The baby mind-reader.

Introduction.

In the genre of reality TV, parenting issues are often featured. Pop-psychologists or other self-proclaimed experts display their own quirky way of telling us how to feed our children, interact with them and alter their bad behaviour for example. This latest twist on the theme features psychic Derek Ogilvie who claims to be able to 'tune in' to babies' minds and receive information from the baby about its own concerns, mainly regarding its parents' issues.

Do these programmes get results?

Yes they do - by design. There's little point in a TV company making a series for broadcast only to show that week after week the technique they are using doesn't actually work. There are many reasons why this type of programme always works including:

• Carefully picked participants (selection bias).
  
  The families that are used in the series are the ones that were vetted and shown to be the most conducive to giving a positive reaction. In researching the programme, families that did not respond well will not be used in the series. This positive outcome selection bias guarantees results.
  
  Although this type of programme gives the impression that the families and the experts have never met, this is not likely to be true. Much pre-show research takes place to ensure that the programme works, and that includes the expert-family interaction.
  
  
• Choosing cases at their worst.
  
  Almost any intervention in a problematic case whilst it is at its worst will result in an immediate short-term improvement. It really doesn't matter what the intervention is: changing diets; changing routines; introducing new practises; or following the advice of a psychic.
  
  The key seems to be to place attention where it is needed, such as focusing attention on a badly behaved child (which may be behaving that way simply for love and attention) and of course the parents (who may not be catering to the child's needs). This focus on individuals and the family can lead to the Hawthorne Effect.
  
  
• The Hawthorne Effect.
  
  This effect was first recognised in the workplace. Researchers found that by making workplace conditions better (lighting, music, etc.) that a measurable improvement in productivity was achieved. However, when they made people's working conditions worse, they also measured an improvement in productivity.
  
  This apparent paradox was explained by the fact that people respond positively whenever attention is paid to them (!)
  
  A family with problems that has a lot of attention given to them (experts, TV cameras, interest, and pressure to give positive results) will be likely to succumb to the Hawthorne Effect. Of course, this effect only works whilst the attention is actually present. We never see what happens 6 or 12 months later. We're left with the impression that these quick fixes are a permanent solution. Following up these cases would probably reveal that they are not.

Implications for this series.

As this type of programme is designed to get positive results, it should come as no surprise if (when) Derek's intervention in people's problems seems to work; in fact, it's a foregone conclusion. What we need to consider is whether Derek's mode of interaction, the psychic reading of babies' minds, is true or if there's another explanation for his claimed ability. Hopefully this series will offer some insights into how Derek operates.

We'll follow this series weekly although we can only go by what is broadcast. Even so, despite having no background information or access to the edited sections of the series that did not make broadcast, programmes such as these can still be educational as long as one knows what to look for.

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Emma and Teegan.

By John Jackson, 20^th June 2006.

We are introduced to Teegan, a twenty one month-old girl, who's described as being extremely badly behaved. She's constantly screaming, being violent, throwing tantrums and waking up several times a night much to her nineteen year-old mother Emma's despair. Teegan clearly is behaving badly at times, however, every time we're shown Teegan at the start of the programme we hear her screaming and whimpering. Some of this is clearly overdubbed, added to the soundtrack for effect, to make Teegan appear to be whinging constantly.

Baby mind reader (also known as the baby whisperer) Derek Ogilvie has been called in to read Teegan's mind to get to the bottom of her problem. Emma explains that this is a last ditch attempt. All other attempts to change Teegan's behaviour have failed.

Emma and Teegan are taken to meet Derek at a neutral location so that he cannot pick up clues from Emma's surroundings. The narrator also tells us that Derek has never met Emma and Teegan before (?) and that Emma has been instructed to only answer Derek's questions with a 'yes' or 'no'.

NOTE: If a client is instructed to only answer Yes or No to questions (why if they are psychic?) from a psychic, it is a sure sign that Cold Reading is being used. Yes or No responses give the psychic feedback.

Derek stops outside the building chosen for the meeting and appears to be picking up some vibes:

Derek Ogilvie: The first things I'm getting is: the child I'm going to see has a very low attention span, has an issue with the mother, yes a major issue with control from the mother. Let's do it.

Derek then goes up to meet Emma and Teegan for a 15 minute reading. After moving Teegan from Emma's knee to the floor to 'disassociate their energies' Derek begins his reading to Emma.

Derek Ogilvie: Do you have some issue with your feet? You don't like to show your feet your daughter is telling me that you have an issue with your toes and you don't like wearing open-toed sandals.

Emma: [look of surprise on Emma's face] Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: OK. Before you came today, or last night, you were suffering from stomach cramps.

Emma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: I don't want to be rude to you but Teegan's got a very low attention span. Right. And, yeah, she's telling me that you're not treating her like a daughter, you're more like sisters; and you find it very hard to control her, you always find it difficult when you're with her to be her mother, to give her a row because you think that maybe you're overstepping the mark. You don't know where the boundaries are with her therefore she doesn't know where the boundaries are with you.

Look, look, look she's stamping(?), she's starting to get annoyed. Look, I'm going to do a couple of things, it's not to scare you, are you ready?

[Derek now is supposedly reading Teegan's mind].

I want to scream. I want to scream the house down when I don't get my own way. If Teegan doesn't get her own way she's going to scream the house down.

[To Emma] Have I got you? Am I scaring you?

Emma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Fantastic. One of your immediate issues in your life if I can be so bold to say is your insecurity full stop. Your insecurity out on the street, your insecurity even at home when you're on your own, you keep questioning everything you do and what you're doing is you're projecting that onto your daughter. She's now feeling that too.

Are you OK? [Emma nods] stay OK 'cause we're here to help you, alright. You've also got secrets you've kept from your family regarding sexual situations in your life; and your daughter knows about them. Are you OK?

Emma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Fine. You've been wonderful, I want to help you, hopefully we'll be able to do that.

Was Emma convinced after the reading?

Emma: I think he could help my situation, you know, big time. I'm sorry, I am really shocked.

That section was not at all impressive. It was an exercise in stating the obvious. The series is about problems between parents and children and that's all that Derek really said.

Of course the segment didn't last 15 minutes so it's quite obvious that we saw an edited down version of the meeting; Derek's 'misses' being the content that ended up on the cutting room floor no doubt. The 'hit' with the sandals issue is just standard Cold Reading and is designed to convince the sitter that the psychic knows something they couldn't possibly have known. These 'trivia stats', things like, "you have a single earring as the matching one is missing" work because they are likely to be true and so convince the client of their ability. Psychics use them all of the time, especially early in readings as it makes their later statements to be more likely to be accepted.

Another good example is Derek telling Emma that she had stomach cramps the night before or on the same day that the filming took place. It's highly likely to be true that Emma was nervous before the meeting. It's interesting to note that Derek said exactly the same thing to Tamra when he did a demonstration on GMTV plugging this series. See: Derek Ogilvie on GMTV.

NOTE: Although billed as a baby mind reader, it is quite clear that Derek is reading the mother, not the child. Derek claims that these readings work even when the child is not present. Of course they do; because he's actually reading the parents (!)

A revelation.

In the next section of the programme we are told something quite revealing. Not from Derek Ogilvie, but from Emma's friends and mother (Wendy). It seems that baby Teegan is actually quite well behaved for other people, it is only Emma that she behaves badly towards. It's not surprising when we see Emma shouting and swearing at Teegan and manhandling her.

The concept of this programme is to get Derek Ogilvie in to read the minds of babies that are badly behaved so that he can reveal what it is they're thinking and resolve their issues. Despite the focus on Teegan as a badly behaved child, it is quite clear that it is Emma who has the problem not Teegan. Emma can't understand why Teegan only misbehaves for her. She thinks that for some reason Teegan doesn't like her. Well this is the crux of the matter. It's Emma's attitude towards Teegan that is the real issue - it's blatantly obvious.

There is another meeting with Derek planned. When he turns up at Emma's building he 'connects' with Teegan and goes into an embarrassingly silly routine outside the block of flats where he imitates a child's behaviour as proof of his connection, but reveals nothing of any use.

Derek enters the home and starts his reading:

Derek Ogilvie: The first thing I'm getting from Teegan just now, she's telling me that your tummy, you've had an unsettled tummy, over the last few days yeah?

Emma: I've been on my period, yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: She's also telling me she had a little mark on her bottom, a little mark on her left buttock.

Emma: She has a birthmark.

Derek Ogilvie: Yes?

Emma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Just out of interest, how many people know that?

Emma: Just me.

Derek Ogilvie: That's fine. OK, she's telling me just now Oh [loudly] woe woe woe woe woe one thing at a time please [as if to slow the communication down]. She's telling me about liking jumping on the bed like a trampoline. She wants a trampoline, we're getting her a trampoline. She's telling me about erm, how she loves to dress up. She wants to dress up like a fairy or a princess, she wants to dress, she wants to do it properly. She wants to start at the beginning, and end. You've a tendency Emma to start and not finish. OK, she's saying that she finds it very uncomfortable to go to a room and be in a room and be alone to sleep, ok, she's very coy and she wants you to be there but sometimes, even when you're with her, she will not sleep.

Emma: Yeah. That would actually make sense.

Derek Ogilvie: Have you been giving her sweeties before she goes to bed?

Emma: Some nights I do.

Derek Ogilvie: Giving her sweets before she goes to bed has to stop. It's making her hyper.

Emma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Stay with me, stay with me, I need you. Teegan says this is her time to talk to her mummy. This is her time to talk to her mummy.

Narrator: Derek claims that babies tap into their parents' thoughts even when it's about events that happened before they were born. An hour into the reading, Derek is about to hit on Emma's darkest secret.

Derek Ogilvie: I want to talk about dreams. Emma, can we talk about dreams?

Emma: yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Can we talk about scary dreams.

Emma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Can we talk about nightmares?

Emma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Can we talk about nightmares about being fourteen?

