If I am told by a non-specialist—like a DAN doctor—that my regular doctor or my specialist “doesn’t understand” what he/she is doing, I am out the door. Fast.

“Seriously, the basis for biomed and DAN is nutrition”

Is chelation “nutrition”?

Is lupron “nutrition”?

Are antifungals “nutrition”?

Is IVIG “nutrition”?

Is HBOT “nutrition”?

The answer to the above is all “no”.

Have I seen evidence of alternative medical practitioners prescribing megadoses of supplememnts—well beyond the need to balance a measured deficiency? Yes.

Are there any real studies which can allow me to judge what the adverse reaction risk is to the therapies offered? No.

My daughter used to head bang – she no longer does. My daughter used to run into the road – she no longer does. My daughter used to wake during the night – she no longer does. My daughter used to have no verbal communication – she now communicates efficiently, my daughter used to ignore other children, she is now interacting. My daughter started at a special needs pre-school and is going to attend main-stream school.

All of the above without a single DAN practitioner or BioMed treatment in sight. All of the above without risk to my child.

So your point is?

I’m delighted at the improvement that your son has shown, I’m just not convinced in the slightest as to your reasons for this improvement.

As for me being ashamed of myself. I’m not. I fully accept my child for who she is. I have never put her at risk by using unrpoven methods or “remedies”. I have worked hard using education and proven therapies to help her to develop to the best of her ability but I also understand that above all I want her to be happy and not to feel pressured in any way by other people’s expectations of what a child should be.

So I can rejoice in your child’s progress while remaining unconvinced by the reasons you give for his success.

Well said, Mike.

As a toddler my child was non-verbal, had chronic ear infections and disordered sleep patterns. He learned to speak, his health settled down and he went to school. He was bullied by pupils and misunderstood by his teachers. He had terrible tantrums and rages. He suffered from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder and stopped going to school.

With guidance and counselling we weathered the storm. He has graduated from college with a foundation degree. He is active in the community, has a driving licence and an active social life. He has friends and is seeking work in his chosen profession.

So we also have proof; proof that autistic children develop and make progress over time. What we do not have is proof for the reasons why this happens or why some children make more progress than others.

My child’s progress without biomed does not prove that biomed is false. Your child’s progress with biomed does not prove that biomed works. Proof depends on science properly done, not our anecdotal evidence. So far the record is not good. Every time independent scientists look at the science behind the biomedical movement in autism that science is found wanting.

So I can rejoice in your child’s progress while remaining unconvinced by the reasons you give for his success.

I’ve known autistics who’ve graduated from college without any help from a DAN! practitioner. They’re not automata, after all. They’re capable of learning. They just have to go about it the hard way. It’s sad that some people don’t believe that, and rip the credit for their achievements away from their own children and ascribe it instead to a therapy which cannot plausibly do anything helpful at all.

Precisely.

There are a number of autistic adults online who have attended and or graduated from college. It is pretty clear that they didn’t get the full “biomed” approach, as it is a fairly recent approach.

I could introduce Andrew to a number of children who would be considered “recovered” who were not “treated” with biomed. There are numerous examples of non-recovered children who have been given the full gamit of biomed. Does biomed help recovery? Does it hurt? That’s the real question. Read the online groups for any length of time and you will see numerous examples of bad reactions to biomed. If alt-med doctors want to throw darts, they can find a different dart board than my kid.

Or in other words, if you feel the need to abuse people who are questioning your reasoning – your reasoning is questionable, and you need to face that fact. And thank those courteous and caring enough to point it out to you – for most will simply shrug and let you proceed as you are, without much care as to where you and your child might end up.