Post by Amaris on Feb 21, 2010 2:03:31 GMT
Remember the Belgian man recovering from a coma and using a keyboard to communicate with the help of his speech therapist 
BP thread moh2005.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=scepthink&action=display&thread=7609
Here is an update on that news item.
Miracle Coma Patient’s Inspiring Story Proved Fictional
By Benjamin Radford | Wed Feb 17, 2010 02:25 PM ET
Late last year, a man named Rom Houben recovered from a coma. This was not a particularly noteworthy event, except that Houben had been in what doctors call a “persistent vegetative state” since 1983. Yet in 2006, a brain scan revealed that his brain was far more active than previously believed—despite his body being unable to move.
Houben’s (partial) recovery surprised and intrigued many in the medical community, but what made it all the more amazing was that he gave an interview in the German newspaper Der Spiegel about his life as a victim of “locked in syndrome.”
Because Houben remains paralyzed, his account was written with the help of his speech therapist, Linda Wouters, who guided his fingers to a specially-made keyboard. Wouters said that Houbens told her which letters to type with subtle twitches of his finger.
Houben’s unique and inspiring story in Der Spiegelwas a huge success, and he planned to work with Wouters to write a full-length book about his experiences, in the same vein as Jean-Dominique Bauby, a previous patient with the same condition who wrote a book that the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was based upon.
But was Wouters helping Houben type, or typing for him? This technique, called facilitated communication, was used in the 1980s and 1990s to help autistic children and others with limited communication abilities but was later proven bogus.
At first, Houbens’s neurologist, Steven Laureys, insisted that his tests showed it was Houben, not Wouters, who was typing the man’s words. Still, questions remained, and upon further testing Laureys reversed himself and concluded that Houben’s words had not been his own. Tests conclusively proved this: For example, in one test Houben was shown a series of objects and words for him to identify without his speech therapist present. When his therapist came into the room, he was asked to type the words he had seen moments earlier. The therapist had no way of knowing what the words were, and Houben could not type a single one.
Wouters had (presumably unwittingly) created Houben’s story out of thin air; she had written what she thought he would say, probably believing the words and ideas were coming not from herself, but from him. Thus all the words, the Der Spiegel interview were all fictional—as would be his book.
news.discovery.com/human/miracle-coma-patients-inspiring-story-proved-fictional.html
Well, I'm just shocked!!
BP thread moh2005.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=scepthink&action=display&thread=7609
Here is an update on that news item.
Miracle Coma Patient’s Inspiring Story Proved Fictional
By Benjamin Radford | Wed Feb 17, 2010 02:25 PM ET
Late last year, a man named Rom Houben recovered from a coma. This was not a particularly noteworthy event, except that Houben had been in what doctors call a “persistent vegetative state” since 1983. Yet in 2006, a brain scan revealed that his brain was far more active than previously believed—despite his body being unable to move.
Houben’s (partial) recovery surprised and intrigued many in the medical community, but what made it all the more amazing was that he gave an interview in the German newspaper Der Spiegel about his life as a victim of “locked in syndrome.”
Because Houben remains paralyzed, his account was written with the help of his speech therapist, Linda Wouters, who guided his fingers to a specially-made keyboard. Wouters said that Houbens told her which letters to type with subtle twitches of his finger.
Houben’s unique and inspiring story in Der Spiegelwas a huge success, and he planned to work with Wouters to write a full-length book about his experiences, in the same vein as Jean-Dominique Bauby, a previous patient with the same condition who wrote a book that the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was based upon.
But was Wouters helping Houben type, or typing for him? This technique, called facilitated communication, was used in the 1980s and 1990s to help autistic children and others with limited communication abilities but was later proven bogus.
At first, Houbens’s neurologist, Steven Laureys, insisted that his tests showed it was Houben, not Wouters, who was typing the man’s words. Still, questions remained, and upon further testing Laureys reversed himself and concluded that Houben’s words had not been his own. Tests conclusively proved this: For example, in one test Houben was shown a series of objects and words for him to identify without his speech therapist present. When his therapist came into the room, he was asked to type the words he had seen moments earlier. The therapist had no way of knowing what the words were, and Houben could not type a single one.
Wouters had (presumably unwittingly) created Houben’s story out of thin air; she had written what she thought he would say, probably believing the words and ideas were coming not from herself, but from him. Thus all the words, the Der Spiegel interview were all fictional—as would be his book.
news.discovery.com/human/miracle-coma-patients-inspiring-story-proved-fictional.html
Well, I'm just shocked!!
