Understanding Autism: Parents, Doctors, and the History of a Disorder by Chloe Silverman

Author:Chloe Silverman [Silverman, Chloe]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: General, Psychology, Political Science, Social Science, Social Services & Welfare, Public Policy, Psychopathology, Anthropology, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Psychotherapy, Child & Adolescent
ISBN: 9780691150468
Google: GMaL41yC1wQC
Amazon: 069115046X
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2011-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

Desperate and rational

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ever, Defeat Autism now! practitioners resolutely see autism as a treatable result of chronic medical conditions. They believe that improvement and

sometimes recovery are both desirable and possible.

An Experimental Community: Biomedicine as Practice

Ari organizes twice-yearly Defeat Autism now! conferences along with

periodic parent or practitioner training workshops in cities across the

United states. Both parents and practitioners attend conferences, rubbing shoulders during sessions, at coffee breaks, and in the exhibitor hal . At the center of the Defeat Autism now! conferences and the broader parent

community that they inspire is the Defeat Autism now! guide, Biomedical Assessment and Treatment Options for Autism Spectrum Disorders. it has grown from a spiral-bound sheaf of suggestions distributed at the first

meeting in Dal as to a commercial y produced manual that parents and

practitioners take home from conferences along with a “syl abus” of the

PowerPoint slides from presentations. Presenters urge parents to share the guide with their children’s doctors.

The Defeat Autism now! treatment method involves an explicit,

though often individualized, set of tests and regimens, which proceed

stepwise through levels of difficulty and sometimes cost. More complex

treatments require monitoring by a medical professional. The first stage

is an elimination diet, removing foods that parents and doctors have as-

sociated with sensitivities in autistic children. two popular diets are the gluten-free/casein-free (gf/cf) diet and the specific carbohydrate diet

(scD). in some cases, a practitioner will feel that a child might do wel

on a diet designed to address an overgrowth of yeast ( Candida albicans) by eliminating sugar, yeast-containing foods, and dairy products. They

may supplement that diet with antifungal medications like nystatin or Di-

flucan. Many parents report that such diets ameliorate typical symptoms

such as “stimming” (self-stimulatory behavior like hand-flapping) and

acting “drunk” or “sil y.” They also improve their child’s level of awareness and visibly result in improved physical symptoms. “His skin is smoother

too—the small white bumps on his cheeks are gone. His fiery cheeks faded

with the diet, but now he isn’t real y red-cheeked at al . . . . We’ve come to realize how sharply his behavior deteriorates when he gets sugar.”43

The second stage aims at repairing metabolic processes through nutri-

tional supplements. Defeat Autism now! doctors speak of an “emerging

Silverman.indb 177

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chapter 5

picture” of the biochemistry of autism. They do not believe that the children they treat have nutrient deficiencies. rather, they use supplements

to promote or “drive” metabolic processes that may be slower or less ef-

fective in children with autism because of problems at multiple points in a reaction. For example, a child might have a functional but slower form

of an enzyme required to metabolize nutrients like vitamin B6.44 These

problems may be caused by oxidative stress, the overproduction of re-

active oxygen species, molecules that can kill or injure cel s. They could also be caused by environmental factors combined with genetic predispositions. in some cases, doctors will also prescribe antiviral medications and treatments designed to support children’s immune systems, such as

intravenous immunoglobulin (iviG). They use these drugs because of

concerns about persistent measles virus infections acquired from vaccines and because of symptoms that seem general y consistent with immune

dysregulation, such as recurring ear infections.

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