2005: The Telepathy Tapes B-side part 3

PRETEND

Javier Leiva

True Crime, Society & Culture, Technology

4.7 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Facilitated Communication is marketed as a miraculous tool for non-speaking autistic children. But what happens when this controversial method leads to devastating consequences? In this episode, we hear from Kevin Plantin, a father who was falsely accused of assault based solely on messages typed with the help of a facilitator. Despite the evidence, some courts and institutions still give FC credibility—with tragic consequences. In this episode, Kevin Plantan recounts how a letter typed via FC led to his wrongful imprisonment for 10 months on charges of sexual assault. We also revisit the story of Janyce Boynton, a former FC facilitator who now warns against the practice after witnessing its harmful effects firsthand. Featured guests in this episode: Kevin Plantin: Sharing his personal story of wrongful imprisonment. Janyce Boynton: Former FC facilitator and advocate against the practice. Additional Resources: Learn more about Facilitated Communication: https://www.facilitatedcommunication.org/ Read about Syracuse University's involvement with FC: https://dailyorange.com/2024/02/mixed-messages-how-facilitated-communication-persists-at-su/ Prisoners of Silence documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMn_sDCFAuI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Creative Babble.
0:05.7	Criminal Conduct Season 5 is available right now.
0:09.0	You can binge the entire series on Patreon and Pretend Plus on Apple Podcast.
0:27.1	Kevin Planton remembers when his first and only daughter was born. She was perfect.
0:28.5	She hit all her milestones so she could speak as well as any two-year-old.
0:33.8	But at around two years old, his daughter slowly started losing skills that she had already learned and began to fall behind.
0:41.1	You know, she was diagnosed at two and a half.
0:44.0	The doctors diagnosed her with regressive autism and severe dyspraxia, a motor function disorder that makes it extremely difficult for her to control her physical movements.
0:56.2	I don't have anyone in my family.
0:58.2	This was our first child.
1:03.0	I don't have any siblings or anyone in my extended family that's been touched by autism.
1:11.6	So we just had a very open mind, mom and me, and we just wanted to do whatever we could do to help our daughter. We just went down a path of trying everything.
1:15.6	Things like weighted vests, camels milk, hyperbaric chambers, keelation, really just doing everything,
1:24.6	you know, leaving no stone unturned, doing everything we could to help our daughter.
1:29.3	Anything it took, we were going to try, going to different really great psychologists and autism experts all over the East Coast.
1:39.3	They tried everything, but they didn't hit a breakthrough until they discovered facilitated
1:46.5	communication.
1:47.9	Mom discovered facilitated communication with typing and went to this seminar that, you know,
1:57.8	conveniently these groups hold them in universities on the weekend.
2:03.1	And so the facilitators holding out this board.
2:06.1	And I, you know, you notice she's kind of moving it conveniently.
2:09.4	And suddenly she's talking about President Obama and all the great things he's done.
	...

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