please. There are blogs that welcome the “corrupt government” language. The evidence was destroyed? Do you actually believe that?

If you think the reports were destroyed, why are you asking me to find them? Stop wasting my time. I’d like to see what they had to say too. But I don’t want to spin my wheels in conspriacy theory land.

The windmill tilting will continue even if there is a breakthrough. Many conditions that have effective therapies still have alternative medicine groups.

Thanks, yes I am pretty much a “greenhorn” (do you still use that term?) when it comes to this sort of stuff, but by saying it’s a growing condition I’m only referring to the increasing number of children receiving a diagnosis. It’s ‘more common’ in the sense that Sofia’s school, at least, is dealing with far more Autism than they were even five years ago, which, as you say, is probably down to better monitoring of a child’s ‘milestones’.

When Sofia fell short of these markers a very efficient mechanism did, indeed, kick in to work out why, but I’m losing count of how many perfectly healthy friends have said “Well, I didn’t speak properly till I was seven. Should I have been diagnosed autistic?” and that’s actually made me pretty wary of overanalysing our daughter too early, even though I can see that she’s somehow ‘different’. I may be wrong, but I think she’ll learn to cope (and she also loves the flute!)

As for alternative therapies, I’ve read too many positive stories to totally discount diets. They’re unnecessary in most cases – obviously in yours and certainly in mine – but I’m not so sure that every GP is so on the ball. If they were, AoA wouldn’t exist. If every parent felt their Doctors were doing their utmost, AoA would be a voice in the wilderness rather than the effective lobby they seem to be. Chelation & Hyperbaric Chambers may well be insane, but saying AoA is based on a delusion – that authorities are turning a blind eye to the toxicity of 21st century life at the expense of our children’s minds – isn’t going to stop parents seeking answers from them, because only one thing is certain: neither side yet knows what causes Autism.

Until there’s a breakthrough, AoA – and many mums & dads – will continue to tilt at windmills, which is fine until they endanger children in the process. I think we agree that’s just nuts.

In the meantime, thanks for the links. I’m starting on them right now.

I’m a parent of a lovely young lady who just turned 13. She was diagnosed as she turned 3 with ASD, and now holds a diagnosis of PDD-NOS. She’s doing great, she’s in Grade 7 in a private school, and just had her report card. As a proud parent, I’d like to quote a bit to you: “X is a hard working student. She strives for perfection. However, sometimes this translates into a fear of making mistakes. X has become more aware and accepting of the idea that part of the learning process involves making errors. She is very responsible. . . .X is a good math student She seems to enjoy the subject. She has a strong grasp of her times tables which greatly assists here in learning more advanced material. . . X possesses a keen interest in music and her sight reading and performance on the flute show improvement . . . ”

At the time of her diagnosis, she had only a few dozen words. She had lost words. She wasn’t potty trained. She preferred to spend most of her time watching TV, and was highly resistant to change.

She has not been on the GFCF diet, chelation, HBOT, nothing but reasonable doses of regular vitamins and fish oil.

I’m telling you about my child to give you a story to counter the AoA stories. The fact is that there is a great deal of hope for children diagnosed with ASD, particularly today, when a very large fraction of them do not also have mental retardation. And remember, it’s very difficult to properly assess the IQ of non-verbal children (see the work of Laurent Mottron).

You make a few statements that are widely held as popular belief, but don’t have grounding when looked at more closely.

1. ASD is most likely not an increasingly common disorder. It is simply that it is better diagnosed. Many children in the past did not receive a diagnosis because their symptoms were milder than fit the official criteria. Most/all of the rise in the number of diagnoses is due to the broadened criteria. There’s no need to suggest new treatments for a new disorder.

2. Why do you think that non-orthodox treatments (diets and supplements) can work? Proper studies, where the parents and clinicians don’t know which children are receiving treatment have shown no benefit. Yes, there are stories of improvement, but there are also stories (like mine) of improvement without using these things. And science IS looking in more detail at these things. Parents are not being left in a vacuum. If your doctor could recommend any of these alternative treatments, he/she would. The fact that the “authorities” don’t recommend these treatments only means that they haven’t been shown to work. How can they, in good conscience, recommend something that can be expensive and difficult (or even dangerous), and has no evidence of being beneficial?

I know that you are new to this. Please read more widely on this site, and on http://www.scienceblogs/insolence and in the scientific literature http://www.pubmed.gov

If you want to read the crank websites like AoA, be aware that they are trying to sell you supplements, HBOT, chelation, IVIG, stem cells etc. The quacks make a HUGE amount of money off of parents, and they are fighting to protect that.

I’m from the UK with a recently diagnosed four year old. I think some of the ‘alternative’ therapies – i.e. those focussing on dietary changes & non-toxic supplements – can work, but the others are madness. The Tribune article spotlit the flaws in their science, but I don’t believe parents ignore the dangers in search of relief. I believe there’s a valid reason why they’re driven to such extremes. They fill a vacuum created by the failure of authorities to address the expanding nature of the Spectrum with a corresponding expansion in therapeutic approach.

Parents of Autistic kids are in a strange space. Faced with an increasingly common disorder for which there is neither cure nor apparent cause, we are more vulnerable than most to the lure of the unorthodox. In an ideal world there would be a more global, more inclusive approach to Autism treatment that acknowledges the validity of certain biomedical advances and at least tries to regulate them. That it’s down to proactive parents to sift through the quacks to find the cures says everything I need to know about how far we are from that ideal, and how much mums & dads are willing to do to build better futures for their children, most of whom, in the eyes of everyday doctors, are condemned to an Institutionalised adult life before they’re even five.

I can’t blame any parent for refusing to accept that, just as I’m appalled that the current orthodoxy will never guide the vast majority of more passive parents towards the help their kids need.

So, to conclude, I’m not going to slate AoA unconditionally. They’re only symptomatic of a wider problem.

It pains me to see AoA use the idea that there is a potential and possibly significant increase in autism to prop up the same old theories that simply don’t pan out; using the same old numbers that simply don’t add up anymore…