midnightinchicago
Here are the top ten signs you may be subjecting your autistic to any number of quack treatments.
10. Your treatment center of choice goes bust, owing creditors $1 million dollars.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23881717-948,00.html
9. Your treatment center of choice closes their doors permanently, even though you’ve already paid in advance for $9,000.00 of treatment never rendered.
http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1222764788243000.xml&coll=1
8. The organization to which you take your autistic child for treatment is the subject of a news article entitled “The great autism rip-off … How a huge industry feeds on parents desperate to cure their children”
7. Your doctor of choice has had their medical license suspended.
http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/carley1.html
6. Your your board certified behavior analyst isn’t board certified and is facing theft charges.
http://www.poac-nova.org/newsmanager/news_article.cgi?news_id=397&submit_action=print_article
5. The following is written about your therapy of choice:
http://blogs.sage.edu/education/2008/11/10/applied-behavior-analysis-and-autism-new-online-program/
First published in… Entitled “Ethical Considerations When Asked to Collaborate with ABA “Therapists.”
http://oregonspeechandhearing.org/Archives/Ethical1.asp
“the area of ABA is loosely structured and poorly regulated. Board certification has been slow to catch on and essentially anyone can hang a shingle proclaiming expertise in Applied Behavioral Analysis. In the State of Oregon there are only two “board certified” analysts (BCABA). Parents pay between $75 and $150 per hour for the services of the analyst who provides diagnostic services and designs treatment plans.”
4. State or federal funding for your therapy of choice “is being dropped because it was not producing enough solid results for the money.”
3. The Mayo Clinic says “Parents Urged To Reject Restrictive Diets For Autism.”
2. Your autism therapy of choice doesn’t care which sex it kills:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/Autism/1616
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10003567&nav=menu374_2_2
1. Your treatment of choice blows up with you in it, killing you.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7014993135
Listen people. If there was anything that actually worked to treat or cure autism, don’t you think doctors worldwide would be using it and giving it away dirt cheap? Get with the program, people, and wise up to quack treatments.
And while we’re on the subject of all things health-related, get the flu shot!
Thomas D. Taylor
Co-Creator
MIDNIGHT IN CHICAGO
November 16, 2009 at 3:10 am
Obviously, you don’t have a child with autism. My child is recovering. Doctors don’t want to do it because then they will be considered “fringe.” Only the bravest stand up for the truth. Yes, there are quacks out there. Parents have to do their homework. But autism is treatable. The medical mainstream makes much more profit pushing psychotropics rather than curing anything or getting to the underlying issue. They think horses when they hear hoofbeats, but this disease is a zebra. Expensive? Yes, but the progress has so been worth it.
November 16, 2009 at 5:34 am
I find it interesting — in a disconcerting way — that when some parents who rely on unapproved or disproven treatments are provided with factual information, their first reaction is to use the war cry “obviously, you don’t have a child with Autism.”
Yes, parents have to do their homework but that does not make facts any less factual when a parent decides to put his or her faith in quack therapies and quack treatments.
A number of desperate parents put their faith in Andrew Wakefield’s unproven hypothesis and they continue to do so to this very day. What they fail to admit is that as recently as a few months ago, Andrew Wakefield gave an interview to the mainstream media wherein he made it clear that his unproven hypothesis is merely a theory and nothing else.
That being said, there have been countless studies done by reputable and respected medical researchers and scientists that have to do with mercury, thimerosal, childhood vaccines and Autism. Each time, the findings have been the same — mercury, thimerosal and childhood vaccines do NOT cause Autism.
Dealing with a child on the spectrum does NOT have to be expensive. Yes, it is definitely time consuming but then again, good parenting always is. That’s why parenting is not for the faint hearted.
The Top 10 list in this blog entry comes with links to reputable and respected sources. One can hardly impugn the Mayo Clinic’s reputation especially since they have done considerable research in the area of Autism Spectrum Disorders.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/autism/DS00348
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050110114832.htm
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/jul/27/health/chi-tc-nw-autism-0726-0727jul27
November 16, 2009 at 5:10 pm
perhaps you have a child with autism and you just don’t care. either way i am sorry for you.
November 16, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Hi nobodiesfool. Your comment is unclear. Is your comment intended for the blog’s author or for Haven?
Either way, the MIC blog entries are intended to bring about positive dialogue and to showcase positive aspects of living with differences and/or disabilities.
Personal attacks and slurs are not permitted (ie. “perhaps … you just don’t care.”). Thank you.
November 16, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Midnight In Chicago cares greatly for everyone who has autism, as it does for those who care for autistics.
The blog post was written at the behest of parents who are tired of being duped by quack treatments, and also at the behest of autistics who are tired of being subjected to quack treatments. Such treatments are inhumane, and the more people can spread the world about how inhumane these treatments are, the better.
One of the writers of this blog DOES have a child with autism.
December 10, 2009 at 8:28 am
Firstly I do have a child with autism and I also know plenty of parents that have children on the autism spectrum, I whole heartedly agree with Elyse; “Dealing with a child on the spectrum does NOT have to be expensive. Yes, it is definitely time consuming but then again, good parenting always is. That’s why parenting is not for the faint hearted.”
Never underestimate the power of good parenting.
Julie