Emma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Teegan knows that you have nightmares about being fourteen and about a man coming to get you.

Emma: Mmm Hmm.

Derek Ogilvie: And it's horrible what she's showing me. She's really freaking her out. She's really get. Right lets go back to this, I need to work through this, this is a time in your life that Teegan's found it really difficult to handle. What I'm getting shown from Teegan is that a situation occurred where you had sex with someone that you didn't want to have sex with.

Emma: [nods in agreement]

Derek Ogilvie: I'm going to use the word rape if I can.

Emma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: And that has left a huge mark on you. A huge mark. A big black cloud, an incredible weight on your shoulders, and an incredible weight on your baby's shoulders. And the rape has stopped you from moving forward, it's made you feel dirty about yourself about your sexuality, and has locked you away. Are you OK? [Emma nods] And it's really affecting your child. [Derek hands Emma some tissues as she's crying] Emma, I just had to bring this up because it's very important that you deal with this to help you and your child.

Another reason she's not sleeping well is because she is scared that when she becomes fourteen, or fifteen, or sixteen, that some bad man will come and will rape her; because it happened to her mum.

Emma: I didn't want her to know all that. I don't want her living in my past.

Derek Ogilvie: Don't worry about it as we're here to help you and this is the first step of changing your life. [Emma is sobbing at this point].

Narrator: Derek leaves Emma to gather his thoughts as this is an area outside of his expertise.

After the reading:

Emma: I feel sad about the stuff that he said. I feel happy as now I know what the problem is. And I feel excited about it all sort of like, it's going to change now isn't it? Now I know what's been going wrong all this time. So if I sort my self out then maybe she'll sort her self out through, through that.

Again the same things apply to this reading as to the first; it's all stating the obvious. What about the birthmark? Well having met Teegan before Derek could simply have seen it as could the camera men, sound crew, production and support staff...

What about the rape issue?

Well from a psychic point of view, we have to get this in context. Emma, Teegan, family and friends will have been vetted, researched and tested for suitability for inclusion in the programme. It is unlikely to the point of being implausible that no-one had prior knowledge of the rape incident before the reading. Including Derek.

This would mean that prior knowledge of the rape was passed off as psychic ability; and more disturbingly, a fear of rape has been assigned to a 21 month-old child. It should be noted that whilst this emotional reading was taking place, Teegan could be seen in the background playing with toys and was completely oblivious as to what was going on.

Derek has rightly focused on Emma as the one who needs to resolve her issues but to do so by involving a baby in such an emotionally damaging issue as rape is, to say the least, highly irresponsible.

Ironically, Derek's 'plan' for Emma includes going to see a psychologist to help with her issues. That certainly makes more sense than turning to a psychic! The rest of the plan is for Teegan to eat 'natural' foods, and for Emma to deal with her issues and to be positive.

Has it worked?

We see a section which shows that Teegan's behaviour has improved, including her sleeping though the night, and it's obvious that Emma's attitude to Teegan has improved. Interestingly, we also saw a section where Teegan misbehaved slightly, refusing to wear a nappy, and Emma started shouting and swearing at her as normal. Teegan's response was instant - a tantrum.

Derek's third meeting with Emma and Teegan included Emma's mum Wendy who was described as a skeptic. As usual they're using the term incorrectly: Wendy was a disbeliever, not a Skeptic. There's quite a difference.

Derek starts a reading on Wendy by saying that Teegan said that her socks were smelly, and then went on to tell Wendy that she had miscarried a son and there was a problem with alcohol. Again, it should be obvious where this information probably came from. Interestingly, Derek tells Wendy that Teegan behaves well for her because she understands the problems that Wendy went through. This is in complete contrast to why she behaves badly for Emma.

In the end, we are told that the series of three meetings over a period of two weeks has transformed Teegan's behaviour. Although they stuck with this until the end, it was obvious that it was Emma's attitude that had changed. Will there be a follow up to see if this effect is a lasting one? Probably not.

Conclusion.

There are three main issues with this programme:

1. Did intervention help?
2. Was anything achieved that could only be attributable to Derek's psychic ability?
3. Is it an appropriate course of action for children with behavioral problems?

Firstly, intervention did help, but we always knew that it would. Whether that intervention is a long-term cure we'll probably never know as these programmes tend not to get followed up. We saw in the programme that although she was singled out as the one to be 'cured', Teegan's behaviour reflected her mother's. It's Emma who has the problem, not Teegan.

Secondly, there was nothing in the programme that looked psychic at all. It looked more like a mixture of Cold Reading: the trivia stats etc. that are used to convince sitters of the psychic's ability; and Hot Reading: giving out prior knowledge as if has been gathered psychically.

Thirdly, anyone who is concerned about a child's behaviour should see a child psychologist, not a psychic. Remember, these programmes are carefully made to make everything look good. Even so, Derek got away with implanting the idea in Emma's head that Teegan had a rape fear. In reality, a child of 21 months cannot comprehend such an issue never mind fear it. This claim by Derek is clearly false.

Unfortunately, most people who watch programmes like this do not know how to evaluate psychics nor do they know how such programmes are made. They may be left with the impression that everything that was broadcast was exactly how it happened. As such, they may see turning to psychics as a viable alternative to professional help.

Further reading:

From Bad Psychics:

Derek Ogilvie analysis part 1
Derek Ogilvie analysis part 2
Derek Ogilvie analysis part 3

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Nichola, Andrew and Madison.

John Jackson 27^th June 2006.

To begin this week's programme we're introduced to Madison a 2-year-old girl who's main problem is that she does not sleep well. She's described as: screaming all night long and 'terrorising' the family; which is driving her parents Nichola and Andrew to despair. What we're actually seeing, however, is parents who are allowing the behaviour of their child to rule their lives; it's the child who is in control in this relationship.

We also learn that Madison and her sister's bunk bed broke recently and they now sleep together in the unbroken part of the bunk bed in their parents' bedroom. Despite working full time, it's Andrew who tends to Madison during the night. This leads to him spending a lot of time sleeping in Madison's bed rather than with his wife.

We also find out that Madison is not only separating her parents during the night, she also pushes them apart during the day.

Nichola: Say Andrew comes up to cuddle me she'll get in between and push him away and if he sits at the side of me on the settee she wants to push him out and it's as if she can't accept us together. She wants us both separately. You know, we're hers and nobody else's. But, it's as if she's in control.

As a last ditch attempt to solve Madison's problem, Nichola and Andrew have agreed to meet baby mind-reader Derek Ogilvie. Just as with Emma and Teegan, this initial meeting takes place in a neutral location so Derek can't pick up any clues as to their background and the parents have been instructed to only answer 'yes' or 'no' to Derek's questions (!)

NOTE: Most psychic readings are about the interaction between people: the psychic and the client. Although it's possible that a psychic could pick up clues about people from their surroundings it is not really an important factor and the 'neutral location' aspect is being overplayed in this series.

The meeting begins and Derek claims to connect to Madison:

Derek Ogilvie: I want to talk about your front door, not being able to close properly.

Parents: [Andrew nods in agreement, Nichola looks surprised].

Derek Ogilvie: You can't close your front door properly. You had a problem with the lock on your front door.....when you initially moved in. Do you remember getting a key cut and the key wouldn't fit properly? Remember?

Andrew: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Yes. There seems to be an issue here about splitting the two of you up or wanting the two of you to argue, or wanting the two of you to be.....she wants to cause the arguing, she wants to split you, she's got a fear of when you're together about her being pushed out. Do you understand exactly these feelings? [no response was shown from the parents].

She's also telling me about separate beds, erm, being in separate beds, wanting to push you apart into separate beds, OK. [The parents are surprised and laughing at this point]. I want to talk about bunk beds. Can we talk about bunk beds?

Nichola: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: There's an issue about bunk beds. As in who's sleeping in the bunk bed. Right. And I'm correct.

Nichola: Yeah.

This is where this initial reading ends. We get the parents' impressions:

Nichola: I'm freaked out. Absolutely freaked out. I want to go and get him back and bring him back. Everything that he said can fit. It's, er, nail on the head stuff.

Andrew: It's really strange.

Nichola: It's as if he's in our life isn't it? I don't get easily spooked but he's done my head in. He really has.

When looking at claims of psychic ability it is essential to consider whether the information that the psychic has come up with could have been acquired by non-psychic means. We are told that Derek had never visited the family's home nor had he previously met the family, yet he managed to come up with some amazingly accurate information. How could this be?

Well, of course, all of the information we were shown at the start of the programme was filmed at the family's home. Cameramen, sound crew, production staff, assistants, etc., will all have been in and out of the home, via the front door that doesn't close properly, on several occasions.

This doesn't prove that Derek isn't psychic, but it does offer us a plausible, and indeed highly likely, alternative to the psychic hypothesis. Using information that has been acquired by ordinary means and subsequently reading it back to the client as if it has been obtained psychically is known as a 'Hot Reading'; and this looked very much like Hot Reading in action.

Further background information.

At this point we're given further background information on the family. The house is described as 'a tip', and indeed it is. The clutter around the house would even have Feng Shui masters running a mile! We are told that the girls' bedroom is uninhabitable because there was a leak in the roof six months previously and the water has leaked in and into the light sockets. This leak has not been attended to.

We see Andrew getting up at 6AM and doing some ironing before he sets off for work. Nichola has another 2 hours before she gets up to look after the children. After she does get up, we see her getting the children dressed for the day. Similar to last week's mother we see Nichola shouting and smacking her children and causing a very unpleasant atmosphere. She runs her own business making greetings cards which she does during the day, although the housework seems to get a miss. Andrew comes home after his eight-hour working day to do the washing up whilst Nichola is making greetings cards. After tea, Andrew puts the children to bed to give Nichola "a break".

Despite her complaints about how difficult her life is, it's quite clear that Nichola does very little, if anything, around the house. It is obvious that Nichola is where the problem lies yet we have Derek Ogilvie back on another visit to see whether he can "get into Madison's mind and see what's turning this little toddler into a tyrant".

