Douglas Biklen

Who is Douglas Biklen?

Douglas Paul Biklen is an American educator best known for promoting the controversial theory of "facilitated communication", an augmentative and alternative communication technique for people with communication impairments, particularly autism.

Biklen learned of the theory of facilitated communication in Melbourne, Australia and exported it to the US. According to this theory, some individuals whose communication is hindered by developmental coordination disorder can communicate with the aid of a facilitator, who supports the patient's hand while he or she types words on a keyboard. However, critics claim that what the client types is actually produced by the facilitator. In all controlled studies where clients and facilitators are given different information, the client types the name of the object seen by the facilitator, not the clients.

Biklen co-produced the 2004 film Autism Is a World, directed by Geraldine Wurzburg. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject. He also produced the film "My Classic Life as an Artist: A Portrait of Larry Bissonnette" at Syracuse University.

Biklen has worked at Syracuse University since 1969 and founded the university's Facilitated Communication Institute in 1992. In August 2005, Biklen was promoted to dean of the School of Education. The appointment was criticised by the Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health and by some members of the special education research community.