What Treatment or Therapy Have You Tried Last to Cure Autism?

[Streetwise]

Space is not for the scrawny. Future colonists to Pluto will have to survive famine and donut shortages.

View attachment 56600

how did you manage to say the word shortages after doughnut ?

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

There is no cure. It is merely how the nervous system is wired.

Just use simple, loving, clear statements, avoid unnecessary stimuli, and you'll be ok.

 

[Fino]

The cure is to unconditionally love your child, at which point the Autism will certainly disappear.

 

[Tom]

Donuts mimic one of the most powerful forces in the universe.

Black Hole

 

[Dadwith2Autisticsons]

Dear parents of children with autism:

I am conducting a survey so I can determine factually what works and what doesn't in respect to helping children with autism in any tiny, detectable way. I need honest feedback. Here are a few questions:

Dadwith2Autisticsons: Answers are after the questions.

1) What therapy or treatment have you used last for your autistic child?

When our two sons were each first diagnosed numerous ago with ASD, we tried everything that the traditional doctors recommended, like speech therapy, occupational therapy, feeding therapy, behavioral therapy, etc.

2) What were your initial impressions and expectations about this treatment/therapy?

If it were up to my wife and I we would not have tried anything, after we learned their diagnoses, but the doctors our children saw then formally recommended such, and we were guilted into it by them, with indirect threat we could be doing something wrong if we did not comply. So, we gave everything a reasonable attempt.

We had no initial positive outlook regarding any such treatment as we worried if anything that we could be making matters worse attempting such, after knowing that there was no cure, no widespread medically recommended treatment, seeing possible service provider and doctor agendas involved, or inflexible mindsets, and after hearing negative stories about such therapies and seeing Autistic opinions, too, after some research.

3) During and towards the completion of the administered treatment/therapy, did you observe any significantly noticeable improvement in your child's behavior?

For our oldest who was age four at the time, OT helped a little with regards to his fine motor skills.

Every other therapy produced no benefit for either child or made matters much worse.

4) How long did you use this treatment/therapy?

The therapies last between 2-6 months, with most being set up on a twice a week schedule.

5) Did you use the treatment/therapy only once?

No. See above.

6) Would you highly recommend it to other parents of children with autism? Why or why not?

No. I would not “highly” recommend any of those services, as things could deteriorate using any of those services based on our many experiences, and be wasted time for all involved at the least, for most of the items mentioned.

For feeding, speech and occupational therapy issues, I am neutral about whether I would even slightly recommend services, as it would depend on the therapist and their intentions or agendas, the specific situation involved, and what the Autistic person and/or caregiver thought, and after them researching those therapies, not just through service provider and doctor sources, but other sources.

Also, it would also depend on what their expectations were, and how reasonable they were. If the goal was to cure or fix things that cannot be changed, I would recommend no such services. If, however, there is a physical OT, feeding, or speech issue that truly could be helped by any therapy, I am ok with reasonable attempts, if all are on the same page.

I do not believe though in dragged out care, set up to make others rich, nor do we believe in trying to change those with ASD to be like neurotypicals. Doctors, service providers and some charities are dreaming and out of touch with reality there. We do not believe at all in behavioral therapy for ASD. We believe in behavioral therapy to be administered on some doctors though.



I truly appreciate your taking the time to complete this survey.

 

[Schism]

Remember when you have met one person with autism, you have met just one person with autism.

Love that line. Spot on.

 

[Starfire]

I am, quite often these days.

I can also confirm that alcoholism and drug addiction tried fastidiously and in various combinations over 35 plus years, sadly does not cure autism. If it did work I can assure you I would have found the cure, god knows how hard I tried but despite all my scientific efforts, alas I’m still not cured.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

I can also confirm that alcoholism and drug addiction tried fastidiously and in various combinations over 35 plus years, sadly does not cure autism. If it did work I can assure you I would have found the cure, god knows how hard I tried but despite all my scientific efforts, alas I’m still not cured.

I do suspect you are somewhat of a lightweight.

Considering you're from my area of the country - approximately -

You should be ashamed that your drinking has not provided a cure.

Please try harder.

(That said I'm a complete hypocrite )

 

[Starfire]

The drinking was just a sideline admittedly, I was going for the IV heroin and cocaine ‘autism cure’ washed down with Special Brew or Tenants Super.

I think @Bolletje must be the lightweight starting at 8am . I used to be standing outside the chemist waiting for it to open to pick up my methadone at 8am after already having had a shot or two to get going and a few vodkas for breakfast. That was before the active chaos of living that lifestyle and the madness that went with it.

