Welcome back to Progressively Incorrect. I’m your host, Zach Groshell.

Education is filled with myths. Some are harmless. Others shape curriculum, teacher training, intervention programs, and the lives of students for decades before anyone seriously asks whether they work. One of the reasons this podcast exists is to challenge those myths and examine the evidence behind them. Too often, educational practices spread because of compelling stories, persuasive advocates, and wishful thinking rather than rigorous scientific testing. When that happens, bad ideas can become institutionalized long before they’re properly scrutinized.

Few examples illustrate this better than facilitated communication. Introduced in the 1970s and widely adopted in the 1980s and 1990s, facilitated communication was presented as a breakthrough method for helping individuals with severe communication disabilities express thoughts that had previously been assumed inaccessible. Through physical support provided by a facilitator, individuals were said to be able to type messages, write, and communicate complex ideas.

Parents, educators, and advocates reported what appeared to be remarkable transformations. Individuals who had never spoken or demonstrated conventional literacy suddenly seemed capable of sophisticated written communication. Stories emerged of hidden intelligence being unlocked, challenging longstanding assumptions about disability, cognition, and human potential.

There was just one problem: the evidence ultimately showed that the messages were not coming from the individuals themselves. What many believed was a breakthrough in communication turned out to be an illusion.

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Katharine Beals, whose work has focused on language, literacy, autism, and the scientific evaluation of facilitated communication. We discuss how the method gained credibility, why so many sincere and well-intentioned people became convinced of its effectiveness, and the scientific investigations that sought to determine whether the communication was truly originating from the disabled individual or from the facilitator.

Our conversation also explores the broader lessons this story holds for education, psychology, and disability advocacy. How should educators evaluate extraordinary claims? What role should evidence play when powerful personal experiences seem to point in a different direction? And why do ideas that have been extensively studied and criticized continue to reappear in new forms and under new names?

Whether you are an educator, psychologist, speech-language pathologist, parent, or simply interested in the history of controversial educational practices, facilitated communication offers a fascinating case study in the intersection of science, advocacy, hope, and human judgment. It is a story that continues to raise important questions about evidence, ethics, and the responsibility we bear when making decisions on behalf of vulnerable individuals.

Resources and Links

Learn more about facilitated communication and related research:
https://www.facilitatedcommunication.org/
Explore Dr. Katharine Beals’ books, articles, and research:
https://katharinebeals.com/

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Love what you heard? Inwood Academy is hosting my The Explicit Teaching Institute—a five-day deep dive into the science of learning and the highest-leverage moves in explicit instruction – in New York City this summer.

We’ll spend our mornings unpacking the research, our middays studying expert teaching on video (courtesy of Steplab!), and our afternoons rehearsing the moves that make instruction clear, efficient, and reliable—so you leave with a practical toolkit you can use on day one.

NYC | July 27–31, 2026

Learn more + register here: Explicit Teaching Institute registration

Check out my latest book, Just Tell Them: The Power of Explanations and Explicit Teaching.

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