Derek turns up at the house and begins his reading:

Derek Ogilvie: Ok, bit of a tantrum coming on, and the tantrum is connected to balloons. She is showing me balloons and she [angrily] is losing the plot. With these ba... and there's balloons. So it's like going to McDonald's or there's a party that she went to. She just showed me though that you gave her juice but she didn't get food. Do you remember when you went home that night after that party. Remember she acted up?

Nichola: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Because the drink made her hyper.

Nichola: Right.

Derek Ogilvie: Do you remember it was a reddy/orange drink?

Nichola: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Ok, I've got to tell you this and it's not to be rude. Can I be honest? She's finding it very difficult to understand why things are not put in their place and kept in their place.

Nichola: [laughs].

Derek Ogilvie: 'Cause she's telling me just now she can't find videos for the video recorder 'cause she doesn't know where the videos are for the video recorder. OK? 'Cause the videos for the video recorder have been moved, OK.

She's telling me about a light getting changed in the bedroom, a bulb being changed.

Parents: yes.

Derek Ogilvie: Yes. Now, you took longer than you should have to change the bulb, because yet again you made excuses about it [Nichola laughs].

Andrew: I always do.

Derek Ogilvie: Yes. 'Cause it's these excuses that infuriates her because she's saying how can you put yourself up on a pedestal when you don't practise what you preach. Now do you understand this?

Andrew: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: See upstairs. There was something about water coming through the roof or water coming through the slates or water coming in.

Nichola: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: She said now that's stupid. They let the water come in.

Andrew: We're not stupid to let the water come in.

Nichola: It's not our fault.

Derek Ogilvie: But, it's a scenario whereby it's not repaired, not fixed, not dealt with and if that was your daughter doing something you'd say go and clean that up, go and fix that, but with you guys, no. We'll just meander about, we'll see what happens and we'll maybe do something about it. And there's a dishonesty in this house that stinks.

Narrator: Nine minutes into the meeting and Derek gets to the crux of the matter.

Derek Ogilvie: She has no frame of reference for when.... when is the right time to go to sleep. OK. Right, this causes you problems when you want to go to sleep because you can't get the sleeping patterns you require because she is not sleeping when you need. Ok.

Parents: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: I feel you guys have just capitulated. I feel you guys have just put up the white flag, as if we give in. And by giving in, you have let her know that the way she is acting is OK. I don't want to appear rude, but you've been very weak. I'm sorry, but you've been very weak.

[To Nichola] Do you really love your daughter? [Nichola nods yes] Because what I constantly get is Madison getting really angry at you. That she feels I'm talking to a brick wall. 'Cause she feels that when I go away, nothing is going to change because mum's just smiling about it, mum's just saying oh it's Ok, oh hell that's funny, that bit of information is really interesting to know but is mummy really going to pick up on it? Is dad going to pick up on it? Is dad actually going to do anything about how Madison feels, 'cause Madison is very, very, very, very, very, very, very VERY, angry; and the reason why she's angry is because she feels she's not growing and she's not getting what she needs to get out of life, and you are her support network.

[Derek now looks agitated by the lack of response, especially by the look of apathy that Nichola is displaying]

I can sit here all day and give you information, but unless you're going to get up off your backsides and do something about it, you're going to be in the same situation for the next X amount of years.

Nichola: [nods in agreement].

Again the source of Derek's information looks suspiciously mundane. It's almost as if he had the same background information that everyone else involved in the production did (!)

What is more interesting however, is the fact that Derek is not getting a very good response from the parents. Perhaps they were expecting Derek to come in, psychically connect with Madison, and change her behaviour for them. A golden rule for psychics is to tell people what they want to hear. Derek is struggling because he's telling the parents something that they don't want to hear: that it is they who have to make an effort to change things.

Derek goes away to come up with a plan for the parents based on the information he claims to have got from Madison during the reading. I suspect, however, that the plan will have been formulated in collaboration with other team members prior to the reading taking place.

NOTE: This family, just like the others in this series, will have been assessed and vetted long before filming with Derek took place. Problem areas will have been identified and practical solutions decided upon long before filming began. They would not have been included in the series otherwise.

From the programme makers' website: "A team of experts is on hand to interpret his [Derek's] insights and make the changes to improve the babies' behaviour." It looks like these are not Derek's plans after all.

Derek's plan is for the parents to: get some structure into bedtimes so that Madison knows when and why she has to go to sleep; tidy the house up; and to stop giving Madison the red/orange drink as it makes her hyper. The cause of Madison's behaviour is attributed to her parents. Something that was obvious from the start.

In the intervening week between this visit and Derek's next one not a lot changes. When the end of the week gets closer however, the parents decide to take action and start tidying the house. A lot of things will go into storage and a skip has been hired for the rubbish. It is reported that having made this positive mood that Madison's sleeping has started to improve. This could be coincidence, but it's more likely to be as a result of the change in the parents' attitude.

Derek now gives the family a third reading:

Derek Ogilvie: What she's telling me is you sometimes get this rage inside that you have to start doing something but you do ten percent, and you just don't do any more. It's as if, it's as if just starting something is a release valve but you don't feel the need to finish it. And what she's saying is, how can other mums do things and finish them and my mum can't?

She's conscious of you, your thoughts about your weight, and that she doesn't want, and don't take this the wrong way, but she doesn't want to be fat because she knows that fat makes you feel insecure about yourself. Right?

Nichola: [nods in agreement].

Derek Ogilvie: Have you noticed when she gets bored she wants to eat?

Parents: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: We need to try and watch that. And the funny thing is, I just got shown grapes there.

Parents: Mmm Hmm.

Derek Ogilvie: What I think here is put a bowl of grapes, have a bowl of grapes, in juice for her. Ok?

At this point Derek goes off to tweak his action plan and comes back with the main points.

Derek Ogilvie: One of the most important things that seemed to come through in the reading that we've just done is about diet. Erm, what I was getting from Maddie was that she has an insecurity about her body and I feel she's getting that from you.

Nichola: [nods in agreement].

Derek Ogilvie: Obviously you have feelings about your weight and yet again, Maddie's picking up on that. And there seems to be something coming through about Maddie not wanting feelings about her body that you have about your body. That she was telling me about how she would like to have grapes, and fruit, fruit drinks rather than eating crisps and biscuits. Something for you to think about. Are you Ok?

Nichola: [nods in agreement although she has begun crying].

Derek Ogilvie: Nichola, how are you feeling? [Derek offers her some tissues]. Are you OK? Is this a release for you or are you feeling that what's happening now is a burden? Or are you not going to speak to me any more?

Nichola: No it's just that I feel bad enough about my weight as it is without affecting my kids with it.

Derek Ogilvie: But have you been thinking very negatively about your body?

Nichola: Yeah, in the past and I keep thinking I want to do something about it.

Derek Ogilvie: Maybe now is the epiphany, you know you've, now is the time for you to make inroads into changing your life.

The interview ends there. So far in this programme we have seen nothing in the way of psychic ability from Derek but it could be argued that using this claimed ability is justifiable as a gimmick as long as a positive outcome is achieved. The problem however, is that it is also possible for negative outcomes to occur too.

What we have seen both last week and again this week is that Derek is taking the concerns and fears of the parent and telling the parent that not only does the child pick up those fears from the parent but actually shares those fears because of the parent. This sort of psychological manipulation could have severe adverse consequences (!)

NOTE: People who believe in psychics and their claimed abilities have a tendency to place an inordinate amount of trust in what psychics say. This leaves them open not only to manipulation but also the potential for great psychological harm.

Another week passes.

As the next week passes the parents make an attempt to implement some of Derek's plan. They create a rota for doing the housework and the girls get new beds although they are still in the parents' bedroom. The family seem to have found the changes hard work and stressful and Madison's behaviour is back to the way it was.

Derek, up in Scotland, airs his concerns that the parents are not taking this as seriously as he'd hoped and have been making excuses to avoid sticking to his plan properly. He feels that Nichola and Andrew need a kick up the backside.

Derek pays the family a third and final visit:

Derek Ogilvie: What I'd really like to do guys is, em, just go through what's been happening over the last couple of weeks. So obviously, tidying up was one of the, em, main issues that came through. How do you feel, have you got to the stage where you're happy with the tidying up or do you think there's still more to do?

Parents: There's still more to do.

Nichola: We've found the last week...

Andrew: The last week's been really tiring, as well as...

Nichola: We've felt under a hell of a lot of pressure. It's caused friction.

Derek Ogilvie: Ultimately there are pressures here because you wanted to help your daughter. So, it's catch 22.

Nichola: I was asked yesterday how did I feel about what we had achieved and I said I don't feel anything. Didn't feel proud, didn't feel pleased, nothing.

Derek Ogilvie: Were you doing it for you Nichola or were you doing it for your daughter?

Nichola: I did it for Madison.

Derek Ogilvie: What I'm getting here is, oh woe hasn't this been really bad for me! [directed at Nichola]. Be honest, put your hand on your heart here, do you think you've put enough effort in?

Andrew: I think there could have been more done, if I'd not been at work.

Derek Ogilvie: Nichola, how do you feel about that?

Nichola: I've done as much as I've felt able to do.

Derek Ogilvie: Well that's not really an answer.

Nichola: Because I've had the kids, I've been on my own during the day. There's only so much you can do when you've got kids running around you because as fast as you're doing one thing they're destroying something else.

Derek Ogilvie: [to Andrew] Is there a rota, you have a rota?

Derek's asking a confirmatory question here and not doing the psychic act. How would he know that they had made a rota unless he had been told about it beforehand? (!)

Andrew: Yeah, I've got a rota.

Derek Ogilvie: OK, what is the rota to do with?

Nichola: It's for cleaning but it can't be implemented while the house has been in the chaos it's been in.

Derek Ogilvie: There's a team here. There are two adults here. OK, so I'm sure that... I don't have children, shoot me down, surely one adult can look after the children and bath them, 'cause there are single parents in Britain that have more than three kids who cope.

