In Episode 10 of the Telepathy Tapes, we are told by documentarian Ky Dickens that what follows are the words of nonspeaking individuals with autism who have communicated their thoughts telepathically to their teachers, parents, and other family members. She doesn’t mention that all the individuals in the series to date have been subjected to Facilitated Communication (FC), a technique that was discredited in the mid-1990s and shown to be the result of facilitator influence and control over letter selection. (See links to reviews of prior episodes below)

At this point in the podcast, Dickens is fully convinced that the telepathic ability in these individuals is real, and that FC-generated messages are not authored by the facilitators. Dickens has, throughout the series, used anecdotes and testimonies from facilitators and woven together a rather extraordinary and scientifically inadequate tale about the inner lives of people who cannot independently confirm what she—or the facilitators—are saying about them. Her own tests, designed to test for telepathic abilities, show that when facilitators know the answers to the test stimuli (e.g. words, pictures, numbers), they’re able “support” their children through physical, auditory, or visual cues (e.g. hand signals and shifts in body weight for “no-touch” forms of FC) to type out the correct responses.

We’ve also learned in the series that FC (in all its variant forms) is being used as a coping strategy to mask the realities of raising children with profound autism (e.g., children requiring 24/7 care who cannot use verbal and written language in neurotypical ways). Facilitators seem to be using FC to reimagine the lives of their children and students in this life and beyond and, essentially erase the identities of nonspeaking individuals with profound autism.

So, when Dickens tells us that the words contained in this episode are the words of non-speaking or minimally speaking individuals, we must take it with a grain of salt. Based on what we know about authorship testing in FC, it is more likely than not (100% more likely according to reliably controlled testing) that the words being attributed to the individuals with autism in this episode are the words of their facilitators. (See controlled studies)

With that frame of reference, we can learn something about the struggles, hopes, and dreams of the educators, parents, and family members featured in the Telepathy Tapes and, I might add, in pro-FC films, books, and other literature as well.

The facilitator-dependent, FC-generated messages in the Telepathy Tapes seem to fall into two main categories.

The first is what I believe is a genuine plea from facilitators (parents, mostly) for society at large to better support and care for individuals who otherwise cannot fend for themselves. The recurring themes in this category include better:

Educational supports
In-home services
Residential services (e.g., for those individuals who, for a variety of reasons, cannot be cared for at home)
Training for and access to teachers, therapists, caregivers, and other professionals who specialize in autism treatments
Medical care
Acceptance of individuals with autism
Social support networks, both for the individuals and for their caregivers

An individual undergoing a telepathy test while a facilitator holds onto and controls a letter board. (Romney and Powell, 2014)

The second category of FC-generated messages serves as an advertisement for FC and its variants (e.g., Spelling to Communicate (S2C), Rapid Prompting Method (RPM), Spellers Method, Supported Typing). The recurring themes we hear in this category include:

(Unsubstantiated) claims that individuals with profound autism have an “intact” mind and that language and literacy skills are innate.
(Unsubstantiated) claims that nonspeaking or minimally speaking individuals with autism communicate telepathically not just with their parents but with other nonspeaking or minimally speaking individuals world-wide.
(Subjective) claims that autism is a gift (usually asserted by speaking individuals on the higher end of the autism spectrum, and/or through FC-generated messages)
(Unsubstantiated) claims that communication difficulties in autism are primarily due to gross and fine motor difficulties.
(Unsubstantiated) claims that all nonspeaking individuals with autism have telepathic abilities or other special gifts from God.
(Potentially dangerous) claims that, instead of receiving scientifically-based medical care, individuals with autism should be subjected to “complimentary therapies” such as sound healing, acupuncture, massages, kinesiology, tuning forks, and shiatsu.
(Unsubstantiated) claims that radio waves from electronics (e.g., television, radio, computers) affects these individuals’ ability to think.
(Unsubstatiated) claims that FC (or its variant forms) sets the nonspeaking or minimally speaking person free from a body that “struggles to obey” him/her.
(Irresponsible) claims that FC/S2C/RPM, though scientifically invalid, should be taught in schools. (See Katharine’s series Spelling to Communicate Goes on Trial)
(Dubious and insulting) claims that questioning FC/S2C/RPM because of lack of scientific evidence or concerns about facilitator influence and control over letter selection is ableist, materialist, and/or against people with disabilities.

