In a quiet Medford living room, Dr. Diane Powell, a Johns Hopkins-trained psychiatrist, clicks play on a video she’s watched countless times.
On the screen is Haley, a nonverbal child with autism, sitting next to a therapist. Across the room, her mother lifts a card off the table, showing the image on it — a triangle — to the camera, but not to Haley.
The therapist, holding an electronic letter board that resembles an iPad, asks Haley to spell what’s on the card.
Slowly, Haley taps out the answer.
She presumably types out “triangle,” which is correct.
“You can see the therapist is not moving this device,” Powell noted.
Haley repeats the feat over and over again, slowly typing out words that match the image on the cards.
It’s the kind of footage that has made Powell a source of hope for some parents — and a target of sharp criticism from others.
Powell, a psychiatrist trained at Johns Hopkins University, is drawn to some pretty fringe topics: savantism, people with incredible and unexplained abilities, those who suddenly possess talents for languages or mathematics. She also researches extrasensory perception — ESP.
“I thought maybe ESP is another savant skill,” Powell said. “Or maybe savant skills are just a form of ESP.”
Powell wrote a book on her findings, "The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena."
Her most recent focus is on children like Haley. Powell has traveled the world, collecting data on people with autism and limited communication — and what she believes may be signs of telepathy.
That claim, featured in the podcast "The Telepathy Tapes," helped push Powell’s work into the national spotlight earlier this year. The podcast reached the top of Spotify’s charts briefly, bringing an influx of attention from scientists, parents and skeptics alike.
“It's hard for me to keep up with my emails,” Powell said. “It's scientists who want to collaborate with me. It's parents of children that say… ‘Thank you for doing this work.’”
But the most urgent questions around Powell’s research have little to do with mind reading.
What’s the debate?
Powell’s telepathy work doesn’t convince everyone. But a surprising controversy around the research isn’t just the claims of telepathic autistic children, but the way nonverbal individuals are being asked to communicate.
The debate comes down to that therapist in Powell’s video holding the letterboard while Haley spells out words. Supporters say it’s a breakthrough for many with autism. Critics say it’s a red flag.
“Spelling is not the issue. It's doing it independently,” said Jaime Van Echo, associate director of clinical issues at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
The organization is generally against communication practices involving heavy assistance from another person. That could be someone touching the nonverbal individual’s arm, prompting them in certain ways or even holding a letterboard in front of them.
“The main difference here is that… they're holding the board, which means that the other person, who's the independent communicator, is communicating with the support of another person,” Van Echo said. “And what ASHA really does strive for is independent communication.”
Someone using a letter board that’s lying on a table is perfectly fine, according to Van Echo. But problems may arise, according to ASHA, when someone else is involved in the conversation.
It might seem like a small distinction. But the group has gone as far as saying another assisted practice, called the Rapid Prompting Method, “effectively strips people of their human right to independent communication.” The organization has spoken out against teaching a similar method, called Spelling to Communicate, in schools.
But proponents of these assisted methods argue many with severe autism struggle with motor skills or focus. Without assistance, they say, the opportunity to communicate may be lost.
What does the science say?
Both sides of this debate claim science is on their side.
A 2022 Frontiers in Psychology article cited more than 100 peer-reviewed studies confirming people with autism are the ones communicating while using assisted methods.
The International Association for Spelling as Communication cites a study that tracked the eye movements of non-verbal individuals. It found that they appeared to focus on the correct letters before selecting them — proof that people with autism, not their aides, are the ones communicating.
But other researchers disagree. A 2001 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders reviewed studies on a related method known as Facilitated Communication. It found the facilitators, rather than the nonverbal individuals, were controlling communication.
So, it’s safe to say that the science around this debate isn’t settled.
Although the Telepathy Tapes and Powell’s work have led to more parents learning about their method or similar systems, advocates think being associated with mind reading is hurting their efforts to gain wider acceptance for assisted communication.
Hope for parents
One of the parents drawn to Powell’s work is Janna Champagne. Her daughter, Ginny, is autistic and was nonverbal until the age of 10. She now has a limited ability to speak.
“While she was diagnosed by the school district in second grade as unable to learn, I had seen some clear indicators that she was highly intelligent,” Champagne said.
One of those indications for Champagne was coming across her daughter researching amusement parks on the family computer.
Champagne, who also lives in Medford, came across the Telepathy Tapes a few months ago and says it immediately resonated.
“Another thing my daughter has shown me… is that she can clearly read my thoughts and respond to my thoughts,” she said.
When Jenny was younger, Champagne would lie beside her in bed, waiting for her to fall asleep. And right as Champagne had the thought that her daughter had finally dozed off, Ginny would nudge her and start laughing.
Another time, Champagne was deciding whether to pack a grapefruit in her daughter’s lunch, and Jenny — unprompted — yelled “grapefruit" from another room.
“I literally got to the point where if I don't want her to read my thoughts, I don't think it,” Champagne said.
But she has trouble communicating with her daughter — even with the mind reading. That’s why she wants to teach her to use a letterboard.
Champagne said she has questions for her.
“Who is she? What are her dreams and aspirations? What is she inclined to do? You know, as far as her purpose here in this life,” Champagne said.
She’s sure her daughter has answers. She just needs a way to express them.
That belief, Powell said, is why her research resonates with so many parents.
“That's part of it,” Powell said. ”To really help these people recognize that these children are in there, that they do have far more capacity than people give them credit for.”
