Douglas Paul Biklen is an American educator best known for "facilitated communication", a scientifically discredited technique which purports to allow non-verbal people to communicate. Biklen learned of work of Rosemary Crossley and developed the theory offacilitated communication in Melbourne, Australia and exported it to the United States. 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, studies have repeatedly found that the messages produced through facilitated communication are authored by the facilitator, rather than the disabled person. In all controlled studies where clients and facilitators are given different information what is typed responds to what is seen by the facilitator, not the client. Biklen co-produced the 2004 filmAutism Is a World, directed by Geraldine Wurzburg. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject, but its positive portrayal of facilitated communication was criticised by autism researchers. Gina Green of San Diego State University stated that making a film without "even a hint, much less a disclosure" of the evidence against facilitated communication "is appalling". Biklen 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. Following Burton Blatt as Dean, Biklen has been university leadership with the Center on Human Policy since its inception. In August 2005, Biklen became 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 educationresearch community. Biklen was also a founding member of the International Association of Persons with Severe Handicaps, which has organized special educators across the United States.