Nichola: [to Andrew] You did bath them didn't you?

Andrew: I did yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: [to Nichola] Right, so which means you're free.

Nichola: What did I do?

Derek Ogilvie: Well you tell me 'cause you've not been able to bath the kids, so what have you been doing?

Nichola: [to Andrew] What did I do when you bathed the kids the other night?

Andrew: I don't know.

Derek Ogilvie: I came to see you guys and erm, one of the things was that your daughter wanted the house tidied. OK? The whole point of doing this but one of the major points...

Nichola: Which is what we've been doing. [to Andrew] You've done the washing machine every day.

Derek Ogilvie: Guys, guys, can I be honest? I think you're just, I think you're making an excuse.

Nichola: Because all the jobs that are on the rota have been done but they haven't been done on the days that we put them down to be done.

Derek Ogilvie: But they're not done because the place is still messy.

Nichola: This is us.

Derek Ogilvie: But your daughter doesn't want this.

Nichola: But there's been an improvement.

Derek Ogilvie: [Raised voice] It's not enough. Because your daughter...

Nichola: I'm not going to sit and listen to this. I'm sorry Derek but I'm finding this very offensive. I'm not sitting here, cut the cameras please.

Derek Ogilvie: [protesting]

Nichola: I'm sorry Derek no. Give me ten minutes. Just leave me alone, I mean it. [Nichola gets up and walks out].

Derek Ogilvie: Because if this is the way you react Nichola, no wonder your daughter's in the state she's in.

Nichola: I'm sorry Derek I'm not having it, I've been attacked...

Derek Ogilvie: It's all about you you you Nichola and it's not about your daughter.

That went spiffingly well then!

Derek looks a little bemused at this point. He's learning a lesson that most Skeptics have learned at some point: telling people the truth can result in a very negative reaction if it's not what they want to hear.

We did find out however, that Nichola and Andrew pressed ahead and made more changes including getting the girls' bedroom sorted and decorated. Madison did start sleeping through the night and the parents and children looked happier all round.

Of course this does nothing to validate Derek's psychic ability. It simply illustrates that problems can be sorted out if affirmative action is taken.

Back to top.

Gemma and Lily.

John Jackson, 6^th July 2006.

This week, we have a young, single mother Gemma and her 21-month-old daughter Lily. Apart from some unruly behaviour from Lily their situation looked quite comfortable. Although she's a young, single parent, Gemma lives in a nice, clean and tidy house, she has her own car, and is independent.

Considering that there is little wrong here, how are the programme makers going to make this work? Well, they will stick to the set format that was designed for this programme. This reveals the formula behind this series:

1) Setting the scene.

The first thing they do is to set the scene. It's all about showing a troubled parent, an unruly child, and the despair of the parent not knowing what to do.

Of course these opening scenes are all carefully selected to make things look as bad as possible. We only see Lily when she’s screaming or throwing a tantrum and in contrast whenever we see Derek Ogilvie the background music changes to soft piano music. Message: the child is bad, Derek is good.

Nichola, the mother featured in last week's programme, revealed on the Bad Psychics Forum (registration required) that there was over 90 hours' of filming done at her home which was selectively edited down to the handful of clips included in the broadcast version.

NOTE: It is in the programme makers' best interests to make things look as bad as possible. The worse the situation and the parents are made to look, the better the outcome, and of course Derek Ogilvie, will look at the end (which will also be selectively edited).

As this series uses a ‘baby mind reader’ as its gimmick, a lot of focus is placed on the child as the source of the problem. In this week’s show, Lily was shown slapping her mother (nothing unusual for a child) and we were told that Derek would transform Lily from a “violent child” to a “loving daughter” in two weeks.

2) The confirmatory stage.

This is where we see Derek meeting the family for the first time. The idea, we’re told, is to see whether Derek can psychically tune into the child and pass information to the parent.

The purpose of this phase is to confirm Derek’s ability not only to the parent but also to the viewer. Derek claims that not all babies will communicate with him. So, of course, if a reading doesn’t work, guess whose fault it is: the baby’s (!)

Again we’re told that the meeting takes place in a neutral location and that Gemma is instructed to only answer “yes” or “no” to Derek’s questions. As I’ve pointed out previously, the location is of little importance in a psychic reading (if they can perform in theatres why not a neutral location?) and answering questions, even with a yes or no, is giving valuable feedback.

Derek is introduced to Gemma and Lily and begins his initial reading:

Derek Ogilvie: Here we go. She's telling me now that she loves going up and down stairs, OK?

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: See the stairs in this house 3^rd 4^th step. See outside of this house they've been cutting a hedge, cutting trees, cutting, they've been cutting down, they've been cutting down OK?

Gemma: [look of astonishment] Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: Right.

This is Derek using a piece of trivial information to convince Gemma of his ability: the confirmation. Of course he may have acquired this information psychically, but as the production crew has spent a lot of time at Gemma's house there are more likely ways that he knew about the cutting.

Occam's Razor. (The principle of parsimony).

Occam's razor is principle (not a scientific law) that broadly states where there's more than one explanation for something, the simplest is more likely to be right. So if we're faced with a choice of information being acquired by psychic means (something which would require re-writing the laws of physics) or someone acquiring information by non-psychic means and reading it back as if it were psychic (a Hot Reading) then it should be obvious why critical thinkers opt for the second option as being the most likely.

Thirteen minutes into the meeting (why were the previous 12 cut?):

Derek Ogilvie: The problem with you Gemma is, you're not spending enough time looking after Gemma. It's too much time with Lily. Because for you to grow, you have to get out of the looking after Lily mode 'cause it's suffocating your daughter. She is suffocating. Are you alright?

Gemma: [now in tears] Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: I want you to stay with me Gemma because Lily wants you to know these things alright? Lily wants you to know these things.

You have a problem when you go outside.

Gemma: [laughs] Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: You change. You feel people are looking at you, you feel people are looking at Lily, you feel that people are making an opinion of you. And Lily's telling me that this is going on in your head. Do you understand this?

Gemma: Mmm Hmm.

Derek Ogilvie: Right. I'm gonna talk about food OK. Now she's at a stage that she's almost scared to, instead of using a spoon, use a fork. Right?

Gemma: Yes, yes.

Derek Ogilvie: You've noticed this haven't you?

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: 'Cause she'll use the fork and then she'll put the fork down and go back to the spoon, because she's scared 'cause using the [Derek does an impression of a child and squeals] fork. Oh my God, flippin' heck.

At this point Derek starts crying and sobbing as if troubled by some great emotional trauma and goes wandering. Gemma sits in disbelief with a bemused but amused look on her face. Lily is playing happily in the background. A tearful Derek comes back to his chair and resumes the reading: (view video clip).

Derek Ogilvie: She's so scared to grow up. [Derek is squealing again] She doesn't want to grow up.

Oh my God Gemma, what are you doing? Listen to me, she's got a serious fear about growing up and she's confused now when you say that you're my baby and then say you're a big girl. It's only, 'cause you do don't you?

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: You go, "you're my baby, you're my big girl" and she's like, "am I a baby or am I a big girl?" and she's totally confused.

We now cut to Gemma after the reading has ended:

Gemma: I say, oh yeah you're mummy's baby of a night when I put her to bed or "I love you baby" but then when she's going on the toilet or she's been on the potty I'm like "oh you're such a big girl" and you're a big girl use a fork don't use a spoon. It is so true.

This piece was included in the reading to confirm Derek's ability. All we've seen so far is Derek describing Gemma's problems in taking Lily outside (we were shown all of this at the beginning of the programme) and Derek describing things that are common to all parents (!)

Derek's histrionics may be good for the camera, and are certainly amusing, but they add no weight to his claim to be psychic: it's pure theatre.

We now cut back to the reading:

Derek Ogilvie: Totally nuts. I want to know about a policeman.

Gemma: Pardon?

Derek Ogilvie: Policeman. Handcuffs, policeman.

Gemma: Oh my God.

Derek Ogilvie: Do you understand that?

Gemma: Maybe. Bit more...

Derek Ogilvie: Did someone get arrested, someone handcuffs?

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: Arrested? It's worrying her. OK.

At this point Derek ends the reading and leaves. Again, much to Gemma's bemusement.

Gemma then explains to the camera that Lily's dad was arrested over the bonnet of a car when she was seven months pregnant.

Why did Derek leave the topic so suddenly after such an amazing hit? Perhaps he knows all about the situation and is saving the rest for later. Perhaps he knows all about the situation and didn't really mean to bring it up in this session. Perhaps he's such a gifted psychic that he can afford let really good hits drop as he pleases. Who knows?

Now the narration asks whether Lily's 'violent behaviour' (Lily is not a violent child) is linked to the trauma caused to Gemma in the past.

3) the fanciful explanation.

This show follows a similar pattern every week:

• The child is almost demonised being described as terrorising the family or being violent;
• The parents don't know what to do about it;
• The problem invariably lies with the parents, not the child;
• Despite this, we're told that it's the child that has problems with the issues;
• Derek uses his wonderous psychic ability to read the baby's mind and discover some problem issue with the parent and attribute the child's behaviour to its parent not dealing with the issue;
• Derek advises the parent to tackle the issues and then the child's behaviour will improve;
• Changes are made and things get better.

A more realistic explanation would be:

• There is a badly behaved child because the parent is doing something wrong;
• The team, including child psychologists, assess the situation and work out what the problems are;
• Derek is called in, most likely having been briefed about the problems and issues, then uses this information and presents it as being psychic;
• The experts tell Derek what changes need to be made and he then pretends to read the baby's mind and present the recommendations of the experts to the parents as if they had come from the child;
• The changes are made and things improve.

The most disturbing aspect of all this is that the fears of the parent are being projected onto the child (!)

This is very well described as a parenting show too far.

