Research & Resources

Books:

1. Communication Alternatives in Autism, by Edlyn Pena https://a.co/d/0ft9ypyv
2. Leaders Around Me, edited by Edlyn Pena https://a.co/d/0ajLkYSV
3. I am in Here, by Elizabeth M. Bonker and Virginia G. https://a.co/d/00JntCgW
4. Underestimated: An Autism Miracle, by JB Handley https://a.co/d/0iPX2duu
5. Fall Down 7 Times Get up 8, by Naoki Higashida 
6. The Reason I Jump, by Naoki Higashida  
7. Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone, by Douglas Biklen  
8. Communication Unbound, by Douglas Biklen
9. Ido in Autismland, by Ido Kedar 
10. Uniquely Human, by Barry M. Prizant 
11. Real People, Regular Lives: Autism, Communication & Quality of Life, by Sally Young Phd 
12. Being Heumann, by Judith Heumann 
13. Contested Words, Contested Science,  Doug Biklen
14. May Tomorrow Be Awake, by Chris Martin 

Magazine and Newspaper Articles:

•  ASN Summer 2026 Issue - Autism Spectrum News  This issue is titled "giving Voice the the Nonspeakers: Communication, Advocacy, and inclusion Across Life. 
• When Words Won't Cooperate. "Psychology professor Morgan Barense aims to crack the mystery of non-speaking autism." By Alison Motluk

 Occupational Therapy/AC Research:

• Ethnographic perspectives of unreliable, minimal, and non-speaking autism associated with apraxia. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health. Damiao, J., Damiao, G., & Quinn, J. (Year). Advance online publication.
• Parent Perspectives on Assisted Communication and Autism Spectrum Disorder. John Damiao; Galilee Damiao; Catherine Cavaliere; Susanna Dunscomb; Kirsten Ekelund; Renee Lago; Ashley Volpe ; The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2024, Vol. 78(1), 7801205070.
• Finding Our Strengths: Recognizing Professional Bias and Interrogating Systems. Kristie K. Patten, The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2022, Vol. 76(6), 7606150010.
• You Can Know Me Now If You Listen: Sensory, Motor, and Communication Issues in a Nonverbal Person With Autism (AJOT). Rachel Freret Shoener; Moya Kinnealey; Kristie P. Koenig. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2008, Vol. 62(5), 547–553.

• SPELLERS (trailer)(about letterboarders who use S2C) 
• Elizabeth Bonker Channel 2 News Clip (non-speaking valedictorian, gave commencement address at her college)
• Elizabeth Bonker Channel 6 News Clip
• Elizabeth Bonker Full Commencement Address
• "Unlocked" (FL group doing Facilitated Communication (FC) - 6 min trailer) 
• iTYPE (video about the same FL group as above)
• My Voice (FC) – 56 minute film. 
• Trailblazers Social Typing Group from STeP – 4 minute video clip  
• Wretches and Jabberers  – trailer about Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette (the full movie is available at Kanopy.com)  
• Tim Chan – At age 16 (11 minutes) 
• Annie’s Coming Out – Film based on the Rosemary Crossley, inventor of FC and Anne McDonald, her student. Wonderful film. Based on the book of the same title.
• Grant Blasko – Thoughts from an Autistic AAC User After the April 2022 Meeting of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee
• Jordyn Zimmerman “This is Not About Me” Movie  | Trailer of the film 
• Interview with Jordyn Zimmerman (36 minutes)
• Jordyn Zimmerman presenting at a BOE meeting (15 mins) 
• Listen – 5 minute video 
• Dan Bergmann from CBS Sunday Morning Oct 2021 – Non-speaker who graduated from Harvard (5 minutes)  
• Hari Srinivasan’s commencement Speech at Berkeley May 2022 (Hari’s speech is between minutes 5-8 on the video). 
• 2 UC Berkeley students make history as 1st nonspeaking autistic graduates (ABC News7 clip)
• Deej – about DJ Savarese – Trailer 
• Autism is a World – CNN presents about Sue Rubin 
• My Classic Life as an artist  
• Hear Me Now by Chammi
• Unspoken Trailer | Full film for purchase
• Crip Camp – film about the Disability Rights Movement 
• April 2019 World Autism Day – communication and technology (3 hrs)                                     
•  Matthew Cramer: An Autistic teen’s story of learning with a letterboard – PBS Philly.
•  My Letterboard life by Gregory C Tino 
• Living Our Lives Through Letters
• Jacob Rock LA Times Article | Video - Typing Independently | Interview with father

• "SLPs as AAC Gatekeepers: Reimagining, Challenging, and Pushing Our Assumptions" — Jordyn Zimmerman's presentation at the recent ASHA annual conference.
• Edlyn Pena's public comment (from minute 14:54 to 19:44) to the IACC is especially noteworthy in terms of offering support of FC, RPM and S2C.  Here is a link to all of the written public comments; Edlyn's comments are on page 14.
• Kristie Patten, Vice Dean and Professor of the Department or Occupational Therapy at NYU – Eleanor Clark Slagle Lecturer at National OT Association Conference April 1st, 2022. Her lecture is "Finding our Strength”; she appears at minute 13:00.

• Extensive collection of peer-reviewed research on typing compiled by United for Communication Choice (Jump to Section 4 for Autism-Specific Literature)
• Disabilities Study Quarterly:  The Voices of Typers: Examining the Educational Experiences of Individuals Who Use Facilitated Communication    
• Frontiers: Perspective: Presuming Autistic Communication Competence and Reframing Facilitated Communication; by Heyworth, Chan and Lawson
• Hidden Communicative Competence: Case Study Evidence Using Eye-Tracking and Video Analysis; by Grayson, Emerson, Howard-Jones, O’Neil.
• Clinical Case study using eye gaze with of one Facilitated communication user showering authorship
• Why we need to study assisted methods to teach typing to nonspeaking autistic people. Autism Research. Jaswal, V. K., Wayne, A. & Golino, H. (2020).
• Eye-tracking reveals agency in assisted autistic communication. Scientific Reports, 10, 7882.
• Torres, E. B., Travers, B. G., Delafield-Butt, J. T., & Srinivasan, A. (2025, June 18). Autism: The movement (sensing) perspective a decade later.  Frontiers of Integrative Neuroscience
• 300 pages of peer reviewed journal research articles. Autism: The Movement Perspective | Frontiers Research Topic (frontiersin.org)
• Touch may reduce cognitive load during assisted typing by individuals with development disabilities, Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience August 3, 2023, Volume 17-2023 by nicoli, Pavon, Grayson, Emerson and Mitra.
• Evidence of Authorship on Messages in Facilitated Communication: A Case Report Using Accelerometry, Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2021