Alternative Treatments for Autism

Written by Sheldon Lewis & Linda Sparrowe

Parents of autistic children look outside traditional medicine to alternative treatments for autism, including diet, nutritional supplements, chelation therapy, interactive play, and bodywork.

Nicky's daycare teacher Elise brought it to Kara's attention first. "Your son's not really interacting with the other kids," she told her. Every day when he comes in, two-and-a-half-year-old Nicky must walk a particular path in the exact same way before he can acknowledge anyone in the room, Elise said. He carefully lines up all his toys, always in the same manner, but he never plays with them. He doesn't look at anyone else, but even the slightest noise or a gentle touch can immediately cause him to scream in terror. Doctors soon confirmed what Elise and Kara expected: Nicky was autistic. Their recommendations: speech and occupational therapy, but beyond that, they cautioned, there wasn't much anyone could do.

Kara immediately began learning all she could about autism and discovered that there were, indeed, plenty of avenues to explore and approaches to try. They ran the gamut from changing Nicky's diet to using behavioral modification techniques, from giving him weekly massages and high doses of vitamins to introducing him to martial arts.

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"What I did discover," Kara said, "was that not every therapy works for every kid. And a combination seems to work the best."

More than one disorder

The problem, of course, is that autism isn't any one thing, nor does everyone exhibit the same characteristics of the condition. First discovered in 1943 by Leo Kanner, a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital, autism is a developmental disability that typically manifests within the first three years of a child's life. Four times more likely to affect boys than girls, autism's symptoms include the inability to communicate with and relate to people, unusual or very limited interests, severe gastrointestinal problems, and hypersensitivity to any of the senses. Sometimes autistic children will also exhibit self-destructive behavior.

Around the same time that Kanner discovered autism, a German scientist, Dr. Hans Asperger, identified what he called an "autistic" condition, which later became known as "Asperger's syndrome." People with Asperger's tend to be highly intelligent and very verbal—the opposite of those with "classic autism" who are often nonverbal and socially isolated—and may have a compulsive interest in, and encyclopedic knowledge about, a specific topic or special interest.

Today both conditions are classified as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a header that includes Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) or atypical autism, Rett Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD), and some say Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD) as well.

And the cause is?

Although the cause or causes of autism remain elusive, we do know what autism is not. It is not a mental illness nor is it a behavioral problem of unruly kids, and it does not have a clear-cut, direct genetic link.

In 1964, Bernard Rimland, a psychologist and father of a son with autism, wrote a book, Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior, in which he argued that the condition has a neurological basis. Rimland's thesis almost single-handedly convinced the psychiatric community that autism was a biological—not an emotional—disorder and that viewpoint continues today.

For decades, autism was considered very rare, with only one to three autism births per 10,000. But by the late 1990s, something happened. Autism cases skyrocketed to between 20 and 40 births per 10,000 and are now estimated at between 60 and 80 cases per 10,000 (1 in 166 children) in some states. In the 1990s, while the US population increased 13 percent, autism cases increased 172 percent, according to the Autism Society of America. Some experts claim that this rise in "reported" cases simply means better diagnostic tools and more responsible recording methods.

But others, among them some autism advocacy groups, lawmakers, and healthcare practitioners, suggest that the epidemic is real. And they attribute it to exposure to toxic chemicals and viral infections, problems during pregnancy or delivery, repeated use of antibiotics, particularly in the first year of life, trauma, and a possible link to the heavy metals (such as mercury) found in vaccines. Some statistics suggest that a high percentage of autistic children are born to mothers with Rh-negative blood. Researchers speculate that this may be because the mothers typically receive RhoGAM shots throughout their pregnancy to reduce complications and these shots, up until 1991, contained high doses of mercury.

Is there a cure for autism?

Conventional medicine will say no. Mothers like Krista Vance will tell you otherwise. Her son Jamie, in his first year of life "was walking, had wonderful words, and was very agile and coordinated." A traumatic illness and many invasive procedures later, "Jamie had slipped away from us, falling into a place called autism," she says. Several years later doctors and Jamie's parents have pronounced him cured. While scientists struggle to identify the cause and announce a cure, Jamie and Nicky's families have found more innovative approaches like diet, nutritional supplements, chelation therapy, interactive play, and bodywork to be helpful treatments—often with amazing results. Before embarking on any treatment journey, most parents put their team in place; that is, they found doctors, homeopaths, massage therapists, nutritionists, aides—any advocates whose advice they could trust and who encouraged them to actively contribute to their children's healing.

Kara and Krista offer this advice for other parents of autistic children: Connect with families who are on a similar journey, and never give up. Find healthcare practitioners who specialize in alternative approaches, such as doctors from Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!). And remember that each child is unique, what works for one may agitate another, and just because an option doesn't work right now doesn't mean it won't later on. But most important, learn to trust your intuition. While doctors and researchers can offer invaluable advice based on studies and scientific evidence, you may not have time to wait for the results of such studies when your child is in need. In the meantime, by trial and error (and keeping copious notes on your child's progress and setbacks), you may discover things that help him and other things that make his symptoms worse. In the case of autism, mothers (and fathers) often know best.