August 5, 2005: Headlines: COS - Sierra Leone: University Administration: Autism: Syracuse Post Standard: Sierra Leone RPCV Douglas Biklen appointed dean at Syracuse University amid controversy

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Sierra Leone: Peace Corps Sierra Leone : The Peace Corps in Sierra Leone: August 5, 2005: Headlines: COS - Sierra Leone: University Administration: Autism: Syracuse Post Standard: Sierra Leone RPCV Douglas Biklen appointed dean at Syracuse University amid controversy

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Sierra Leone RPCV Douglas Biklen appointed dean at Syracuse University amid controversy

Sierra Leone RPCV Douglas Biklen appointed dean at  Syracuse University amid controversy

56 people signed a statement from the Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health that censured SU for appointing Biklen. Critics of facilitated communication claim that facilitators influence what is communicated by guiding the autistic or disabled person's hand; that facilitated communication has been associated with unfounded allegations of sexual and physical abuse against family members of autistic individuals; and that the communication method's success has not panned out in controlled studies.

Sierra Leone RPCV Douglas Biklen appointed dean at Syracuse University amid controversy

Commission criticizes SU for dean selection

New educaton school chief introduced to U.S. facilitated communication
technique.

Friday, August 05, 2005

By Nancy Buczek
Staff writer

Syracuse University was criticized Thursday by 56 psychologists, psychiatrists and physicians from across the country for its decision to promote one of its faculty to be dean of its School of Education.

Douglas Biklen, who became dean Monday, brought the tech- nique of facilitated communication to the United States from Australia in 1989. It's a technique in which a facilitator physically supports one of the hands of a mute individual with autism or other developmental disability, so that person can communicate by typing on a computer keyboard or letter pad.

The 56 people signed a statement from the Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health that censured SU for appointing Biklen. Critics of facilitated communication claim that facilitators influence what is communicated by guiding the autistic or disabled person's hand; that facilitated communication has been associated with unfounded allegations of sexual and physical abuse against family members of autistic individuals; and that the communication method's success has not panned out in controlled studies.

"I have to publish my work in peer-review journals as does any other professor," Biklen said. "The work is worth it. I felt if there is going to be the controversy, I just have to live with it because what choice do I have if I think the work is important? I have to proceed with my work. This looks to me like an intimidation strategy."

SU supports Biklen and stands behind its decision to promote him to dean, said Kevin Morrow, speaking for SU.

"There were several good candidates. Doug exhibited great personal qualities: honesty, in-

tegrity and superior intellectual abilities and seemed to be a great package to be the dean of the School of Education," Morrow said.

Scott Lilienfeld is an associate professor in the psychology department of Emory University and editor of "Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice," which is associated with the commission. He said he does not want SU to fire Biklen.

"Syracuse and other major universities should be very circumspect in their appointments and should make sure that their appointments reflect their scientific principles," said Lilienfeld, whose name is among the 56 attached to the commission's statement.

Biklen established SU's Facilitated Communication Institute in 1992. Whether a facilitator guides someone's hand has always been at issue, he said. But he said the method has been proven to work - citing examples of people who now type without assistance and/or utter words before they type them, and people whose communication style remains the same even with different facilitators.

"When someone is learning to communicate early on, obviously you don't know if these are the words of the person or not. Maybe the person was cued. That is absolutely possible. I would never argue that somebody learning to communicate in this method cannot be cued. I've always seen that that's a possibility," Biklen said.

As for the false allegations of abuse, he said that like children learning to communicate, people who have never before communicated may lie or tell of something they are thinking about.

"What disturbs me about some of these attacks is that they (the critics) presume that people with a certain level of disability are incompetent and couldn't possibly be communicating," Biklen said.





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Story Source: Syracuse Post Standard

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Sierra Leone; University Administration; Autism

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