The programme continues with a reiteration of what has occurred so far and we even see the tree that was cut down. It happens to be in the back garden and is shown through the french windows. Not from the 3^rd or 4^th stair like Derek claimed. Perhaps he knew about the cutting but didn't know where it had occurred. That would also explain why Gemma took a few seconds to make the connection.

Derek also stated that Lily has a fear of growing up. Of course that cannot be substantiated in any way at all but that doesn't prevent the programme assuming it's true and following Derek's next reading with Gemma and Lily to find out why she has this 'fear'.

We find out that Gemma met Lily's father when she was fifteen and later on after they had moved in together and Gemma was pregnant that the relationship turned into an abusive one. When Gemma was seven months pregnant her boyfriend violently abused her which ended up with him being arrested and her going to hospital. It took two days before Gemma was assured that her baby was OK. After this Gemma split with her boyfriend. Obviously a traumatic episode all in all.

Gemma now lives alone and has Lily 24 hours a day. Lily is very clingy and really dislikes going out. Lily is very badly behaved whenever they go out. She doesn't like her pushchair and doesn't like being in her car seat.

Gemma really wants to understand why Lily is the way she is. Derek comes to her house (accompanied by the piano music) for another reading:

Derek Ogilvie: She's [Lily] going on to me now about you needing to decorate a room and you've been talking about it. OK. Do you understand this?

Gemma: OK. [Her facial expression reveals that it doesn't make sense to her]

Derek Ogilvie: Right, now. You've got a problem with Lily burning herself with water. There's a problem with you and hot water when you were a kid. Do you remember this?

Gemma: No.

Narrator: 25 minutes into the meeting and Gemma seems less than impressed with Derek.

Derek Ogilvie: Was anybody's house broken into recently?

Gemma: No. [There's a look of despair on Gemma's face now].

Derek Ogilvie: OK. We'll take a break for a minute. When I'm doing readings and I get to the situation that I'm not understanding something, I have to break, disconnect, and reconnect OK?

Gemma: OK.

Derek Ogilvie: Don't worry about it. We've just hit a wee bit of a brick wall.

I have left it in no doubt that I think that Derek is Hot Reading in most of these sessions. That is using information he already knows and feeding it to the parents as if it were psychically acquired. What we've seen here however, is blatant Cold Reading: asking questions (!) about things that will hopefully generate some hits that can be honed in on due to the feedback he gets.

Gemma seems a rather practical type. She's not actively looking for links into what Derek's saying (unlike the typical clients of psychics who will bend over backwards to make connections) and if Derek's wrong, she's prepared to say "no".

I would have preferred to have seen a bit more of the 25 minutes' of footage that didn't get broadcast.

Narrator: Derek says he sees images in his mind communicated to him by baby Lily; but he doesn't always understand what they mean. Is this why he keeps missing the mark?

No. It's because his Cold Reading techniques are not working on this parent. "Was anybody's house broken into recently?" is a blatant, direct question that clearly has nothing to do with Lily or her behaviour.

Derek has had his break and resumes the reading:

Derek Ogilvie: We've hit a nerve. [To Lily] Are you going to come back and tell me what it is?

Let's go to bedtimes. Ah wuf [Derek impersonates a child] for what they're worth. OK. Have you been locking the door or closing the door over?

Gemma: Closing the door.

Derek Ogilvie: [Shaking his head] No. There's also something about the way she's sleeping. Does she get into bed with you?

Gemma: She does.

Derek Ogilvie: And see the way she sleeps when she's into bed with you, would that be opposite to the way she sleeps in her own bed?

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: What we want to do is swap round her bed so that she's facing in exactly the same direction that she would be facing if she was in your room.

Gemma: Right.

Derek Ogilvie: And keep her bedroom door open and your bedroom door open so she knows what's going on in your room and you're going to have not a problem. Have you got that?

Gemma: I have.

Derek Ogilvie: Fine. OK. I want to talk about car seats OK? There seems to be a height issue. See when she's sitting here, you're there and she's here [indicating the difference in height between the two]. So she's low, right. See when you're in the car she's higher up and she can't handle it 'cause she's thinking "I should be at that eye level to mummy [low] and suddenly I'm at that eye level to mummy [high]". And it's too much. In fact she's losing the plot just now. She's absolutely scared shitless about going in the car.

Gemma: I knew that.

Derek Ogilvie: Fine. I want to talk about prams alright, if I can. I want to ask you this question: when you've taken the pram does she face you or face away?

Gemma: Face away.

Derek Ogilvie: Do you notice that when she's in she's wanting to get out?

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: She needs to know that she's safe [Gemma nods]. Now. I want you to involve her more because she's showed me you going to the shops with her. And she said to me, "I wish I could be part of the decision-making", and you probably think this is nuts [Gemma shakes her head in disagreement] but this is what she's saying. She needs that respect. It's a part of her lashing out, OK?

Now this is weird. She's telling me about being scared, be unsure of men.

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: She's telling me about a man shouting, a man upsetting you Gemma.

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: A man [raised voice] shouting at you Gemma.

Gemma: Yes. [Gemma looks a little surprised].

Derek Ogilvie: When she's out in the street she can start screaming for no apparent reason because a man will go by or a man will scare her. Do you understand this?

Gemma: I do, yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Men, smartly dressed men who pretend to be what they're not. Men who will smile and be nice to mum and then [smacks fist] be horrible. They stab you right in the back. And leave mum in bits, and mum can't pull herself together, and mum is a wreck. [Gemma is getting tearful now] The man who wants to touch mum's private. And bruise mum, bruise mum [punches fists several times and raises voice] bruise mum. [Gemma is crying now - Derek shouts loudly] Bruise my mum.

"Who the fuck are these men in my house?" she's saying. She's swearing, she's swearing, she's swearing at me. These men came into the house and didn't say "can we come into your house Lily?" These men just came into the house.

That's why we've got a problem today because people didn't ask Lily if it was alright. 'Cause mum's been upset by men and Lily knows that and really doesn't want men to upset mum ever again. And Lily is freaked out about bruising Gemma. Bruises. Do you understand bruises Gemma?

Gemma: I do yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Bruises Gemma, bruises, bled, bruises, bruises Gemma. I need to stop for a second. That was too powerful.

The reading ends there.

Isn't it amazing how Derek was floundering badly one minute and then once he got onto the issues that this programme was designed to tackle, his amazing psychic ability returned? That could be because his initial contact was poor and he needed to break and reconnect, or it could be that Hot Reading is a lot easier than Cold Reading.

At this point what Derek is doing is taking the fears of the parent and and assigning those fears to the child.

We're now told that Derek has formulated an action plan for Gemma to follow. Of course we all know, because it says so on the programme makers' website, that it's not really Derek who formulates the plans; it's a team of experts.

The plans are:

• Getting a new car seat;
• Getting a new pram so Lily faces her mum when she's in it;
• Involving Lily more with things like making and choosing meals;
• Changing Lily's bed so that it faces the same way that her mother's does (even though they are in different rooms);
• Gemma has to deal with her issues regarding her view of men.

I can't help thinking that the orientation of the bed is Derek's own idea as it doesn't seem to have any logical basis, but the rest of it is just plain common sense that must have come from the experts. If a few simple changes is all that's needed to make a change here, what is the use of dressing it all up as if it's all been done via psychic means?

We're shown that involving Lily in choosing and making a meal does make a difference (involving and giving attention to the child), the lower car seat also seems to work, and buying a pushchair in which Lily is facing her mother (basic child psychology) also seems to work. The only part of the plan that didn't work was, unsurprisingly, Derek's idea of changing the orientation of Lily's bed.

The one part of the plan that Gemma did not address was her feelings about when her boyfriend (Lily's dad) assaulted her when she was seven months pregnant. He was subsequently charged with assault and found guilty.

After seven days of Derek's plan he returns to the home to see why Lily has improved in some areas but not in others.

Narrator: [About Derek] He's never been given any information about Gemma and knows nothing of the night she was assaulted by Lily's father.

Well if Derek is going back to see why Lily has improved in some areas but not others, it sounds like someone has been talking to him (!)

Derek's reading begins:

Derek Ogilvie: She's feeling on the ball today. Let's talk about Lily not being able to sleep. Lily's telling me that, erm, how can she sleep when she knows that you are not dealing with all of your issues?

Narrator: Derek claims that babies can pick up emotions and feelings about events that happened whilst still in the womb.

This is a great example of the narrator trying to set the scene. Derek knows nothing and babies can pick up information psychically even before they are born. This narration would, obviously, have been added after the reading took place. This scene setting is completely at odds with what we've just seen however. Derek went straight in, without the usual trivial Cold Reading, and he knew that Lily wasn't sleeping and that Gemma had not addressed her own issues.

Derek Ogilvie: Now, let's go to the relationship with the man that sometimes it's OK but the majority of times it's not good. Lily's showing me blood on your bed. Do you understand what that means?

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: And it's really affected her, really affected her, and she's showing me a big..... oh the blood, the blood on the bed she's telling me, a man trying to come in, the more blood on the bed, mum screaming "oh my God what's going on?" it's horrible. Right?

Narrator: Derek says he's getting the information from Lily although she wasn't even born when this event took place.

Perhaps this is a good time to invoke Occam's Razor again. Either Derek has really gotten this information from Lily's mind, and Lily got this information whilst she was still in the womb (which is in complete contrast to known scientific knowledge), or Derek has gained this information by non-psychic means (which involves someone sharing the information with Derek). Occam's Razor states that the simplest explanation is more likely to be the correct one. Take your pick.

Derek Ogilvie: OK. There's a kettle boiling, there's a kettle boiling when these coming in, and she's showing me a kettle boiling [Gemma nods gingerly] is she associating the fear of the kettle to the f.... I don't know what it is.

Gemma: If I'm allowed to say something.

Derek Ogilvie: Yes but don't give me too much information Gemma.

Just enough to validate this claim though (!)

Gemma: I used to say he had a temper like a boiling kettle.

