The Great Autism Rip-Off ... How a Huge Industry Feeds On Parents Desperate

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The Great Autism Rip-Off ... How a Huge Industry Feeds On Parents

Desperate To Cure Their Children

By Barney Calman in the Daily Mail, UK.

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There is little hope given to parents of children with autism.

Mainstream medicine offers no explanation for the cause of this

life-long learning disability, thought to affect one in 100, and there

are no effective treatments.

Perhaps the most cruel characteristic of the condition, which

impairs communication development and ability to relate to others, is

that children often develop normally until about two years of age,

when they suddenly 'regress', becoming mute, withdrawn, refusing to

make eye contact and prone to tantrums.

Many never take part in mainstream education and some require

full-time care, even as adults.

In the absence of solutions, desperate parents are increasingly

turning to the world of alternative medicine in their search for a cure.

In this burgeoning market, private doctors and clinics have

sprung up across the UK claiming they can treat or even 'reverse' the

disorder.

Recent research published in the Journal of Developmental And

Behavioural Paediatrics found that a third of parents of autistic

children have tried unproven 'alternative' treatments.

Worryingly, the study claims one in ten has used what the

experts class as 'a potentially harmful approach'.

The Blackpool-based mother of seven, five of whom suffer from

ASD, knows all too well the powerful allure of the promised 'cure'.

After the family - including , 24, , 22,

, 20, Luke, 19, , 18, Joe, 15, and Ben, 11 - appeared in the

2003 BBC documentary My Family And Autism - dramatised in the film

Magnificent 7, in which actress Helena Bonham played a

character based on Jacqui - they were inundated with calls from

alternative practitioners.

'You are so desperate in the early stages, you'll try anything,'

says Jacqui.

'I bought enzymes and supplements from America, which cost a

fortune. I even paid thousands for a special mattress, blankets and

pillows with magnets sewn into them that the sales people promised

would do wonders but, of course, didn't work.

'Autism is seen by some people as big business.

'I meet parents who want a cure and spend money in the hope

they'll have a normal child. I try to warn them that there is no

evidence any of these things work, but they'll often go ahead.' Jacqui

and autistic sons

Jacqui with her four sons who all suffer from autism - from

left, , Luke, Ben and Joe

To investigate Jacqui's claims and to discover exactly what is

being offered to parents, I visited five practitioners of 'biomedical'

autism therapies posing as a parent of a three-year-old boy diagnosed

with ASD.

In each case my story - a 'typical' case of an autistic child,

developed with the help of medical experts - was the same: My 'son'

Archie was born on September 15, 2004, after an uncomplicated

pregnancy and birth.

He had all the usual baby vaccines, including the MMR at 14

months, and developed normally until around 18 months old when he

became withdrawn and stopped speaking, refusing to make eye contact.

Our GP referred us to a specialist who diagnosed him with ASD.

I claimed to be seeking help from more 'forward-thinking' doctors.

During my investigation, I was recommended expensive tests,

vitamin supplements and special diets, ointments, suppositories and

injections to 'flush out toxic heavy metals', bizarre-sounding

high-pressure oxygen chambers and intravenous infusions of hormones -

and told in each case that they could bring about a complete recovery

from autism.

Yet medical experts say there is no evidence to support their

claims, and in fact many of the treatments I was offered were

potentially harmful, and even possibly fatal.

The experience left me disturbed at the lack of regulation

surrounding these practices.

The cost of some treatment programmes ran into thousands. Yet

some clinics claimed to have six-month waiting lists.

This week, new legislation aimed at protecting consumers from

'rogue traders' came into force, prohibiting businesses from making

'false claims' that a product is able to cure illness.

Although the practitioners stopped short of saying they could

'cure' autism, each described to me instances of young patients who

had been transformed by their treatments and were able to lead totally

normal lives and participate fully in mainstream education.

The doctors I visited are all linked to the highly controversial

US-based Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) group - a collection of fringe

academics and doctors.

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