Who Gets to Be Heard? The Case For Researching Assisted Methods to Autistic Communication

Here's what we know: assisted methods to teaching typing have been highly controversial in the field of speech-language pathology, and simultaneously have been passionately defended by many non-speaking Autistics. In a recent paper, researcher Vikram Jaswal, along with a team including Dr. Kristie Patten, Dr. Barry Prizant, and several others, argued that we need more research on assisted communication methods so that we can get clearer answers. On the podcast today, Dr. Jaswal and Italk about what all of this means, why it has been so controversial, and what steps might help us understand the potential - and the limitations - of assisted communication methods.