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Autism is a mental condition of abnormal absorption with the self. It is characterized by communication problems and relatively short attention span. Moreover, autistic patients are unable to treat others as people. Early diagnosis as well as treatment is important for young children with autism to reach their maximum potential, and the most important purpose of treatment is to enhance the overall ability of the autistic child to work normally. Autism is treated in various ways including behavioral training and management such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), specialized therapies, and the use of medicines. Some alternative ways of autism treatment are also used such as facilitated communication, chelation, and the gluten and casein free diet (the autism diet), but these are either controversial or less commonly used.
Facilitated communication to treat autism
Facilitated communication is a technique of supported typing used by some educators and caregivers to help people with communication and educational disabilities. In this method, patients of autism are taught to communicate with the help of typing on a keyboard or they can also be taught to point to images, letters, or symbols to convey their messages. Physical as well as emotional support both play an important role in facilitated communication. It can also be considered as a modified form of ABA as it is also based on the principle of influencing a response related to a particular behavior.
Experts have different opinions about the use of facilitated communication to treat autism. Usually, practitioners don't start treatment with facilitated communication. Organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association have specific policies for the use of facilitated communication stating that it is an unproven technique (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 1995). Some are of opinion that it could cause more harm than benefit. People, who are not in favor of facilitated communication, say that the facilitator, who is helping the patient to type, actually work on his own conscious or unconscious thoughts. On the other hand, some people support facilitated communication and report peer-reviewed case studies published in the first half of the 1990s, when the method was popular. Conclusively, it has to be considered that facilitated communication must not be considered as the first choice of treatment. Parents can start teaching their child with better-known techniques such as American Sign Language, picture cards, and electronic tools. These techniques are less controversial and widely used. If other techniques do not work, facilitated communication can be tried.
Chelation therapy to treat autism
Chelation therapy refers to the injection of synthetic solution of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) into the bloodstream to eliminate heavy metals such as mercury, lead, iron, copper, and arsenic from the body. Some people believe that autism is caused by the exposure of mercury in the body as a result of childhood vaccines. Chelation therapy is supposed to treat autism by removing this mercury but it can be dangerous as this therapy can result in serious kind of side effects such as kidney and liver damage. Death of an autistic child after getting a medication error as a result of intravenous chelation therapy has also been reported in the British Medical Journal (Sinha, Silove, & Williams, 2006).
Chelation therapy can successfully be used for issues such as heavy metal poisoning in children and adults, but it has not been approved for use in autism. Rare information about the use of chelation therapy is available in research literature, and there are no compelling evidences for the efficacy of this therapy in autism. Researchers have reported that from 1966 to April 2006, no randomized controlled trials or relevant reviews were found on the efficacy of chelation therapy for autism (Sinha et al., 2006). It is important to consider evidence based treatment options for autism rather than considering chelation therapy.
The gluten- and casein-free diet (the autism diet) to treat autism
The gluten- and casein-free diet is also referred to as GFCF diet or autism diet. It is also considered as one of the several alternative therapeutic strategies for autistic patients. In this therapeutic intervention, all foods having gluten and casein are eliminated from the daily food intake of the child; gluten containing foods include barley, wheat, and rye, and casein containing foods include milk and other dairy products. Some people think that their children are allergic to the ingredients found in these foods and they stop the consumption of these foods by their children. Changes in speech as well as behavior have been reported after using this therapeutic strategy.
Researchers have reported that statistically significant symptomatic changes have been found in autistic children after using this dietary intervention. Particularly, areas of attention, communication, and hyperactivity show improvements. Improved developmental outcomes have also been reported as a result of this dietary intervention (Whiteley et al., 2012). This form of therapy can be started after consultation with physicians.
Chelation therapy and the gluten- and casein-free diet are different from ABA in that both of those strategies involve the use of chemicals and foods respectively rather than working on the behavior of the children.
References
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (1995). Facilitated communication [Position Statement]. Retrieved January 1, 2015, from http://www.asha.org/policy/PS1995-00089/
Sinha, Y., Silove, N., & Williams, K. (2006). Chelation therapy and autism. BMJ, 333(7571), 756. doi: 10.1136/bmj.333.7571.756
Whiteley, P., Shattock, P., Knivsberg, A. M., Seim, A., Reichelt, K. L., Todd, L., . . . Hooper, M. (2012). Gluten- and casein-free dietary intervention for autism spectrum conditions. Front Hum Neurosci, 6, 344. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00344
