Dr. Katharine Beals

No. It's just, I find it extraordinary that anybody thinks it's a compelling instance of telepathy. She's kind of the perfect person to talk to about this. I started out as a linguist. That was my PhD. And then I had a child with autism. The particular situation I'm in is actually kind of the perfect storm.

No. It's just, I find it extraordinary that anybody thinks it's a compelling instance of telepathy. She's kind of the perfect person to talk to about this. I started out as a linguist. That was my PhD. And then I had a child with autism. The particular situation I'm in is actually kind of the perfect storm.

The claims were pretty extraordinary because these individuals who appeared to be completely nonverbal and maybe not attending to people speaking and language in general were suddenly... able to produce grammatically well-formed sentences, perfectly spelled in many cases, and quite sophisticated in many cases, in some cases poetry, sophisticated vocabulary.

The claims were pretty extraordinary because these individuals who appeared to be completely nonverbal and maybe not attending to people speaking and language in general were suddenly... able to produce grammatically well-formed sentences, perfectly spelled in many cases, and quite sophisticated in many cases, in some cases poetry, sophisticated vocabulary.

So it appeared to unlock what people were thinking was an intact or fully developed intellect in terms of having learned somehow to read, having mastered language, and so on.

So it appeared to unlock what people were thinking was an intact or fully developed intellect in terms of having learned somehow to read, having mastered language, and so on.

You might have a divider between the facilitator and the person they're facilitating, and the person they're facilitating sees a picture of a hat, and the facilitator sees a picture of a shoe. This is the telepathy type test.

You might have a divider between the facilitator and the person they're facilitating, and the person they're facilitating sees a picture of a hat, and the facilitator sees a picture of a shoe. This is the telepathy type test.

And then you ask the person with autism, what do you see here?

And then you ask the person with autism, what do you see here?

Yes. And if they type shoe, then where did that come from?

Yes. And if they type shoe, then where did that come from?

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

And they didn't get a single correct response.

And they didn't get a single correct response.

Yeah. And this has been repeated many times. There were a whole bunch of studies that came out in the 90s that just one after another after another were showing failure.

Yeah. And this has been repeated many times. There were a whole bunch of studies that came out in the 90s that just one after another after another were showing failure.

In well-designed studies, not at all. Never.

In well-designed studies, not at all. Never.