I really couldn’t have tried any harder Fridge!
I gave it my best efforts.

So my advice to parents is don’t give your children heroin, methadone, cocaine and strong alcohol in a search for an autism cure, I guarantee it doesn’t work in any combination and will in fact make things much, much, worse!

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

The drinking was just a sideline admittedly, I was going for the IV heroin and cocaine ‘autism cure’ washed down with Special Brew or Tenants Super.

I think @Bolletje must be the lightweight starting at 8am . I used to be standing outside the chemist waiting for it to open to pick up my methadone at 8am after already having had a shot or two to get going and a few vodkas for breakfast. That was before the active chaos of living that lifestyle and the madness that went with it.

I really couldn’t have tried any harder Fridge!
I gave it my best efforts.

So my advice to parents is don’t give your children heroin, methadone, cocaine and strong alcohol in a search for an autism cure, I guarantee it doesn’t work in any combination and will in fact make things much, much, worse!

What were you eating?

If it's a stottie or a Gregg's pasty the experiment could never have worked.

You'll have to start again.

 

[Starfire]

What were you eating?

If it's a stottie or a Gregg's pasty the experiment could never have worked.

You'll have to start again.

I wasn’t eating much, and it was definitely nothing from Greggs more likely a church soup kitchen or free food from the Harikrishna‘s who were always kind and generous.

As for starting again no thanks! I went down that road as far as I could go and it nearly killed me, literally! I’m no saint but I’m not where I used to be and I’m not going back.

There’s actually a lot of research on people on the spectrum with addictions, it appears we’re extremely susceptible and approximately twice as likely than the general population to develop an addiction to drugs or alcohol.


People With Autism Aren’t Protected From Opioid Addiction. They Might Be at Higher Risk.


Autism and alcohol | Network Autism


Can studying autism also yield clues about addiction? - Vital Record


https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/medi...7-10-explores-drug-abuse-addiction-autism.amp

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

I’m no saint but I’m not where I used to be and I’m not going back

Glad to hear it

 

[tree]

From what I see so far in this thread, approximately 3/4ths of the replies to the OP
have chosen to use humor (sarcasm, satire, parody) to answer his questions.

Humor or irony can be informative, but can also be misused or misunderstood.

Please give the OP your best consideration in any further responses to this thread.

 

[Shamar]

From what I see so far in this thread, approximately 3/4ths of the replies to the OP
have chosen to use humor (sarcasm, satire, parody) to answer his questions.

Humor or irony can be informative, but can also be misused or misunderstood.

Please give the OP your best consideration in any further responses to this thread.

I agree with tree. I will admit that in my reply I used sarcasm (actually, more like black sarcasm) to make my point, but at least I was trying to be informative. A few replies after that and the thread descended into pure mockery. There is a good chance that the OP was sincere in the question, and is the uninformed parent of an autistic child desperate to do something. What must that person think of us at this point? I never thought I would say this, but I am actually embarrassed to be a part of this. This seems more like the kind of NT behavior making fun of us that we have all experienced. I enjoy humor and silliness as much as the next person, but it was not appropriate in this case, at least not to this level. We are a showcase to the world for autism. Let's show the world the insight and maturity that we are capable of.

 

[Progster]

My 'treatment' would consist of my staying at home alone and not working or going out, not socialising.

 

[Bolletje]

I descended into sarcasm mode over the mention of a cure. That might have been a little childish of me. Although to be fair, alcohol and narcotics are truly things that make me feel more “normal”, so I wasn’t completely lying.

 

[Starfire]

I agree with tree. I will admit that in my reply I used sarcasm (actually, more like black sarcasm) to make my point, but at least I was trying to be informative. A few replies after that and the thread descended into pure mockery. There is a good chance that the OP was sincere in the question, and is the uninformed parent of an autistic child desperate to do something. What must that person think of us at this point? I never thought I would say this, but I am actually embarrassed to be a part of this. This seems more like the kind of NT behavior making fun of us that we have all experienced. I enjoy humor and silliness as much as the next person, but it was not appropriate in this case, at least not to this level. We are a showcase to the world for autism. Let's show the world the insight and maturity that we are capable of.

As presumably I’m one of the guilty let me try this another way.
If this person is the parent of a child I find the wording and phrasing of the original question very strange “what treatment or therapy have you tried last to cure autism?”

