The 23 Year “Mistaken” Coma And Severely Autistic Children

The case of Rom Houben, who was in a coma for 23 and is now believed to be misdiagnosed, looks a bit fishy. In order to “communicate” a technique called facilitated communication is used, where a “translator” moves his hands on an electric keyboard. This technique gained notoriety as a means by which severely autistic children could supposedly communicate for the first time. This method has largely been debunked by showing the autistic child a picture the facilitator could not see and asking them to describe it, a test that was consistently failed. The “communication” was simply the facilitator moving the child’s hands like a Ouija board. If John Edwards and Sylvia Brown can convince people that they can make the dead talk, then I don’t see this phenomenon going away any time soon.