This Section: Autism Treatments: Alternative and Innovative Therapies for the Treatment Of Autism

    For each of these specific treatment pages there will be:

• Links to relevant articles and information on that treatment
• What we think of that specific treatment [written by Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Coordinator for Integrative Psychiatry and System Medicine, Program in Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine]
• What others in the field think about that specific treatment
• What you think or have to contribute concerning your experiences with that treatment [links to the Web-Forum discussions on that topic]

    List of Autism Treatments:

  Assessment of Autistic Children for Metabolic Disorders

  New: Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC)

• Free Scoring Research Instrument from the Autism Research Institute
• Importance of the Need for the ATEC
• Who Can Use the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist
• Benefits of the Data Collected by the ATEC
• Policies and Provisions of this Research Tool
• Direct Access to the On-Line Scoring Web Page
• The Non-Autistic Control Group Study

  Secretin Therapy

• Transdermal Secretin
• Oral Secretrin Study

  Nutritional Therapies and Autism

• Vitamin B-12
• Intramuscular or Intravenous Magnesium
• Gluten and Casein Free Diets
• Pancreatic Enzymes
• Super Nu Thera
• Omega-3 Fatty Acids
• Calcium
• Aloe Vera
• Flower of Sulphur
• Efalex Oil or DHA Oil

  Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments

  Fibroblast Growth Factor 2

  Live Cell and Stem Cell Therapy

• Live Cell Therapy
• Oral Organ Extracts
• Lyophilisate Whole Cells
• Stem Cell Therapy

  Anti-fungal Treatment

• About Candida albicans
• Candida-caused Autism?

  Antibiotic Therapy to Improve Autism

  Naltrexone (NTX) Treatment

  Intensive psychological approaches

  Intensive Educational Therapies for Autistic Children

  IV Immunoglobulin Therapy

  Detoxification for Heavy Metals as a Treatment for Autism

  EEG Bio-feedback

  Somatic therapies

  Craniosacral Therapy for Autism and Other Developmental Delays

  Traditional Chinese medicine

  Play therapy

  Music Therapy

  Immunotherapy

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The Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist The Autism Research Institute (ARI) has recently provided this research instrument and simple Internet scoring procedure as a valid means of measuring the effectiveness of various treatments for autism. The ATEC is a one-page form consisting of four subtests developed by Drs. Bernard Rimland and Stephen M. Edelson. Users of the ATEC may have it scored free (4 subscores and a total score) by entering the responses via computer to the ATEC Form on the website for immediate and free-of-cost scoring. Over the years, researchers have published hundreds of studies attempting to evaluate different biomedical and psycho-educational interventions intended to benefit autistic children, however, much of this research has produced inconclusive or, worse, misleading results, because there are no useful tests or scales designed to measure treatment effectiveness. Thus, a major obstacle in useful autism research has been the lack of a valid means of measuring the effectiveness of various treatments. By introducing the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist, the Autism Research Institute is paving the way for pertinent new research information that has heretofor been unavailable or difficult to evaluate.

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    Autism Treatments in Trials Yet to Be Evaluated

• NIMH Study: "Placebo-Controlled Study of Risperidone for the Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Autism and Behavioral Symptoms".

• Johns Hopkins School of Medicine: "Abnormal Brain Structure: the latest suspect for researchers looking for a cause for autism": Scientists in the US have found that some stunted regions of the brain may be to blame for the most severe symptoms of the condition, while other undersized regions may cause the milder symptoms often suffered by close relatives of autistics.

• A new drug is being used in Europe which may have the potential to help brain-injured children, as well as those suffering from autism, ADHD, and cerebral palsy: Idebenone is a synthetic coenzyme similar to CoQ-10 an important antioxidant found in the fatty membranes around cells and inside the energy transport chains in the mitochondria.
  
  Idebenone is being used experimentally in Europe to treat Friedreich Ataxia, a genetic disorder which causes progressive neurological dysfunction of the cerebellum, spinal cord and peripheral nerves in children and young adults. It has also been used with stroke patients and those suffering from Alzheimers with success. Proponents of the drug claim that it can enhance brain structure and function and improve cognition and learning abilities.