Customer Reviews

Speechless: Facilitating Communication for People Without Voices

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rosemary Crossley discovered (or rediscovered)facilitation training (FCT), and here she tells how and why. FCT is a means of communication with people with communication impairment - people with autism, or Down syndrome, or cp - and the real point of Speechless is that it makes us ask whether these people can't talk because they're mentally retarded or whether they get labelled as retarded because they can't talk. If you believe it really happens, that is: there's a lot of controversy around FCT, and Crossley has been accused of many things, charges she answers in this book. A must for anyone dealing with a non-speaker

This book is a fantastic collection of accounts of moving, diverse personalities who all share one thing in common- the have no functional verbal speech. Rosemary, as the character who becomes involved with these very different characters, has a wonderful humorous and passionate writer's voice, making this comparable to books like Oliver Sachs' The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat. You don't have to be interested in Facilitated or Augmented Communication techniques to find this book a thoroughly good read in its own right. You simply have to enjoy the inner worlds of human beings and how remarkable it is when those worlds get their first change at expression.

Rosemary Crossley casts aside the taboos and tackles the serious issues, never taking herself overly seriously. She's a credit to a world that takes far fewer risks and asks far fewer important questions than she does.

Read it if you dare.