A Message from a Japanese Mom/Blogger with a Child with Autism
Editor’s Note: With recent news coverage of “Spelling to Communicate” in the United States, it is easy to forget that FC and its variants have taken hold in other parts of the world as well: Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, and, as our guest blogger reminds us, Japan. There are, most certainly, other countries not on this list. We invited Chieri DeGregorio, a blogger and parent to a child with autism, to talk a little bit about her experiences with and insights into FC.
Hi, everyone, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to introduce myself. I'm Chieri DeGregorio, the mom of a 13 year-old minimally-verbal child with autism. I found this website while I was researching about FC which I was writing about in my blog, "Saltbox - Autism & Freedom Blog," which is written in Japanese.
I'm originally from Tokyo, Japan. My American husband Steve and I decided to move back to the US after our first son, Tony, got an official diagnosis of Autism in Japan at age 3. We moved in order to obtain intensive English-based intervention for our son. We've now been living in the Boston area since 2012.
If you have a child with special needs, you will be approached by both real professionals and pseudoscience believers. We have always declined the latter ones, but for some people, that's not so easy to do - especially for those with children who have severe communication and behavioral problems as the effects of traditional therapies like ABA, Speech, OT are often not very apparent. We spend a lot of time, energy and money and still observe regression. Every time there's a regression, we experience a difficult acceptance process. I imagine that while some parents just give up, some go to pseudoscience in desperation.
In my blog, I write about my experiences, how I discovered FC/RPM and how I investigated the truth, with a true understanding of the pain. I believe that this is my role in this "No FC" activity. Even people who practice FC/RPM read my blog and leave friendly comments.
You've probably heard of Naoki Higashida, who uses a letterboard and keyboard with his mother to write books and essays. He is very well known in Japan and his fame is spreading worldwide. Unfortunately, there are facts and evidence that this is another example of FC. Actually, Naoki's family was not even hiding it that they were using FC when Naoki was a kid. However, in recent years, his writing was spread around the world by major publishers as if it was not written through FC. This is causing a lot of misunderstanding about autism and is a real threat for non-verbal communities.
I'm very concerned and I write about the details in my blog as well. I'm collecting information in that I find in Japanese and I will share my findings with FC.org.
I'm also encouraging people to send letters to Japanese government, local schools, educational institutions and related organizations to make actions. If you are a professional member of organization in the US, please share this information about FC with your international colleagues.
I'm just a mom. My voice is so small. I’d appreciate your help.
Thank you for letting me say something!
Chieri DeGregorio