Can the process of facilitated communication be used in teaching language to people with autism? Is there a better way to do this?

This is an effective tool. As we have discussed with you in the past, it is not perfect and is not always doable on the part of each and every subject. Nor are the facilitators attempting this equally adept in applying the right touch and having the right energy to support the process in the most meaningful way to allow their charge to signal things to them without imposing their own energy in the process and confounding the readout. When done with care and sensitivity, it is a true blessing and can be relied on to give accurate information. This is the best way to reach the interior awareness of those individuals and explore what is happening to them in their experiencing and get feedback about things they need and would like to see happen. There is more in their capability to communicate than is imagined. One of the ironies here being that the more detailed and profound the information that comes forth, the more it is dismissed by the skeptic, assuming that it must obviously be a consequence of imposing the thoughts of the facilitator on the primitive, impaired mind of the autistic patient. When, in fact, the opposite is the case, that the mind of the autistic vastly outperforms the average human intellect and awareness. It is the body that is defective, not the mind. And so the senses are not perceived or not perceived in an accurate fashion and interpreted with correct understanding, and that is because there is an absence of knowledge through training and transfer of the meaning for language and other aspects of the culture and how humans treat one another, and the various routines of life and their value and purpose. Keep in mind, the autistic live in a world of their own and it is very much like being in limbo. Despite the fact things happen, this does not mean they will understand or interpret what has taken place. It may be a type of random experiencing of stimuli with no seeming purpose, rhyme or reason for them happening and therefore, they remain in a vacuum largely unaware of what is taking place and why. Even though their mind is advanced, the senses fail them. They are absent or exaggerated in unpredictable ways, all of which causes gaps in awareness and much confusion and stress. Even in the simplest environments, there can be overwhelm. This is not a prescription for learning nor a state of being prone to growth and self-awareness, and reasoning to sort things out, and draw conclusions about the events of the day, and keep them on file within memory as a reference to build upon as happens with normal learning. The autistic individual has everything working against them and that is why it is such a grave condition and very difficult to manage in many cases. When they are reached through an effective means of communication, it is truly a blessing, and this can provide the beginning of a path forward.