The degree of facilitation needed varies from person to person, ranging from an encouraging hand on the shoulder to boost confidence, to full support and shaping of a student's hand to enable pointing.
The method has been used as a means to communicate for individuals with mental retardation, autism, Down's syndrome and other developmental disabilities.
It gives previously uncommunicative individuals the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings. It often shows that people with autism have normal or superior intelligence.
Rabbi Eliyahu E. Dessler wrote (Michtav Me'Eliyahu Vol. 4, pp.162-3; Vol. 5, pp.163, 199) that the soul has an awareness of God and the spiritual realm. Yet if we experienced this with our conscious mind we would be so overwhelmed we would not have free will. That means, if we constantly experienced the higher spiritual goodness we would always make our life's decisions in accordance with what is "correct" in heaven -- God's will. But the job of choosing between "good" and "evil" is essential to our experience in this world. That's how we earn merit for being Great Human Beings.
Rav Dessler explains the primary function of the brain is not only to be the place of thought but also to filter out knowledge and awareness of our higher selves and thereby maintain our free will. Rabbi Dessler also suggested that this is the explanation for what our Sages taught us (Talmud Baba Basra 12a), that though the classical form of prophecy ceased thousands of years ago, a more rudimentary form of it has been given to "idiots" (Hebrew: shotim) and children, "for their barrier [their brain] is not so firm."
About twenty years ago "Facilitated Communication" (FC) was discovered simultaneously in several places around the world. By means of FC it is possible to communicate with the higher parts of a mentally handicapped person's being, creating a conduit for messages from higher worlds. A full explanation of FC is contained in the book "Secrets of the Soul" For information: tel. USA (818) 996-4060 or Jerusalem 972 (053) 804 795.
|Many of their messages are so profound and full of insight that they've had significant effects upon those who have read them. This has occurred among Jews of all levels of observance. Hundreds of thousands of Jews have already read the messages on sheets like these distributed in synagogues across the world. Some have witnessed FC directly.
The messages given over are clear and sobering. They make us aware of the tremedous potential we have within us, and to urge us to make G-d fearing decisions as we move towards our Jewish Future.