Comments on: Dore offers treatment for ASDs – but where is their evidence? And what about the ethics?

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:45:58 +0000

Yes, it is rather sad :(

By: Jemaleddin

Jemaleddin — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:39:43 +0000

Let’s not forget that these “non-drug” treatments aren’t free either. So you’re giving up your time and your money that would be better spent doing something evidence-based. You know, something that might actually help. It’s sad, really.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:38:00 +0000

Thanks for the comments. Yes, it is becoming hard to find any ‘alternative’ treamtent that’s not wonderful for ASDs. I wonder why.

Re. the Bishop study – yes, that’s as close to pwnage as I’ve seen in an academic journal…

By: laurentius-rex

laurentius-rex — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 23:37:20 +0000

Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. (2007) 43, 653-655.

Curing dyslexia and ADHD by training motor co-ordination: Miracle or myth?

D. V. M. Bishop

Dore Achievement Centres are springing up worldwide with a mission to cure Cerebellar Developmental Delay (CDD), thought to be the cause of dyslexia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyspraxia, and Asperger’s syndrome. Remarkable success is claimed for an exercise-based treatment that is designed to accelerate cerebellar development. Unfortunately, the published studies are seriously flawed. On measures where control data are available, there is no credible evidence of significant gains in literacy associated with this intervention. There are no published studies on efficacy with the clinical groups for whom the programme is advocated. It is important that family practitioners and paediatricians are aware that the claims made for this expensive treatment are misleading.

Mr Dore has already got into trouble over his advertising claims of using NASA technology.

http://www.badscience.net/?p=320

That being said, Mr Dore is alleged to be very litigious, I think this is a case for Brian Deer to get caught in the headlights once again.

FWIW I know someone who went to school with Wynford Dore, nuff said…...

The treatment may not be harmful in the way that others are, but harmful to your wallet it certainly is.

Frankly it is a wonder that Harold Levinson has never sued because his cerebellar nostrum surely is a quicker cure than Mr Dore’s :)

I met a guy once who claimed he had been cured of his AS by Dr Levinson, from his obsession with the notion, it was quite clear to me he had not been cured by any means.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:09:18 +0000

Brainduck, I hate to think of all those children wasting time on useless exercises and feeling responsible when they don’t have the promised effects. Also, can’t the advertising standards agency take Dore to task if they’re claiming it as a ‘proven drug-free remedy’? I hardy think an article in a local paper counts as proof.

What is it about autism that attracts the quacks?

By: Brainduck

Brainduck — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:00:26 +0000

Thanks. People have this idea that ‘non-drug’ treatments are harmless. Been there myself for dyspraxia, and spending 15 minutes twice a day for years doing something futile is at best an opportunity cost of time that could have been spent on real life skills or just getting on with living.
At worst it can be a twice-daily concentrated dose of frustration & despair which corrodes relationships, self-belief, and any sense of being ‘acceptable’ as a non-standard-issue human being.
Putting thousands of people through an unproven treatment wouldn’t be acceptable if it were a pill, and just because they are trying to change the brain through practice rather than direct chemistry doesn’t make it better.
They advertise a ‘proven drug-free remedy for Asperger’s’ – but this is the only ASD ‘research’ I can find & it’s far from proven. Misleading the desperate is wrong.