ABA Resource for Parents
Autism Treatment Options
Which Autism Treatment is right for my child?
The treatment of autism is not a regulated industry. This is discussed further in the No Regulation section of this website. No early intervention treatments are regulated, including speech therapy for example. Parents of children on the spectrum who've already undergone various treatments, are typically very passionate about which treatments they believe has improved their child and which ones have been ineffective. As you might expect, the opinions will vary by parent and the gains that one child makes that his/her parents view as substantial, may be viewed by other parents as not overly significant. To further compound the confusion for parents seeking treatment for their child, the various treatment providers will often give you treatment advice and recommendations, sometimes based on scientific data, other times not, and may tell you that their method is probably the best for your child. How do you choose one treatment from the other?
Evidence.
When researching which treatment is right for your child, scrutinize the data that's available for each treatment in order to properly understand its potential effectiveness or lack of. There are a lot of treatment options available that sound really good. Sounding good is not enough when you're talking about the quality of the rest of your child's life. You want evidence that a treatment works. Also consider, that the most substantial gains from treatment are seen when a child on the spectrum begins treatment early on in life. lt's generally accepted, the earlier the better and no scientific data has been produced to date that would indicate that there are benefits to postponing treatment once a diagnosis of an ASD is given. The sooner you find the right ABA based treatment, the better. More information on a child's age at the start of treatment is contained in the Early Intervention section of this website. The components that comprise a credible scientific study are discussed in the Research section of this website. Here are some of the treatments available to parents. Some have been scientifically proven to achieve positive gains, others have not.
Applied Behavior Analysis - Lovaas Model
ABA based treatments for Autism are the only treatments with credible scientific empirical data available measuring and proving their effectiveness. To date, the Lovaas Model of ABA has the most amount of credible scientific data supporting its effectiveness. More information and scientific studies related to Lovaas Model ABA can be found in the Research section of this website.
Applied Behavior Analysis - Denver Model
The Early Start Denver Model is a behavioral intervention for infants and toddlers from ages 12 to 48 months. While relatively new itself as a treatment, it's based on the proven principals of ABA. Initial research data surrounding it is promising. More information and a 2009 study measuring the effectiveness of the Denver Model study can be found in the Research section of this website.
DIR - Floortime
Floortime is one component of the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-Based treatment for Autism developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan in the late 1970s. lt's based on the premise that you follow the child's lead to enter their world and make an emotional connection with them. Unlike most other treatments for ASDs, with Floortime, the child leads the interactions, not the adult. There's limited scientific data to support Floortime as being an effective early intervention for children with an ASD. There's no scientific data available illustrating that Floortime can produce a stronger outcome than an intensive Applied Behavior Analysis program. To date, no controlled clinical trials with children randomly assigned to control groups have taken place to measure its effectiveness. In 2007, Dr. Richard Solomon of the Ann Arbor Center for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics headed a study of a Floortime based program, "Pilot study of a parent training program for young children with autism." One of the primary goals of this study was to see if cost effective treatment programs for children with an ASD, such as the program that his organization provides, "Play Project Home Consultation Program" could produce positive gains in language, socialization and overall behavior. There were important limitations to this study. Much of the data was tracked by parents and almost all of the children in the study were simultaneously enrolled in either an early intervention program or special education.
Speech Therapy
I'd discussed Speech Therapy with doctorate level behavior consultants when constructing this site and they'd stated that Speech Therapy implemented in parallel to an ABA program can be one contributing factor to the gains in speech and language that a child with an ASD will make. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate any scientific research to this effect to post on this website. Speech Therapy exclusively (without intensive ABA), has not been documented to achieve similar types of results for children with Autism, as those seen through an intensive behavioral early intervention such as Lovaas Model or Denver Model ABA; i.e. substantial improvements in socialization and/or IQ levels being achieved.
Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
PECS is a communication system that's most commonly used by children with Autism and sometimes adults that have limited or no speech. There's insufficient scientific evidence available to support PECS as being an intervention for Autism. From a communication perspective, ABA could be thought of as a treatment that brings about communication, language and socialization, whereas PECS helps those that have never acquired language, to communicate through the use of picture symbols. PECS is sometimes used in parallel to another treatment program in order to help facilitate communication (in the absence of speech), but PECS alone is not backed by sufficient scientific evidence that would illustarate that a child can acquire typical speech and language through its usage.
Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children
Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children, or TEACCH, was developed in the 1960s at the University of North Carolina by Child Psychologist Eric Schopler. TEACCH is implemented for Autistic people of all age groups and varying skill levels. TEACCH works off of 3 main components, Physical Organization, Scheduling, so that a student can predict what to expect next and teaching methods with an emphasis on visual cues. While many research studies have been carried out to determine whether or not TEACCH can be an effective treatment for Autism, each have had their limitations and to date there's not enough scientific data to unreservedly consider TEACCH an evidence based treatment option.
Gluten Free & Casein Free
A gluten free/casein free diet, also known as the GFCF diet initially surfaced in 1995 and has been prominent in the media in recent years. The diet's requirement is that you remove all gluten and casein from the child's diet. Proponents of it hypothesize that children with Autism process peptides and proteins differently to the rest of us and that this somehow exacerbates autistic symptoms. The reality is, the effectiveness of the GFCF diet to date has not been backed by a controlled clinical trial with randomly selected children. There's no scientific evidence available to back the claims that some parents have made regarding its effectiveness. Conversely, a 2010 tightly controlled study of 22 children headed by Susan Hyman, associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester concluded that a GFCF diet does not have any effect on improving the symptoms of Autism.
FDA Warning on Chelation Therapy, HBOT and Miracle Mineral Solution
Chelation Therapy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) are all perfect examples of the profitable hocus pocus Autism treatments that market themselves with well crafted claims of being backed by scientific evidence and being FDA approved, when in fact they are not. The FDA is beginning to strongly crack down on each of these. Chelation Therapy is based off of the idea that metal poisoning contributes to the symptoms of Autism. Chemicals are used to remove metals from the child's body. No scientific data is available to illustrate that it has effectively improved the symptoms of an ASD in a child. Conversely, some doctors feel that it's a risky treatment that children should not undergo, particularly given the fact that there's no empirical data to justify the treatment. The FDA calls it dangerous, stating that chelating important minerals needed by the body can lead to serious and life threatening outcomes.
The FDA’s comments on HBOT are as follows, “hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has not been clinically proven to cure or be effective in the treatment of cancer, autism, or diabetes. But do a quick search on the Internet, and you'll see all kinds of claims for these and other diseases for which the device has not been cleared or approved by the FDA.” Regarding MMS, this also is not FDA approved, nor does it have any genuine scientific data illustrating that it has improved the symptoms of Autism. The FDA states, “this product becomes a potent chemical that‘s used as bleach when mixed according to package directions. FDA has received reports of consumers who say they experienced nausea, severe vomiting and life-threatening low blood pressure after drinking the MMS and citrus juice mixture.”
Avoid these garbage treatments at all costs, as well as Clay baths, Coconut Keifer, swimming with Dolphins and running around doing a rain dance with a rubber chicken stuck to your head.