From the Ottawa Citizen:

Deborah Fein, a clinician and professor at the University of Connecticut, is at the forefront of research that suggests 20 percent of children diagnosed with autism may recover. Her work is funded by the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Development. She will be delivering the 2007 Pickering Lecture at Carleton University in Ottowa this week.

While some examples are more dramatic than others, [Fein's] work gives hope to the families who fear the devastating diagnosis means their child will be locked forever in their own world.

The idea that a child can recover from autism, generally considered to be a lifelong condition, is controversial and exciting. “This is the Holy Grail. This is what parents dream of,” said Shelley Parlow, an associate professor in Carleton’s department of psychology and the child studies program in the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Most of the children in Ms. Fein’s research have received Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA, often called Intensive Behaviour Intervention or IBI in Canada). The therapy is an intensive series of highly structured sessions that emphasize compliance, social interaction and language.

Funding ABA was also an issue in the provincial election earlier this month, as parents of some of the estimated 18,000 autistic children in Ontario sought assurances from candidates that the therapy, which costs some families $60,000 a year, would get more funding.

Still, to Ms. Fein and other researchers, the mystery is why a minority of children recover and others do not. It is not ABA alone that results in recovery, she believes. No one knows what the magic key is that opens the lock.

Many psychologists are still dubious about recovery and Ms. Fein also believes in injecting a healthy dose of skepticism. She doesn’t want to give people false hope … “Professionals are very wary of miracle cure claims,” [said Ms. Fein]. “I’m with them on that.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 8:06 am and is filed under autism, education, research news, therapy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post