The Quack of the Gaps Problem
From: Scientific American - 08/2016 - page 75

Facilitated communication, autism and patients’ rights

This past April 2, on World Autism Awareness Day, Apple released a
heartstrings-tugging commercial depicting an autistic boy typing, in part
with the assistance of a facilitator, a message on an iPad that voiced: "So
many people can't understand that I have a mind. All they see is a person who
is not in control. But now you can hear me. The iPad helps me to see not only
my words, but to hold onto my thoughts."

The commercial was surprising because this system of "facilitated
communication" (FC) was thoroughly discredited in the 1990s.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.michaelshermer.com/2016/08/the-quack-of-the-gaps-problem
https://twitter.com/michaelshermer/status/755465504635052032
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-facilitated-communication-is-a-canard-why-teach-it


Links:
Dillan’s Voice (video 2:00)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMN2PeFama0&feature=youtu.be

Prisoner's of Science (video 54:27) (10/19/1993)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzCGux7qD1c&feature=youtu.be

The persistence of fad interventions in the face of negative scientific
  evidence: Facilitated communication for autism as a case example (abstract)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17489539.2014.976332?journalCode=tebc20

My latest Scientific American column on Facilitated Communication, autism, &
  rights
https://twitter.com/michaelshermer/status/755465504635052032