Derek Ogilvie: Thank you.

Gemma: Sorry.

Derek Ogilvie: Thank you very much. Now. I'm hearing, "get your fucking bags packed" [Gemma agrees] OK. These are very strong words, Lily has heard these words. Now, and she's wanting me to cry. It's horrible OK. There's a lot of hitting going on [Derek pats Gemma's lower stomach - the womb area] maybe you got bruising around your tummy. There's something about your tummy that's right there, she wants to touch, "get you fucking bitch", right? OK? I know I'm having to say it again right, and, it's horrendous, it's horrendous for Lily and Lily doesn't know how she's going to handle it, and Lily's now saying to me, "if I go to bed, is someone going to come in and hurt me? If I go to bed, is someone going to come in and hurt mummy?". What is going.. yet again, this is the bed issue, the sleeping issue, when she's with you she's at one with you and therefore she can help you.

And she wants me to take my jacket off. OK, I know you're laughing but there's a reason for it. It's about, erm, it's about how "I'm f'king staying here, you can't f'king throw me out, I'm fucking staying here, I'm taking my jacket off, I'm f'king staying here you".

From this man. She took my jacket off and said, "Derek" erm she said, "Derek, Derek, you can stay. You can take your jacket off and stay". Right. There's a lot of this man [loudly] enraged. Right. see the man, he's got a friend who's in prison. A friend who's in prison. [Gemma nods in agreement] Who drove the car [Gemma agrees]. Remember when he came in the car with his friend who'd been in prison?

Gemma: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: Remember he kept going on about the keys, the keys? Losing the keys, where's the f'ing keys.

Gemma: Oh my God, yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Do you remember?

Gemma: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Oh my God gemma [Derek shakes his dramatically]. Gemma, I'm so sorry for swearing and I know some people may feel that this is very strong language from me, and how could this be coming from a baby, but she's kept showing me she doesn't know what the words mean, she's telling me about the words that were said and this f'ing and "you're a whore and you're a", I'm sorry Gemma. It's very, very powerful.

[To Lily] I know Lily, Lily it's OK Lilly, I'm telling mummy, I'm telling mummy about it. It's OK. It's OK. It's OK about it, it's OK about it. Now what... you need to deal with this Gemma. This needs to be dealt with and not dismissed. Once you've dealt with the relationship issue with this man and also the dynamics of the relationship that you have with Lily then she will sleep.

Gemma: OK

Derek Ogilvie: But not until then. Gemma, there's a couple of other things I'd like to bring up in your reading. You seem to have fear of giving yourself time. Because you seem to have forgotten about you [Gemma agrees]. And, it's upsetting Lily because Lily will not be as happy as she could possibly be if her mummy is not happy and content. OK. Very, very important.

The reading ends here.

How come the child can have fears and opinions on some very complex adult issues and yet not understand swear words?

We all know by now that it's not Derek but a team of experts that decide on the 'action plan'. A part of that plan was for Gemma to address her feelings about the abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend and specifically the event where he abused Gemma when she was seven months pregnant.

If the team of experts formulate a plan in conjunction with Derek, how is it possible that they can decide this plan of action and yet Derek knew nothing about it in advance? It doesn't make sense.

Again, this last reading looked like a typical Hot Reading. Derek was simply using information that he already knew and was reading it back as if it was coming from Lily. It's interesting to see that there were no 'connection problems' in this reading.

Derek now amends his (?) action plan and advises Gemma to spend more time on herself and to deal with the issue of the past relationship that is haunting her.

Gemma starts seeing a councellor to deal with her past and includes Lilly much more in doing things which, of course, benefits her. Then we hear Gemma talking to Lily:

Gemma: If I get a picture of Nanny and granddad, would you like to choose that in a minute? And a picture of Freya's daddy and Freya and Caroline, and a picture of Kelly and Si, and put them in your bedroom, and that way you might understand that not all men are bad because there are men in your life that love you.

This is an illustration of the real danger in this type of programme and inappropriate intervention. Gemma's fears have been assigned to Lily by a psychic (whose true ability has never been established) and Gemma is treating that as if it were real. In the first programme, baby Teegan was assigned a fear of rape. This is completely false and grossly irresponsible.

NOTE: Channel 5 have managed to stay within the broadcasting guidelines by never actually claiming that Derek Ogilvie's psychic ability is real. However, the programme is designed to make it look as if Derek Ogilvie's abilities are real.

They may be legally within the broadcasting guidelines, but I feel that morally, they have gone too far with this series. It is highly deceptive and intentionally so.

We are now told that Gemma and Lily's situation has improved greatly. This is entirely believable. What is not believable is how all of the changes are portrayed as being down to Derek's intervention rather than the team of experts who have been involved with the family from the very beginning.

Conclusion.

This week's show revealed a lot about how this series has been designed and how everything is exaggerated to enhance the psychic angle. There was very little wrong with the relationship between Gemma and Lily; a few small changes were all that was needed, yet they managed to blow it out of all proportion for dramatic effect.

The major problem is that many people will be watching this programme who are in a similar situation as these families. If they do not see the deception in this programme they will be seeing psychics as a viable answer to their problems. It's important to realise that in real life, psychics will not have a team of experts to guide them.

Back to top.

Stephen, Nicky and Jacob.

John Jackson 10^th July 2006.

This week we're introduced to parents Stephen and Nicky and the focus of this week's programme: 2-year-old Jacob. We're shown Jacob misbehaving and true to the programme's formula, he's demonised.

Stephen: He's like a Damien when he gets going.

Narrator: There's something wrong with Jacob, but no-one knows what's upsetting him. Now this man [Derek Ogilvie] claims he will read Jacob's mind and in just two weeks, turn him from little devil, to little angel.

So again, we're left in no doubt at the beginning of this programme that it is the child that has something wrong with him and Derek Ogilvie is going to read his mind and sort out his problems.

We're shown Jacob misbehaving. He's shouting, screaming, lashing out at his older brother (4-year-old Samuel) and his parents, refusing to sit in his pushchair, and we also learn that Jacob has been bashing his teeth out on the concrete floor. Nicky has now been prescribed anti-depressants as she can no longer cope with Jacob's behaviour. We also find out that Stephen and Nicky's relationship is at breaking point.

Nicky: Basically I'm begging for help for Jacob. Just so that we can be a family again.

Although Nicky does not particularly believe in psychics, she's so desperate for help that she will try anything. The parents and Jacob go to meet with Derek. As usual the meeting takes place at a neutral location (to give the impression that a psychic would find it more difficult to read someone at a neutral location - something that is not true) and the parents are instructed to only answer "yes" or "no" to Derek's questions (to give the impression that they are not giving anything away - of course a yes/no answer is very helpful feedback to a psychic).

Derek then tells us that he gets very excited when he knows that a child is going to respond to him, and that can know that that will happen as he's approaching the door. Amazingly, the next scene is of Derek approaching the door of the location:

Derek Ogilvie: So far, before I've entered the house I'm picking up... there's a lot... there's a lot of anger, there's a lot of frustration. There's an issue between the parents. The little boy's... some... tell... there's something about his dad, there was an issue between his mum and dad. The little boy can't fit into the... he's finding it hard to fit in. I'm assuming it's a little boy [Derek laughs]. Is it? [to the camera crew] Is it? OK, that's fine 'cause I don't even know.

Very angry, very agitated, very annoyed. Let's go.

Oops! Derek dropped a clanger there and his attempt to cover it up just made it look worse. There were no histrionics here, no attempt to 'tune in', no attempt to look as if he was connecting with Jacob; Derek simply already knew it was a boy. He could have claimed that he had picked this up psychically, but then said that he didn't even know. He also knew that he would be dealing with parents (plural). Something else that came out as a matter of fact.

Note: As we've seen throughout this series, Derek already knows a lot of information before he ever does a reading even though we are told otherwise. This little clanger just confirms that even more.

The reading begins:

Derek Ogilvie: Bang doors, Jacob wants to bang doors, turn light switches on and off, do you understand this? He's also tel... [Derek now goes into one of his embarrassing baby impressions and starts whimpering]. [Shouting] HE'S TELLING ME. He's so angry, he's so frustrated. He won't sleep and he doesn't care when you tell him to go to sleep 'cause he'll go to sleep when he wants. Do you understand? This is, this is, this is, this is unbelievable

Have you noticed that there's a book he has and he likes to tear the pages out the book?

Parents: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: But it's one particular book. I really want to help you. Fascinating.

Narrator: Derek's session lasts for half an hour. He's happy that he can communicate with Jacob; but is he intuitive enough to impress Nicky and Stephen?

Nicky: He was actually very true on everything that he said. Everything. [Stephen nods in agreement].

Cutting back to the reading:

Derek Ogilvie: [To Nicky] Can I say something that's quite personal? You've been worried about your stomach as in an ulcer or worried about a growth or you've been worried about your tummy.

Nicky: No.

Derek Ogilvie: OK we're talking baby language here. Did you think you were pregnant?

Nicky: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: Thank you. [Derek abruptly ends the reading and moves away].

Cutting back to Nicky after the reading:

Nicky: When he was actually on about me actually being pregnant or something wrong well on medication for me depression and I haven't had a period and I did actually take three, maybe four, pregnancy tests thinking that I was pregnant.

Although this cleverly edited snippet was included to demonstrate Derek's ability (the confirmation of his ability), anyone who knows about how psychics work will recognise this as a classic piece of Cold Reading. "You've been worried about your stomach as in an ulcer" is quite an obvious thing to say to someone who's suffering stress (and Derek uses the stomach quite a lot in readings) but notice how wide the scope of his statement was. It was a stomach problem which could be an ulcer, a growth, or indeed simply a worry about your tummy.

This leaves a lot of scope for a hit. All he's really asking (it's a veiled question) is: have you been worried about your stomach? (and if so - tell me what it is).

NOTE: A standard way of cold reading is to ask veiled questions that are wide-ranging. e.g. "I have your mother coming through and I'm getting a connection with a ring, possibly an earring or some jewellery. Do you understand this?"

