January 27, 2025
Dear Skeptical Inquirer,
The Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT) would like to highlight a recent article by Dr. Stuart Vyse and the Skeptical Inquirer. The Telepathy Tapes: A Dangerous Cornucopia of Pseudoscience critically reviews the recently released and highly popular podcast The Telepathy Tapes. Throughout his analysis, Dr. Vyse delivers a strong cautionary warning against the use of pseudoscientific methods of communication (i.e., facilitated communication, rapid prompting method, spelling to communicate) with autistic children and adults. Several episodes of the Telepathy Tapes podcast highlight and promote these pseudoscientific methods. The stance taken in the podcast contradicts the positions of dozens of professional organizations in psychology, speech-language pathology, medicine, behavior analysis, and education. These professional organizations warn against the use of facilitated communication and its variants due to evidence that the messages produced by these methods are not authored by the nonspeaking individuals to which they are attributed.
We at ASAT are deeply concerned that the Telepathy Tapes podcast spreads misinformation about the authenticity of facilitated communication and the presence of paranormal abilities in nonspeaking autistic individuals. We share the apprehensions of Dr. Vyse that the popularity of this podcast could potentially increase the use of pseudoscientific practices with autistic individuals, especially in the area of communication. We echo Dr. Vyse’s sentiment that “for the nonspeaking children and adults, the stakes are very high.” Pseudoscientific practices have far-reaching and potentially dangerous consequences that can silence nonspeaking autistic individuals and prevent them from accessing interventions proven to support them.
We strongly empathize with the stories shared by caregivers seeking ways to communicate, connect, and engage with their children and recognize the profound importance of building and fostering those relationships. As an organization supporting autistic individuals and their families, we advocate for the autistic individual’s right to access evidenced-based interventions that prioritize the individual’s authentic voice and wellbeing. We also support autistic families right to access current information related to interventions supported by science and proven to be effective for autistic individuals. We agree with Dr. Vyse that every child deserves to be loved and accepted for who they are, including nonspeaking autistic children. Therefore, we strongly caution the public from being tempted to believe the sensational claims made about autistic individuals in the Telepathy Tapes podcast and encourage any listeners of the podcast to engage in a healthy skepticism and question the validity of the claims asserted.
Sincerely,
Reva Mathieu-Sher, EdD., BCBA
Heather Forbes, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCBA-D
