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Previously on Jimmy Aiken's Mysterious World.

For thousands of years, there have been efforts to help people who have difficulty communicating find ways to do so.

Today, there are a vast

array of what are known as augmentative and alternative communication or AAC systems, and they've

brought hope to many. In the late 20th century, one form of AAC appeared known as a facilitated

communication. More recently, a system known as the rapid prompting method or

spelling to communicate was developed. These techniques seemed miraculous, and they suddenly

let people who were previously thought to be severely mentally handicapped to communicate.

But these techniques proved controversial. So what are facilitated communication and spelling

to communicate? How do they work? And what's the truth

about the controversy surrounding them? There are a variety of forms of augmented and alternative

communication or AAC. Many of these methods are currently in use and benefit many people,

such as Stephen Hawkins' cheek-to-voice interface. There is also good hope that they will benefit many more

people in the future, and we may get a cure for such communication problems through brain

computer interfaces like Elon Musk's Neurrelink. Until then, we need to make do with what we have,

and two proposed methods are facilitated communication and spell and to communicate.

We have significant evidence that facilitated communication does not work, and that the messages

obtained through it are actually produced by the facilitator's subconscious.

However, the evidence is more mixed when it comes to spell and to communicate.

There are definitely reasons for caution.

...