P. Howlin et Dph. Jones, AN ASSESSMENT APPROACH TO ABUSE ALLEGATIONS MADE THROUGH FACILITATED COMMUNICATION, Child abuse & neglect, 20(2), 1996, pp. 103-110
Over the last few years a number of cases have been reported in which
accusations of sexual abuse have been made through the medium of facil
itated communication. Although experimental evaluations of facilitated
communication indicate that responses are almost always under the con
trol of the facilitator, not the client, such allegations cannot be ig
nored. The following case study describes the procedures followed when
a young girl with autism began to make accusations of abuse against f
amily members. The paper suggests a number of guidelines that might be
followed when professionals are faced with dilemmas of a similar kind
.