Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) is THE poster boy for pseudoscience lately. I was aware of RPM for years but never paid much attention for the same reason most of you never have- lack of evidence (or as some would call it: “street cred”).

Then something interesting happened. I was introduced to someone who used a letterboard to communicate. As others have indicated, it is hard to “unsee” once you have seen. I’ve been very interested in RPM ever since.

Maria Welch is an SLP colleague of mine who also happens to be an RPM provider. In today’s still somewhat scattered episode (this is our 2.5th time recording this conversation), we discuss:

What got Maria interested in RPM

Maria’s evolution in thinking about children with ASD

Motor Challenges and ASD

Intelligence, ASD, & Testing

Tailoring RPM lessons to student interest and ability

The ASHA RPM position statement

Now for some disclaimers: I am not endorsing RPM as a mainstream therapy to be used with all of our clients. As you will hear, I think there is more to this approach than meets the eye and that it has the potential to help some number of clients. Without a solid research base, I cannot begin to speculate on what that number is.

I am not trained in RPM and have no ties whatsoever with HALO (The nonprofit RPM organization) or with Soma Mukhopadhyay, the founder of RPM. I do not speak on behalf of anyone but myself. The same can be said for Maria whose experiences with RPM are hers alone.

To sum things up: use your best judgment, stay educated, and keep a level head!

Lastly, for those of you prone to instant outrage, please hold your Twitter fire until you actually listen to this episode. I can accept criticism. So can Maria. We’re all adults here, so please play nice.

Now for some links:

Ido Kedar on YouTube (the video I speak about in this episode)

Good article on intelligence, eye gaze, EEG

Apraxia and ASD

Are we underestimating intelligence?

A credible provider of RPM