Tag: rpm

Autism and Telepathy

Greetings Earthlings!

This week we’re really going through the looking glass to discuss the notion that nonverbal autistic people have telepathic abilities- a supernatural superpower.

Give me strength!

So where has this notion come from Aoife?

Over the last few months, a podcast called ‘The Telepathy Tapes‘ has been getting a lot of online attention claiming to showcase scientific evidence that nonverbal autists are telepathic. Experiments based on the theories of former psychiatrist Diane Hennacy Powell were conducted where parents and children were separated and shown images, numbers, words etc. and the child used tools to communicate what was shown to their parent, supposedly with 95% accuracy. The podcast also claims that autists can predict the future, see dead people, heal people and meet others in some sort of subconscious plane called ‘The Hill’ (buuutt I’d be here all night if I was to delve into those claims🙈).

But are autists really telepathic?

Whilst I haven’t personally listened to the podcast (as one does not have 10 spare hours to indulge this notion 😛), the feedback from the scientific community has condemned the experiments as pseudoscience. Experts have looked at the videos shown in the podcast (which are conventiently hidden behind a paywall) and it seems that the pseudoscientific rapid prompting method (which I have discussed previously) was used to help the children communicate. This method requires the facilitator to hold a letter board and ask the subject to spell out the answer to a question, but the results can be easily manipulated (either consciously or unconsciously) by directing the board in a certain way or prompting the child to give the answer in other ways.

In the video clips some researchers noticed the parents visibly prompting their children to give the right answers. In one case a child gave the right answer when tested with her mother (who showed signs of prompting behaviours) but they could not replicate this result when tested with her father. This is really reminiscent of an episode of the Simpson’s where they thought Maggie was a genius, but Lisa was subconsciously giving her answers.

From another perspective, these results could also be explained by some autists excellent pattern recognition skills, observational skills and neurodivergent ways of thinking that allow them to make conclusions that may appear like extrasensory perception (ESP). Many of us autists may appear to have somewhat of a sixth sense for predicting the outcome of a TV show, finishing sentences or guessing quiz answers- but it’s all educated guesswork. Even premonitions can be explained by our tendency towards overthinking and imagining all possible scenarios in a situation. I once had a premonition that I might sit on a pile of caramel squares that were setting on a chair in my kitchen while I cleaned. It seemed like a mad notion when I thought it, but of course I did end up sitting on them in the end while distracted 🙈. No superpower about it, I’m just really good at predicting potential pandemonium from years of analyzing my mistakes 😜

The credentials of anti-vaxxer Diane Hennacy Powell are also a little bit sketchy. She claims her medical license was suspended in response to her research and reinstated based on the results, buuuttt the truth was actually related to her medical practices including poor paperwork, boundaries, medication management and response to serious patient symptoms. In light of this, one would seriously question how reliable her research practices are. The field of parapsychology research (i.e., the study of psychic and paranormal phenomena) is a very dubious discipline with results that are difficult to replicate. Flaws and weaknesses have been found in every single study that has every been conducted in this field over the last 200 years. You can read more about the telepathy tapes and how unreliable parapsychology experiments are here https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/telepathy-tapes-prove-we-all-want-believe.

While there are many things we cannot explain in this life, it seems fairly clear that autists are not telepathic.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife

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Autism and Rapid Prompting Method (RPM)

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

Leading on from a previous post about non-verbal autism, this week I’d like to discuss a popular communication method for non-verbal autists- the rapid prompting method or RPM for short.

So what exactly is RPM?

RPM, also known as ‘spelling to communicate’ is a communication technique that allows non-verbal autists to communicate through a system of writing, typing, or pointing at a letter board.

You can see a video of RPM in practice here:

But is it effective?

Now this is where things get interesting. As far as the scientific community is concerned, RPM is pseudoscience- they can’t generate evidence to prove that it really works. There are concerns that the facilitator of the method may unconsciously prompt and influence an autists answers in the way they move the communication device, and as such, many in the community discourage the practice of RPM until the efficacy and safety can be established.

That being said however, there are so many positive stories out there about how life changing RPM has been for non-verbal autists.

Here in Ireland there was a recent documentary on RTÉ called ‘Speechless‘ about how RPM has completely changed life for non-verbal autist Fiacre Ryan. The documentary followed Fiacre and his family over an eight year period, showing his journey with RPM and how it has enabled him to communicate with his family and give them an insight into his world- as his sister described it, it was like getting to know a completely new person. After discovering RPM, Fiacre went from having only basic playschool level knowledge to a wealth of vocabulary and an aptitude for calculus. With the help of an aide to facilitate RPM, he was able to attend mainstream school. Fiacre went on to be the first non-verbal student to sit the Leaving Certificate exam using RPM (passing with flying colours!), and is currently working with a publisher to create a book of his poetry! 😀 Before RPM, Fiacre says that his mind was very cloudy and dark, but communication has given him a new lease of life.

If you’re in Ireland (or have a really good VPN blocker) you can check out the documentary here: https://www.rte.ie/player/movie/speechless/264381992324

So while RPM may officially be considered pseudoscience, the stories speak for themselves. As with most autism interventions, take it with a pinch of salt.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 🙂

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife

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