Research: Parental Reports on the Efficacy of Treatments and Therapies for their Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

|

Authored by Goin-Kochel, RP, Mackintosh VH, and Myers BJ in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Volume 3, Issue 2, p. 528-537, (2009).

Article summary (posted Dec 18, 2009):

An Internet survey showed that most parents report that autism symptoms improve with drug, educational, and behavioral therapies.

This article reported results of an Internet-based survey of 479 parents of children with autism, Asperger’s syndrome, or pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). Parents reported 50% to 80% of children improved with drug therapy for 9 categories of medication, while 0% to 25% reported their child became worse. The results were different for different medications. Several other therapies were discussed. For example, half of children on a gluten-free dairy-free diet were reported as improved. And 50% to 70% of parents said their children improved with educational and behavioral therapies. Neurofeedback was tried by only 3.3% of families, and only 25% if those reported improvement.

Links:

You can access the original abstract and the complete paper is sometimes available for free via Google Scholar (look for entries that say "PDF" or "HTML" on the right side of the page).
Asperger Syndrome, autism, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), diet, drug, gluten-free diet, medication, neurofeedback, parent, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), therapy, treatment
|