Firstly, when I was diagnosed the first thing I was told was there is NO cure for autism it is a developmental condition blah blah. I was also given an information pack which reiterated brain wired differently, NO cure but this condition shouldn’t stop you leading a full life etc.

When my child was diagnosed she was told you are on the autism spectrum, you will have it for life, there is no cure, but you can still lead a full life etc etc. She also received an info pack similar to mine but for kids with phone numbers etc.

The point is everyone seems to be told it’s a life long condition with no cure one way or another. Even a cursory search on the internet will come up with the same thing, there is no cure, nor is there ever likely to be one! The one thing I would guess that the parents of most autistic children do is research, research research. The things research points to are strategies, techniques and maybe ‘therapies’ such as ABA however what they all have in common, is there is no cure. So baring all this in mind why would you come here to ask parents about the latest treatment or therapy they used to try and ‘cure’ their child?

They also wrote -

I am conducting a survey so I can determine factually what works and what doesn't in respect to helping children with autism in any tiny, detectable way

No mention of my son or daughter nephew or niece etc. Any information like that would have been helpful but the OP didn’t make an introduction post. Also how can one recommend a therapy or treatment to others? Every child is different and what one child may find beneficial, may drive another to total meltdown!

I have no problem trying to help parents but I don’t appreciate how this was gone about it doesn’t seem right to me.

 

[Starfire]

I descended into sarcasm mode over the mention of a cure. That might have been a little childish of me. Although to be fair, alcohol and narcotics are truly things that make me feel more “normal”, so I wasn’t completely lying.

I completely agree with this, it is also how I’ve tried to be and feel more ‘normal.’ We are not alone in this either, far from it in fact which is why I provided some links, I could have provided a lot more.

 

[Streetwise]

As presumably I’m one of the guilty let me try this another way.
If this person is the parent of a child I find the wording and phrasing of the original question very strange “what treatment or therapy have you tried last to cure autism?”

Firstly, when I was diagnosed the first thing I was told was there is NO cure for autism it is a developmental condition blah blah. I was also given an information pack which reiterated brain wired differently, NO cure but this condition shouldn’t stop you leading a full life etc.

When my child was diagnosed she was told you are on the autism spectrum, you will have it for life, there is no cure, but you can still lead a full life etc etc. She also received an info pack similar to mine but for kids with phone numbers etc.

The point is everyone seems to be told it’s a life long condition with no cure one way or another. Even a cursory search on the internet will come up with the same thing, there is no cure, nor is there ever likely to be one! The one thing I would guess that the parents of most autistic children do is research, research research. The things research points to are strategies, techniques and maybe ‘therapies’ such as ABA however what they all have in common, is there is no cure. So baring all this in mind why would you come here to condand ask parents about the latest treatment or therapy they used to try and ‘cure’ their child?

They also wrote -



No mention of my son or daughter nephew or niece etc. Any information like that would have been helpful but the OP didn’t make an introduction post, this ‘survey’ is their first post I believe. Also how can one recommend a therapy or treatment to others? Every child is different and what one child may find beneficial, may drive another to total meltdown!

I have no problem trying to help parents but I don’t appreciate how this was gone about it doesn’t seem right to me.

What depressed me about it was it in the run of the mill negative tone ,it’s the usual autism is different in a bad way ,we must change it ,strange to ask autistic people ,i’m amazed they didn’t just stay with autism speaks .

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Dear parents of children with autism:

I am conducting a survey so I can determine factually what works and what doesn't in respect to helping children with autism in any tiny, detectable way. I need honest feedback. Here are a few questions:

1) What therapy or treatment have you used last for your autistic child?

2) What were your initial impressions and expectations about this treatment/therapy?

3) During and towards the completion of the administered treatment/therapy, did you observe any significantly noticeable improvement in your child's behavior?

4) How long did you use this treatment/therapy?

5) Did you use the treatment/therapy only once?

6) Would you highly recommend it to other parents of children with autism? Why or why not?

I truly appreciate your taking the time to complete this survey.

The best cures for Autism are:
[DATA EXPUNGED]
Lemme try that again. The best cures for Autism are:
[ERROR 404 "Autism Cure" NOT FOUND! STOP TRYING TO LOOK FOR SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T EXIST!]

Whelp, looks like there are none.

However the best and most effective treatments for Autism are:

• Love
• Compassion
• Humane Treatment
• Hugs (if desired)
• Letting Patient Decide for Themselves
• Acknowledging Patient as Another Human Being
• Giving Patient a Good Life
• Giving Patient a Chance of Life