Proponents of this pseudoscience are now calling it spell therapy and assisted spelling, and it’s largely endorsed by those who think autism comes from vaccines.
Why is the rapid prompting method and spell2communicate (RPM and S2C, respectively) now being called “spell therapy” and “assisted spelling”?
This is akin to someone changing their last name to a variation after they’ve been busted for something bad; they hope they won’t be recognized with the name change.
But people who demand scientific, replicated proof that something actually works won’t be fooled by the latest repackaging of facilitated communication.
An article about assisted spelling made it to the Philly Voice site.
Elizabeth Bonker is a nonspeaking autistic woman who “typed” on a wireless keyboard (held by her mother – surprise surprise!) before a meeting on April 27, 2026, with a senior aide to Health and Human Services Secretary RFK, Jr.
Elizabeth was appointed by Kennedy to a 20-member autism panel made up mostly of parents with kids whose autism they blame on vaccinations.
Elizabeth was asked why her mother needs to hold the keyboard to spell her thoughts, even though she’d been apparently spelling for many years.
The young woman’s response: “I can do it in certain environments that don’t include interviews with strangers.”
This doesn’t ring true. Everyone knows that anxiety can impair any kind of performance in front of strangers.
But the performance still happens – albeit with some blips from nervousness.
It doesn’t sound believable that a highly literate adult freezes from anxiety or would spell gibberish when in the presence of strangers asking her questions. Even a skittish young child, just learning to spell, can deliver.
I’m not dictating what’s inside the head of every autistic person out there. Rather, I’m pointing out that Elizabeth’s excuse is…well…bonkers.
Also involved on the panel of nonspeaking spellers is Noah, 17.
The Philly Voice article quotes his spelling as follows:
“Im a new person. I have friends, I write, climbing,” he typed. “Conversation. I can have one. I have a say. Im human now.”
My first thought was that this narrative sounds realistic for a nonspeaking autistic teen. It’s natural, not flowery or like a LinkedIn resume.
Noah climbs at an indoor gym. Have you ever climbed on an indoor route? This requires finger work.
So why, then, during a Zoom session, was his mother holding a keyboard when he allegedly typed his simple message?
And of course, being that it was on Zoom, nobody was able to see where the teen’s finger actually touched.
The article then described how later, at an indoor climbing center, Noah scrambled nearly to the top of the wall.
Sounds to me like his fingers work pretty well.
When he was done his mother held a laminated alphabet sheet before him as he spelled, “Im going to crush it again!”
I really do hope this kid is actually spelling. But we can’t ignore a looming question: If he could climb, why must his mother hold a plastic card?
Noah’s mother does indeed acknowledge that the card holder could be influencing his words.
But this vague acknowledgement implies he can still spell – but just chooses words based on the card holder’s cues.
Well, CAN he spell, though? If I prompt a nonspeaking autistic speller to type out, “I want to order a grilled chicken sandwich,” even though he really wants a burger and fries, this only means he can be easily influenced; it doesn’t show he can’t spell.
Noah’s mother skirted the question that she, I’m sure, knows is in the mind of every skeptic: Does her son point to actual words on that keyboard?
The Philly Voice article reports: Despite his climbing prowess, Noah lacks fine motor skills, is anxious, and has trouble controlling his body, she said.
People with cerebral palsy, too, have trouble controlling their body, yet they can point to letters on a keyboard without someone holding it.
Noah’s mother says he’s working on becoming independent with typing: “He can do it for short amounts of time. But at times he gets overwhelmed.”
If he could do it for short amounts of time, then why isn’t there video proof?
These parents are begging for federal funding for spell therapy. You’d think that to make their campaign more impactful and convincing, they’d present video proof.
This wouldn’t be the least bit difficult; it’d be as easy as someone filming with their phone.
Let’s see uncut footage of Noah “doing it for short amounts of time.”
And why does he get overwhelmed unless his mother is holding the board? This question wasn’t addressed in the article.
Noah’s story, though, sounds way more believable than Elizabeth Bonker’s, because his communication style sounds more like what someone would tediously poke out on a letter board, especially while feeling overwhelmed in the presence of strangers.
You might be thinking, “If these parents are lying, what do they hope to gain?”
I have a better question: “Being that these parents are on a panel created by RFK, Jr., why don’t they just eliminate all skepticism by providing video proof of the spelling?”
If Elizabeth freezes up when being interviewed by strangers, what’s stopping her mother from getting her on film actually typing out her post-college-level narrative in the comfort and privacy of her home?
I’d hate to think that the mom would say, “She can’t communicate if someone films her.”
We need to be extremely judicious in what to believe. For example, I once received a query from a man I’ll call Bob who worked with an autistic employee at a chain big box store.
The employee was never described as nonverbal by Bob. The rep said the young man wanted to send me an article he wrote regarding his success at the big box store.
I thought how great this would be, as I’m always looking for guest authors with autism.
So I receive the story in my email. Almost immediately I could tell there was no way it’d been written by the employee; it was too advanced for someone who, based on Bob’s description, had notable communication deficits (autism) superimposed on a secondary condition: intellectual disability.
But Bob had put the man’s byline for the story. I asked if he had actually written it.
Well, lo and behold, Bob confessed that he himself had written it – but that it had been approved by the employee.
I said, “Bob, in good conscience, I can’t put his byline on this story if you wrote it. He may have approved it, but he’s not the author.”
Bob then asked if it’d be okay if the byline could have Bob’s full name, then followed by, “with approval by (name of employee).”
I agreed and posted the story! My point here is that, again, we can’t just believe everything someone says about an autistic individual’s literacy or communication abilities.
Don’t let new buzzwords — spell therapy and assistive spelling — blunt your skepticism.
The Philly Voice article pointed out that key proponents of spell therapy, assisted spelling, RPM, what-have-you, declined offers to participate in the story. Now that is VERY interesting!
Another intriguing aspect of this whole thing is that we don’t see any of these parents preaching the virtues of the handheld, facilitated communication that broke in the early ’90s.
Why suddenly don’t nonspeaking autistic people require their hand to be held anymore?
