children were submitted to interviews
and tests before and after application of FC. The interviews and tests were
conducted by researchers as well as specialists in various fields of child
education attached to a child development center. The results show that all
children prior to FC were regarded as being seriously retarded whereas after, 7
of the 10 children were classed as having ‘satisfactory intelligence.’
Moreover, of these 3 still classified by the experts as seriously retarded, the
parents of 2 of them said that FC had shown them that their children have
satisfactory intelligence. The parents explained that their children did not
respond to the researchers and doctors, but they did to them.
Chani’s work is now one of
hundreds or even thousands on FC, supporting its claims and helping to show the
world of special education that FC releases those afflicted with speechlessness
from their prisons of silence.