That is the way psychics ask: is there a connection between you and your late mother's jewellery and if so, can you tell me what it is?

This wide-ranging question failed to get a hit however, but notice how Derek managed to change it from a stomach problem to pregnancy by asking the direct question: Did you think you were pregnant? This gets a hit but again, it is not unusual for women to worry about being pregnant. There's no time frame involved either which again widens the scope.

This is another typical Cold Reading trick: the change of focus from what was said to something that could be interpreted in a similar way (a good example is when psychics wrongly link into a 'mother' and then quickly turn it into a 'mother-type figure').

It's also interesting to note that Derek uses the naivety of childhood as the excuse for mixing up pregnancy with a stomach problem ("we're talking baby language here"). This may seem plausible at first sight; however, Derek has been telling us that babies have major issues with problems such as a fear of rape and other complex adult issues. How is it that babies can understand complex issues when it suits Derek's purposes but they can't understand complex issues when it doesn't?

Another retrospective look at the reading:

Derek Ogilvie: I want you to make sure, and I'm not trying to scare you here, I want you to make sure that he can't get near knives and forks. Because he's saying to me it's too easy for him to go into the knife drawer.

The after-reading reaction:

Nicky: He's always in the fork and knife drawer. Always. And for him [Derek] to know that it's just... how did he know?

Well, it could have been noticed by the film crew who've been in the house filming Jacob, but if we look at what use this information is, it's nothing more than trivia, it could just have been Derek saying something that's true for a lot of parents. Remember: psychics use trivia stats to convince people of their ability; such information has no other use.

Derek Ogilvie: You've been talking about moving. You've been discussing moving. Haven't you?

Nicky: No.

Derek Ogilvie: Yes you have. I'll give you more information. You were on the telephone talking to a friend who's moving. [Nothing registers with Nicky] 'Cause she was telling you about how she's been looking at flats or houses.

Nicky: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: Yes.

Reaction:

Nicky: When Derek actually mentioned about moving houses I had to think about that one because me and Stephen are going through a difficult patch at the moment. It was either a case of one of us had got to move house.

Stephen: Nicky was going to move or I was going to move.

Nicky: So for him to pick up on that, that was quite... shocking.

Recognise the old, familiar tactic there? Derek mentions that they were talking about moving. When this turns out to be false it quickly changes to Nicky talking to a friend who was thinking of moving. This is also false.

In psychic readings the psychic supplies the words but it's the client who supplies the meaning to those words. What we have here is Nicky rejecting Derek's statements but then finding a way to make them fit. After remembering that Stephen and her were talking about splitting up, which would mean that one of them would have to move out, Nicky managed to find a way to make Derek's words fit her situation. Derek was stating that they were thinking of moving, i.e. together, but they were actually thinking of splitting.

This is a perfect example of subjective validation: One of the primary reasons that psychic reading can work so well.

We're now told that the parents are convinced that Derek can connect with their troubled son. Nicky reveals that she no longer loves Stephen and that they're only together for the sake of the children. As usual, the real problem lies with the parents, not the child.

At this point we find out that Jacob has always been a problem to Nicky. After a difficult caesarean birth Jacob was taken to intensive care and Nicky was unconscious and didn't see Jacob for two days.

Nicky: After waiting two days to go and see Jacob, I didn't want to. I didn't want to go and see him because I didn't believe that he was my child. I thought that it was someone else's child within that baby unit, not mine. I thought that my baby had died but nobody had told me.... I still do feel that Jacob isn't mine..... I just feel like I'm babysitting and, and that somebody's going to knock on the door and say "right, thanks for looking after my son. Can I have him back now?"

I'll be his mum, but I don't think I'll ever bond with him properly.

Can anyone guess where the problem lies here? Can anyone see the need for a self-proclaimed, but never validated, psychic to be involved?

At this point we're also told that Sam, Jacob's older brother, was diagnosed with epilepsy soon after Jacob's birth. He has to take medication which often makes him violently sick. Also, Nicky feels that Samuel's epilepsy was never accepted by Stephen and him not helping with Sam led Nicky to fall out of love with Stephen. We're now informed that Nicky wants a divorce but Stephen thinks that they can still make a go of things.

Nicky suffered a mental breakdown recently, just before Jacob was two, and is still on medication for depression.

Narrator: Can this family be transformed? Derek Ogilvie [soft piano music begins playing] says it is possible; but only if they follow his advice [which as we know isn't really his].

[...]

Derek has come down from Scotland to visit Jacob and his parents at their home. Since his first meeting with the family, he's had no contact with them and he knows nothing of their past. Derek is completely unaware of Nicky's mental health history and her marital problems with Stephen. So will Derek's insights really be able to help transform little Jacob in just two weeks?

We know that a team of experts are the ones who come up with the plan of action, not Derek. In order to do this they will have assessed the family in depth and decided on the changes that have to be made. Are we really expected to believe, despite the highly dubious narration, that they are allowing Derek to go in and see the family without knowing anything in advance?

The reading is to last for two hours and then Derek will formulate his (?) plan.

The narrator tells us how Derek believes that babies can connect with him psychically until they begin talking. He sees images but he doesn't always know what they mean.

Narrator: Throughout the course of the meeting. Derek often gets it wrong.

Derek Ogilvie: [To Stephen] Jacob is telling me about you being with other women. Another woman.

Stephen: No.

Narrator: But in some parts of Derek's session, he does seem to hit the mark.

Derek Ogilvie: Right, what he's saying to me just now is about sleeping and he's saying to me, "look, can I go to bed at four o'clock because when I'm tired, or I might go at six, or I might go at eight, or I might go at nine?" There's no , there's no, there's no guidelines as to when he's tired or when he feels he wants to go to sleep. OK?

Nicky: Yes.

Derek Ogilvie: Do you understand this?

Nicky: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: I'm getting a lot of emotions coming through here from Jacob about how he actually loves you but he finds it very hard to show his love to you. And there's a lack of knowledge of love, a lack of discussion of love between you and Jacob. You're not telling him enough that you love him or care for him. It's just... it's like a blank screen. It's this bond that we need to build upon to help him grow.

Again, we only get to see one example of Derek getting things wrong. When he attempts Cold Reading, he, like all psychics, get a lot of things wrong. People tend to forget the misses however, and only remember the hits. We can't assess how accurate Derek is as most of his misses will have been left out of the broadcast.

It is interesting to note (again) that where Derek scores exceptionally well is when he's dealing with the crux of the problem. i.e. the things that have already been worked out by the team of experts. Coincidence?

Now on to another familiar routine:

Derek Ogilvie: I want to talk to you just now about sauces. Like the sauce that would go with beans, the sauce that would go with spaghetti, the sauce that would go with... you know these tomato sauces?

Parents: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: Have you not noticed that when he takes these, he becomes very hyper?

Parents: Eh... yeah. [not convincingly].

Derek Ogilvie: The day later. The day after. So if he took some beans some sauce, beans and sauces mixture, or some spaghetti today, tomorrow he's like crazy. We can't calm him down no matter what we do, he's just off on one, there's no erm... he just goes nuts.

[Acting as if receiving psychic information] Nah. I don't understand this. I'm just going to work through this. It's like someone going to prison or someone going away to a building. So what he's showing me is a building and some, and like you going away to a building.

Nicky: Yeah. Me in hospital.

At this point we're reminded of Nicky's mental breakdown.

Derek Ogilvie: It's like being away and not being able to come out.

Nicky: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: It's like a prison.

Nicky: Yeah.

Derek Ogilvie: I can only gather from this that he's [Jacob] still feeling part of the strain, the stress, the upset, the torment that you're going through being depressed and being associated with a mental institution right? And he's thinking, "when is this going to get better?" because it doesn't seem to be, we still seem to be at the same place we were at since he's ever been on this Earth.

This building, this building has been horrific for him. This building where you were is just horrific. It's horrific. He just doesn't understand what went on.

NOTE: Again the fears, concerns, and issues that the parent has are being projected onto the child.

Now we see Nicky's reaction after the reading:

Nicky: When Derek actually mentioned about me being in this prison and in this mental institute, it kind of freaked me out because nobody knows about that, apart from the family.

And, of course, the researchers who did the background study for this programme. The team of experts who are advising Derek.

Nicky: I believe in Derek 100%.

Narrator: Whether Jacob is telepathically communicating with Derek or not, what matters is if he can now help young Jacob and give the family some respite. Derek has formulated a plan of action to sort their problems out.

What???

We are being told that is doesn't matter if Derek's claims are false as long as something is done for the family. We know that Derek does not formulate the plans so they can't even say that Derek helps in any way at all.

It's a team of experts who do all the assessing of the family and who make all the recommendations for change. This makes Derek's role in the programme entirely superfluous: he's just the gimmick they're using to find another angle to this genre of programming.

Derek now gives the family a 5-point plan:

1. Communication - The parents have to look at how they are interacting with each other and stop blaming each other.
2. Bed times - The parents are to explain to Jacob why bed times are important and why it's important to sleep.
3. Food - Evaluate what Jacob is eating and the effect foods have on him.
4. Expressing feelings - this is about Nicky's lack of bonding with Jacob and explaining to him the importance of having a mum and a dad.
5. The mental institution - Nicky is advised to make a return visit to the institution with Jacob and explain to him that it's all about healing and getting better.

In other words: make sure that the parents address their own issues, ensure that Jacob is sleeping properly, eating properly, and crucially, show him some love and attention; something he is clearly lacking.

We see the parents discussing their communication. Stephen agrees with the need to make changes, Nicky says that he can't change and doesn't seem willing to give it a go with him. Impasse at the first hurdle.

