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Are There Any Cures for Autism?

Autism is a complicated neurological disorder than results in language and social interaction deficits. Autism can range from relatively mild to quite severe. The Mayo Clinic asserts that there is no cure for autism, but early interventions and therapies can greatly benefit children with autism.

  1. Speech and Language Therapies

    • Children with autism can improve their communication skills with the help of speech and language therapy. Often, these therapies teach the children how to communicate in common everyday scenarios. Also, speech and language therapies can help autistic children grasp abstract concepts and understand words that describe time and space.

    Educational Therapies

    • Children with autism respond best to highly structured educational environments and programs tailored to their individual needs. Educational therapies should involve collaboration between parents, regular classroom teachers, special education teachers, speech language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and counselors.

    Medications

    • Medications will not cure autism, but they can help deal with some of the symptoms. Autistic children also often suffer from ADHD and may need medication to counteract ADHD symptoms. Some autistic children benefit from antidepressant medications and anti-psychotic medications to control undesirable behaviors.

    Diet Therapy

    • While irrefutable evidence does not exist to support the success of diet therapy, many parents of autistic children use special diets to treat their children. These diets often exclude products containing gluten, yeast, probiotics and casein. Also, supplements such as vitamins A, C, B6 and B12 may be given. In addition, magnesium, folic acid and omega-3 fatty acids may also be given. Anecdotal evidence has shown some success when removing gluten and casein for an autistic child's diet.

    Other Therapies

    • Some parents and physicians have used chelation therapy to treat autism. However, this therapy which aims to remove mercury from the body has not be proved to be safe or effective. Other parents have some success with creative therapies involving art, music and sensory integration activities to treat autistic children.

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