Rosemary Crossley

Another person is present and can potentially influence which letters are selected.

So facilitated communication was developed in 1970s by Australian educator Rosemary Crossley.

She wasn't trying to pull a fast one but rather working to help a very misunderstood group of people who are often assumed to have profound intellectual disabilities because they could not speak, the group we now call non-verbal autistic.

Okay, now call the...

I mean, I can't imagine sort of being stuck inside your head all the time.

Oh, for sure.

So the method Rosemary Crossley developed was based on the idea that some non-speaking people were not intellectually impaired but were unable to express themselves through speech or independent typing.

So facilitated communication involves a facilitator, that is to say, another person providing physical support while the individual points to letters or types on a keyboard.

And it was found to be that the system did not work.

The young woman was sent back to her family and Rosemary Crossley's facilitated communication was ceased to be used in the training centres around Victoria, the adult day training centres.

Strange story.

I mean, for Rosemary Crosley, was it purely a financial thing? Was she just seeking to make money out of it? I've got