Nicky does go back to the institution with Jacob but feels that it was a pointless exercise, a food diary is kept and there seems to be a correlation between eating the sauces and Jacob's behaviour (of course this is entirely subjective and not necessarily accurate), but the main change is that Nicky is now giving a lot of attention to Jacob. This results in a big improvement in Jacob's behaviour, including sleeping at night, and Nicky also notices an improvement in Samuel too. Meanwhile Stephen, who seems to live in a world of his own, carries on much as before. He seems to think that everything will be OK whilst Nicky is even more convinced that they need to divorce.

Derek comes back a week later to see if he can come up with some more practical advice. After hamming it up and asking Jacob to 'take him back' and saying that Jacob is worried about things going back to normal, Derek starts his reading:

Derek Ogilvie: He's saying to me, "can you put his favourite things on display?", his favourite toys but not too many, so that he can look at these things and it gives him pleasure to look at them. Maybe cars, the odd car or whatever he's, OK. What I'm getting from Jacob here is, "this is great things have changed, but is this going to continue? Am I going to see everything going topsy-turvey again? Are mum and dad going to really work at this"

Nicky does change Jacob's room around and display some of the toys but we never see whether it makes a difference.

This was the last of Derek's input.

Nicky bonded well with Jacob and his behaviour improved greatly. Nicky and Stephen will be getting divorced.

Conclusion.

What we saw here was a mother who, for various reasons, had had a problem bonding with her son. The lack of love and attention affected the child's behaviour and, unsurprisingly, once love and attention was given to him, he became a lot happier and his behaviour improved.

Despite the narrator telling us that this is all that matters, we also saw a programme that was based on deception. Nothing in this programme, or indeed the entire series, has anything at all to do with psychic ability.

It has been blatantly obvious throughout this series that Derek Ogilvie has nothing to do with the assessment of the families nor has he had anything to do with plans of action that were implemented. He was also clearly in possession of many facts in advance of his interviews; facts no doubt that were given to him by the team of experts that was the real driving force behind this series.

So what is the problem with the deception this show was based on?

• It has set a dangerous precedent.
  
  Once something has been done it opens the way for others to do it also. Only to get a greater impact, others have to go further. In fact, it has been revealed that Derek Ogilvie now wants to help Jordan and her disabled son. See: The Sunday Mail article.
  
  
• It gives viewers a false impression.
  
  There will be many families watching this series who have similar problems to those in this series. Many of those viewers will be left with the impression that psychics can offer a quick fix to their problems. In reality, they will not come with a team of experts to guide them and the unqualified advice they give could lead to all kinds of emotional damage.
  
  
• Psychics have no qualifications.
  
  One highly reckless thing this series has done is use a psychic, Derek Ogilvie, as if his powers were real yet Derek has never undergone formal testing to show that his abilities are real. It's important to understand that not only has psychic ability never been validated in anyone, those who claim to have psychic ability do not have any formal qualifications in child psychology either.
  
  It is important to remember that this series was actually overseen by a team of experts.

The bottom line with this series, as with others in this genre, is that a tried and tested formula is used but to give the format a new twist, a gimmick is needed. The gimmick used in this series was Derek Ogilvie and his claim to be able to read babies' minds.

That is all that Derek Ogilvie has been: a gimmick to provide a new angle on a tried and tested formula.

Back to top.

Could a baby's mind potentially be read?

John Jackson 26^th June 2006.

A major assumption that is being made with Derek Ogilvie's claims in this series is that babies and children (up to the age they begin talking) are capable of psychically connecting to their parents' minds and understanding the issues involved. The key question here is whether babies have a mind capable of understanding the world in the way that Derek states. To get some answers on this issue, I asked neuroscientist Jason Braithwaite PhD. to comment on the cognitive development and abilities of babies and children (up to the point where they learn to talk).

Dr. Braithwaite describes some of the problems with Derek's claims (points 1 to 4):

1. The lack of ‘mind’ to be read:
   
   The big problem with the underlying assumption here is the idea that the ‘mind’ of a neonate/infant is sufficiently developed that one could communicate with it in a meaningful manner. The assumption seems to be that there is a complex understanding of the world, objects, people, and events within the child and thus facilitating psychic communication between child and psychic. This is simply not the case. Although it would be quite wrong to view a infant/neonate as a cognitive blackboard with nothing but future experience to guide it, the internal neural and mental landscape is totally insufficient to represent complex information of the type Ogilvie claims.
   
2. Inconsistent knowledge levels:
   
   It seems odd that the child can communicate psychically with Mr Ogilvie on a whole manner of complex adult issues like parent/sibling relationships etc., yet knows nothing of the three-dimensional world out there and how different objects/events relate to each other. For example, very young infants show great surprise when one object disappears behind another object (occlusion) and then reappears on the other side of it. This has been taken to indicate that neonates have a poor understanding of objects and their relationships in space (hence their surprise as one object passes behind the other). This is largely overcome with experience of playing with objects and crawling through space in later development. The point is, this knowledge is very basic, yet the ‘mind’ that Mr Ogilvie suggests he is communicating with seems very lucid and expert – I suggest the ‘information’ is not coming from a neonate/infant at all.
3. Information and communication:
   
   If the neonate was endowed with such complex internal ideas, feelings and thoughts it seems odd that it should take a few years before speech develops at all! Neonates have all the basic machinery in place at birth that one might expect; even with a little practice, children should be speaking much earlier than they do by these claims. Neonates are simply not born with the capacity to cognise and communicate in such a complex way. It is not that the child represents complex information in a different format to language (which has to be learnt later in development) but that the neonate simply does not have the capacity to represent such complex adult information in a meaningful form. It is odd that as the communicative capacity of the child increases (which is indicative of growing complex internal representations and mental models) Mr Ogilvie claims his ability to communicate decreases.
4. Failures to reason about the cognitive states of others:
   
   The late pioneering child psychologist Jean Piaget showed clearly that young children (even of speaking age) have great difficulty in reasoning about the world from another's point of view. This has been taken to suggest that the brain needs to build an internal model of others – or a Theory Of Mind (TOM) in order to internalise the mental states of other people. This is not only crucial for basic perceptual tasks but also high-level cognition such as empathy. If more developed children aged 3-6 years struggle with these tasks, then one can be sure infants/neonates do as well (if it were possible to test them). As neonates have no internal representations of the high-level mental states of others, reading their mind (assuming if it were possible) would not reveal anything about the complex problems between parents, between siblings, and family dynamics. The information cannot be read from the infants mind because the information cannot be represented and thus cannot exist in the infant's mind.

That is very informative. It shows that it's not simply a case of babies not having the ability to verbally communicate their feelings; their brain has not undergone the level of development required to understand or process this kind of information in anyway at all; no matter how it is gained.

This makes Derek Ogilvie's claims that the children in this series are behaving in the way that they do because they are concerned, worried or fearful because of their parents' emotional relationships and issues rather fanciful to say the least.

It also makes it quite clear that any information that Derek comes up with is not coming from the mind of the baby.

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Channel 5's response to criticism.

John Jackson 27^th June 2006.

A few people have complained to Channel 5 about this series for various reasons and they seem to be giving the same response to everyone:

Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding The Baby Mind Reader.

We were sorry to read your comments regarding this programme.

The programme pointed out that Derek "claimed" to be able to read the child's mind; it did not say that he could do so, and the advice which Derek gave was based an a set of facts which he ascertained were true from the parents before he gave it, indeed the parents felt that they benefited from Derek’s input.

Our regulator’s Broadcasting Code permits demonstrations of the paranormal (including mind-reading) which purports to be real after the watershed provided it is treated with due objectivity and does not contain life-changing advice about health, finance, employment, or relationships.

We have logged your comments in the Viewer Enquiries Report, which is circulated throughout the company. Also, your complaint will be noted in the quarterly report to our regulator. Commercial television is regulated in the UK by Ofcom (the Office of Communications).

If there is anything further we can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your interest in Five.

So what are they saying here? It looks like they are happy to broadcast this series as if it was real; however, if anyone points out the fact that their life-changing advice which affects people's relationships is in breach of the regulator's Broadcasting Code they will claim that the programme doesn't purport to be real as they are making no claims regarding Derek Ogilvie's claimed psychic ability.

So there's no claim that anything shown in this series is real - but they'd like you to think it is.

On further enquiries about the legitimacy and appropriatemess of broadcasting a programme like The Baby Mind Reader, Channel 5 issued this further response:

Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding The Baby Mind-Reader.

We were sorry to learn that you found cause for complaint with this programme. As you have already read our responses to previous similar complaints, we wish to re-iterate that the programme is acceptable within the OfCom Programme Code. Our previous e-mails have already pointed out that Derek’s advice was as a result of facts that he has ascertained were true from the parents.

Nonetheless, we have logged your comments in the Viewer Enquiries Report, which is circulated throughout the company. Also, your complaint will be noted in the quarterly report to our regulator. Commercial television is regulated in the UK by Ofcom (the Office of Communications).

If there is anything further we can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your interest in Five.

Yours sincerely

Craig

VIEWER ADVISOR

In other words: we couldn't care less.

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The OFCOM ruling.

John Jackson 12^th December 2006

I have commented on the poor quality of the OFCOM ruling here.

What is worth looking at here, however, is one particular comment made from Channel 5 in defending themselves against using paranormal powers or demonstrations (and telepathy, as in baby mind reading, certainly is a paranormal claim) to give people life changing advice.

Here's what Channel 5 said:

Five said that whilst Derek Oglivie may have claimed that the method he used to discover problems was by “telepathically connecting” with the young children, the advice he gave was based on facts which he had established were true by asking the child’s parents. It was not based on his purported psychic readings. As such, the restrictions on life-changing advice did not apply.

So, the advice that Ogilvie gave to the families was "not based on his purported psychic readings" but was in fact "based on facts which he had established were true by asking the child’s parents".

Well that resolves the issue for anyone who had any doubt as to whether the Baby Mind Reader, Derek Ogilvie, was telepathically connecting to children and acquiring information from them in this series. He wasn't.

Here we have proof, from Channel 5 themselves, that the whole series was nothing but an elaborate sham.

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