About Us

Photograph of Douglas Biklen Douglas Biklen, Ph.D., is Dean of the School of Education, Syracuse University and is a Professor in Cultural Foundations of Education and Teaching and Leadership, Faculty in Disability Studies and Director of the Facilitated Communication Institute at Syracuse University. He is a founding faculty member of the Center on Human Policy, Law and Disability Studies. His work involves teaching and research on the sociology of disability, inclusive education, and communication.

He is Co-Producer of the Academy Award Nominated documentary Autism Is A World for CNN Presents (2004) and produced (with Rossetti) the documentary My Classic Life as an Artist: A Portrait of Larry Bissonnette (2005) which has appeared in multiple international film festivals (Vail, Sprout, Munich, Vermont). He was executive producer of the documentary Regular Lives (1988), about school inclusion, seen on PBS and was educational advisor to the HBO Academy Award winning documentary Educating Peter and its sequel Graduating Peter (HBO).

Biklen’s current research focuses on whole school reform, autobiographies of autism, disability policy, and school inclusion. His most recent book, Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone is published by NYU Press (2005). He has published a dozen other books including; Schooling without Labels; Communication Unbound; Access to Academics (with Kluth and Straut) and Achieving the Complete School. He has written more than 100 articles which have appeared in a range of journals including: the American Education Research Journal; Teachers College Record; Mental Retardation; the International Journal of Inclusive Education, the Harvard Educational Review; the Journal of Social Issues; Disability and Society and Topics in Language Disorders. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the International Journal of Inclusive Education.

Photo of Marilyn Chadwick Currently the Assistant Director and Director of Training, Marilyn Chadwick is a speech/language pathologist who has worked for the Facilitated Communication Institute since 1992. She has played a key role in the development of the various levels of training and in 2000 chaired an international committee that worked to publish standards on the method. She has worked to develop and implement certification for Facilitated Communication at the level of Master Trainer. Marilyn has been a leader in supporting Facilitated Communication users to work toward independent typing and speaking. She has traveled the United States and abroad, combining the techniques of Feldenkrais, Prompt, ‘floortime’ and Neurologic Music Therapy to help people communicate.

Photo of Christine Ashby Christine Ashby, Ph.D., is the Research Director of the Facilitated Communication Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Teaching and Leadership Department of the School of Education at Syracuse University. Within the FCI, she plays an active role in training and workshops for FC users, facilitators and school personnel.

At Syracuse University, she teaches in the Inclusive Elementary and Special Education Program and the Graduate Inclusive Program. Her teaching and research focuses on inclusive education broadly, with specific emphasis on students with labels of autism and other developmental disabilities. Her work also includes differentiated instruction, collaborative teaching and inclusive school reform. Dr. Ashby's research has been accepted for publication in journals including the International Journal of Inclusive Education, Disability and Society and Intellectual and Developmental Disability. In addition, Christy conducts educational consultation with school districts and families on topics of inclusive reform, supports for students with autism labels, access to general education, and facilitated communication.

Mayer Shevin received his Ph.D. in Psycholinguistics from the University of Rochester in 1976. In that setting, he worked with non-talking children and their families. He has worked as a psychologist at the Central Wisconsin Center; a faculty member in Special Education at Cleveland State University; and a teacher in the areas of non-punitive behavior management, advocacy, and communication development at the Grafton Developmental Center and elsewhere in North Dakota. From 1989-1991, he directed the "Home-made Futures Project, "developing person-centered planning resources in North Dakota and Minnesota. In 1990-1991, he founded and edited Talking/Politics, a newsletter focusing on the political implications of communication rights.

Since 1991, he has been part of Facilitated Communication Institute's training, research and resource development, editing for its10 years of publication the Institute's newsletter, The Facilitated Communication Digest. In addition to his work in the area of Facilitated Communication, Mayer is a consultant in private practice, working with individuals with disabilities and the people, communities and organizations in their lives. He helps people who are establishing circles of support, and those organizations seeking to foster such circles. He consults directly with individuals seeking to progress toward personal goals despite their challenging behaviors, with their families, and with the schools and agencies which support these individuals. He facilitates planning and strategy sessions with disability-related agencies and organizations seeking to put their ideals into practice.

Dani Weinstein is the secretary for the Facilitated Communication Institute. She started working in the College of Law at Syracuse University in 2001 and joined the Facilitated Communication Institute in 2003. Dani also supports the faculty in the Cultural Foundations of Education department. She received her BS in Business Administration from Oswego State University.

Dani enjoys working in the Facilitated Communication Institute as it gives her a chance to help others by pointing them in the right direction so that the staff of the FCI can offer them answers to questions they have. She enjoys spending time with her family including her son and daughter who are both students at Syracuse University, and bowling and boating in her spare time.

Picture of Cheli Paetow Michele (Cheli) Paetow has been a teacher, program coordinator and school restructuring advocate throughout New York for over thirty years. Cheli has a Master’s degree from the School of Education at SU and began using facilitated communication with her students while a teacher for the Syracuse City School District in 1993. Cheli has provided technical assistance to schools in Maryland through an early Systems Change Initiative and has been an adjunct-instructor of courses in Special Education and Collaboration at LeMoyne College, Cazenovia College, SU and SUNY Oswego.
Michele is currently an assistant trainer at the Facilitated Communication Institute and is pursuing Master Certification in the method. Her interests include gardening, the intersection of faith and social justice in public schools and the power of a participatory democracy to create caring, respectful inclusive communities.