Taking the Mindfield Literally: Discovering Minds by Assuming Competence Among Nonspeakers

Published in the Parapsychological Association's Mindfield Bulletin. The three co-authors bridge parapsychology (Mossbridge), speech-language pathology (Welch), and neurofeedback (Tarrant). Central to the Telepathy Tapes controversy (#9). Introduces two novel protocols: 'mind-discovery' trials that verify nonspeakers can communicate their own thoughts, and 'telepathy-discovery' trials that test for information transfer between rooms. Not yet peer-reviewed in a traditional journal. Key methodological features: IRB-approved, nonspeakers choose their own communication partners and senders, stimuli are tailored to individual sensory preferences, AI cosine similarity scoring developed with collaborator Damon Abraham. The article frames the work within a 'presume competence' philosophy and positions nonspeakers as co-researchers rather than subjects.

Nonspeaking individuals, particularly those with autism and apraxia, have long been assumed to lack complex thought due to their inability to produce speech. This article argues that speech difficulty reflects a motor control problem rather than a cognitive deficit, and introduces two IRB-approved protocols for understanding nonspeakers' minds. The 'mind-discovery' protocol tests whether nonspeakers can report on stimuli presented when their communication partner was absent, while the 'telepathy-discovery' protocol tests whether nonspeakers can access information held only by a sender in another room. Preliminary pilot results from both protocols are reported as successful across multiple students. The authors emphasize working with nonspeakers as co-researchers, presuming competence, and using participatory science methods. The article also discusses the limitations of traditional message-passing tests and proposes improved approaches that account for apraxia and individual sensory preferences.