But, as we’ve seen throughout the Telepathy Tapes podcast, listeners are being called upon to believe—on faith—some extraordinary and, as yet, unproven (or, in some cases, disproven) claims that:

FC works because people using FC say it works.
All nonspeaking individuals with autism are intelligent, genius even, because they can, telepathically, access and make use of a cosmic library containing all the world’s knowledge—a superpower that neurotypical individuals do not have.
Nonspeaking individuals have evolved so much that they no longer need “spelling” to communicate. They only use FC because their (neurotypical) facilitators have not yet evolved enough to keep up with their abilities.
Language and literacy skills are innate and fully intact in nonspeaking individuals with autism.
Nonspeaking individuals with autism have “an acute awareness of their own physical bodies” and can diagnose their own medical needs. This viewpoint comes with a distrust of the “medical establishment." I find this claim ironic, especially since proponents also claim nonspeaking individuals have a lack of awareness of their own bodies and that’s why they need support from facilitators during letter selection.
Direct eye contact with the letter board when selecting letters using a one-finger hunt-and-peck method is not necessary. Non-speaking individuals can see through blind folds and/or can “see” letters even if they are physically blind. Those without visual impairments can detect the “auras” of letters and numbers on the board (e.g., experience synesthesia) with their peripheral vision and “know” which letters to choose based on the color of each letter or number.
Telepathic brain waves can be determined by QEEG equipment. We’re told the presence of additional brain wave activity proves telepathic abilities in one case study and the absence of additional brain wave activity proves telepathic abilities in another case study. So, which are we to believe?

As I come to the end of Season 1 of the Telepathy Tapes (thank goodness!), I am left, more than anything else, with a deep sense of sadness that the individuals featured in the podcast—and I include here not just the individuals with autism, but their families as well—are not being given the support and the education they need to understand and access legitimate evidence-based forms of communication. As I stated in a separate review I wrote about the Telepathy Tapes, Ky Dickens and the experts she’s invited to speak on her show, I believe, have used these families’ real-life struggles to engage in a thought experiment about what the inner lives of nonspeaking individuals with autism might be like if they had the ability to telepathically communicate using FC.

I came to the Telepathy Tapes late. Season 1 was pretty much complete by the time I started writing reviews of the episodes—and, as I listened to the series, I kept hoping that by Episode 10, the producers would have responded to critic concerns about FC and authorship. But, Ky Dickens, who claimed to be skeptical at the start of the series, seemed to go deeper into her belief system in the face of criticism and continued promoting her pseudoscientific beliefs without pause.

And, while I do think we, as a society, should strive to address the legitimate concerns parents have regarding access to the appropriate support and care of their children—concerns I’ve outlined above—I think, too, that rather than accept the outrageous claims made in the Telepathy Tapes on faith, we should demand that facilitators be required to submit to reliably controlled studies of authorship. I suspect, had Dickens taken this approach at the outset, she probably would not have a series. The way I see it, anyone who doesn’t question the outrageous claims in the Telepathy Tapes is complicit in further dehumanizing nonspeaking individuals who, according to the claims being made in the podcast, are not valuable unless they have superhuman capabilities.

As I write this review, I hear that Dickens has plans for a Season 2 of the Telepathy Tapes. I find that both disheartening and irresponsible. Let’s hope that someone on her team insists that rigorously controlled studies of FC be done before progressing any further.

References and Recommended Reading:

Beals, K. (2022). Cutting-Edge Language and Literacy Tools for Students on the Autism Spectrum. IGI Global. ISBN: 9781799894438

Beals, K. (2022). Students with Autism: How to Improve Language, Literacy, and Academic Success. John Catt Educational. ISBN: 9781915261373

Blog Posts about The Telepathy Tapes

Channeling lies on the Telepathy Tapes—including lies about autism and lying

FC’s Lesser Known Side: Thoughts about the Telepathy Tapes (Episode 1)

Fighting FC pseudoscience requires a broader critique of paranormal beliefs—here’s mine

How Conscious were Dickens and Powell of Facilitator Control in FC? Thoughts about the Telepathy Tapes (Episode 2)

Proving Facilitator Authorship in FC/RPM Messages: Thoughts about The Telepathy Tapes (Episode 3)

Open Skepticism of FC or Willful Ignorance? Thoughts about the Telepathy Tapes (Episode 4)

What Did Bernard Rimland Actually Say about ESP and Savant Skills?

Inside the Minds of Facilitators: Thoughts About the Telepathy Tapes (Episode 5)

Evidence or Anecdote? Thoughts About the Telepathy Tapes (Episode 6)

If Ever There was a Time for Materialism, It’s Now: Thoughts about the Telepathy Tapes (Episode 7)

Mixing Misinformation with Magical Thinking: Thoughts about the Telepathy Tapes (Episode 8)