The Telepathy Tapes
Occasionally, a podcast takes on the topic of Facilitated Communication (FC), with varying degrees of accuracy and scientific rigor. Some hosts understand the problems with traditional touch-based FC, but may not understand that there are over 20 different names for FC now, including the more popular ones: Spelling to Communicate, Supported Tying, Rapid Prompting Method, and Spellers Method. Others do a fairly good job overall in getting the message across to their audiences that FC is a pseudoscience. Still others take a credulous, “seeing is believing” approach to the topic…and then there’s The Telepathy Tapes, a podcast that goes far beyond credulity into the realm of illusion.
Skeptical Inquirer Presents: Facilitated Communication, Authorship Testing, and The Telepathy Tapes (August 27, 2026)
Beals, Katharine. (2026 September/October). Telepathy via Facilitated Communication in Profound Autism: A 21-st Century Delusion, Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 50(5).
Boynton, Janyce. (2026, September/October). Debunking The Telepathy Tapes: The Role of Facilitator Behaviors. Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 50(5).
Hupp, Stephen. (2026 September/October) How The Telepathy Tapes Silences Voices, Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 50(5).
Mackey, Malorie and Maldonado, Michael. (2026, September/October). The Science behind the Ouija Board: The Neuropsychological Basis of the Ideomotor Response. Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 50(5)
Vyse, Stuart. (2026 September/October). The Telepathy Tapes: A Portal into a World of Woo. Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 50(5)
Vyse, Stuart. (2025, January 6). The Telepathy Tapes: A Dangerous Cornucopia of Pseudoscience. Skeptical Inquirer,
Telepathy Tapes
This podcast is hosted by Ky Dickens and promotes the idea that nonspeaking or minimally speaking individuals with autism have telepathic abilities. Dickens downplays or ignores altogether the fact that these individuals are being subjected to FC/S2C/RPM or other variants. None of the telepathy tests conducted thus far in the series includes authorship testing. In fact, the participants are blinded from test stimuli, not the facilitators. The host and the experts included in this podcast, in our opinion, take a credulous, not scientific approach to investigating the topics of telepathy and FC.
Reviews of the podcast:
Boynton, Janyce. (2026, March 30). The Truth About Facilitated Communication. Recovering From Religion.
Boynton, Janyce. (2025, March 3). ‘The Telepathy Tapes”: autism is not a superpower. AIPT.
Farina, Dave. (2026, May 5). Ky Dickens Tried to Censor My Telepathy Tapes Debunk. Professor Dave Explains.
Farina, Dave. (2026, March 24). The Telepathy Tapes Are A Scam (Ky Dickens Debunked). Professor Dave Explains
Farrier, David. (2025, May 14). The Telepathy Tapes is a Trojan Horse. Webworm.
Fisher, Naomi. (2025, November 7). Just believe: The strange story of Facilitated Communication. The British Psychological Society.
Grothe, D.J. (2025, March 5). The Human Ouija Board: The Telepathy Tapes and the Belief in Beautiful (and Harmful) NonsenseD.J.’s Substack.
Jacobsen, Scott Douglas. (2025, November 14). Stuart Vyse on Autism Pseudoscience: Facilitated Communication, S2C, and ‘Telepathy Tapes.’ The Good Men Project.
Jarry, Jonathan. (2024, December 13). The Telepathy Tapes Prove We All Want to Believe.McGill University Office for Science and Society.
Jilani, Zaid. (2024, December 26). “The Telepathy Tapes” is Taking America by Storm. But it Has its Roots in Old Autism Controversies.”The American Saga.
Jilani, Zaid. (2025, June 2). “The Telepathy Tapes” Turns to Censorship to try to Protect Itself From Scrutiny.The American Saga.
Johnson, Stephen. (2025, January 9). What People are Getting Wrong This Week: ‘The Telepathy Tapes’. LifeHacker.
Kerby, Brian. (2025, March 19). The Telepathy Tapes: Hope or Hype? with Stuart Vyse.502 Conversations.
Leiva, Javier. (2025, January 28). The Telepathy Tapes B-Side part 1. Pretend.
Leiva, Javier. (2025, February 4). The Telepathy Tapes B-Side part 2. Pretend.
Leiva, Javier. (2025, February 11). The Telepathy Tapes B-Side Part 3. Pretend.
Marshall, Michael. (2025, January 31). The Telepathy Tapes is wrong - autistic children don’t have supernatural powers.The Skeptic.
Mathieu-Sher, Reva and Forbes, Heather. (2025, January 27). ASAT Responds to The Skeptical Inquirer: “The Telepathy Tapes: A Dangerous Cornucopia of Pseudoscience.” Association for Science in Autism Treatment.
McCabe, Lia. (2025, April 18). IRL - What They’re Not Telling You about Facilitated Communication with Dr. Katharine Beals. Embracing Autism.
Neely, Kim. (2025, January 18). Autistics’ have a new superpower? [SLP response to Telepathy Tapes]. The Trauma-informed SLP.
Neely, Kim. (2025, January 30). Signs of dehumanization. The Trauma-Informed SLP.
Novella, Steven. (2025, February 5). The Telepathy Tapes - More FC Pseudoscience. Science-Based Medicine.
Remski, Matthew (2025, January 23). Unravelling the Telepathy Tapes, Conspirituality.
Rosin, Hanna. (2025, March 6). The Podcast of Magical Thinking: Don’t fall for The Telepathy Tapes. The Atlantic.
Underdown, Jim. (2026, March 16). Telepathy Tapes. Point of Inquiry.
Walker, Chloe. (2025, January 27). The Dangerous Charm of The Telepathy Tapes. Podcast Review.
Vyse, Stuart. (2025, January 6). The Telepathy Tapes: A Dangerous Cornucopia of Pseudoscience. Skeptical Inquirer.
Vyse, Stuart. (2025, February 8). The Telepathy Tapes: Autism and Telepathy - A scientific perspective. Talking with Stuart Vyse. The San Francisco Experience.
Vyse, Stuart. (2025, May 30). The Telepathy Tapes Tries to Silence a Critic—and Fails. Skeptical Inquirer.
Vyse, Stuart. (2025, June 17). Ky Dickens, William James, and the Four Possibilities. Skeptical Inquirer.
Blog Posts
FC’s Lesser-Known Side: Thoughts About the Telepathy Tapes - (Episode 1)
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)
FC, Telepathy, and the Allure of Transcendence: Thoughts about the Telepathy Tapes (Episode 9)
What We’re Told to Believe About FC, Telepathic Abilities, and Individuals with Profound Autism: Thoughts about the Telepathy Tapes (Episode 10)