Study Suggests Kids Can Recover from Autism

“Leo Lytel was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. But by age 9 he had overcome the disorder. His progress is part of a growing body of research that suggests at least 10 percent of children with autism can ‘recover’ from it — most of them after undergoing years of intensive behavioral therapy.”

Psychotherapy is most effective when therapist and client have direct, rather than virtual, contact. However, we believe e-therapy in conjunction with periodic direct sessions can be a valuable tool for treatment, for recovery from illness, to bridge isolation, and reach out to hope and healing.

Phone or email our Clinical Director, Dr. Ursula Stehle, and we’ll be glad to tell you more about how our e-therapy sessions work.

A report in the Telegraph (U.K.) about a new study led by Dr. Sheri L. Johnson of the University of California, Berkeley. Actually, the Telegraph’s headline is wide of the mark: the study found that people with a history of manic episodes, not depression, evidence a desire for fameQuoting the abstract from the British Journal of Clinical Psychology:

Objective: Students at risk for bipolar disorder endorse highly ambitious goals. This study examined expectations for the future among people with actual bipolar disorder, versus people with no history of mood disorder and persons with history of unipolar depression.

Methods: One hundred and three students were assessed for Axis I disorders and completed a measure of expected life outcomes.

Results: History of mania, but not history of depression, related to higher expectations of achieving popular fame and wealth.

Conclusions: People with history of mania anticipate great success in domains involving public recognition.

Obama is calling for:

1. Increased funding for research, treatment, screenings, public awareness and support services for autism spectrum disorders.

2. “Life-long services” for people with autism spectrum disorders, as children and as adults. Many parents struggle to find and pay for screening and treatments for their children, but there is even less coverage and capacity for adults with autism-based impairments

3. More funding for the 2006 Combating Autism Act, as well as improving state and federal autism programs.

4. Universal screening for all infants for autism disorders, as well as re-screening for all 2-year-olds. This is the biggie; children are currently screened only if parents or pediatricians voice a concern, so too many children aren’t diagnosed until they enter elementary school. The earlier treatment starts, the more effective it is, and a national screening program would help reduce the number of kids falling through the cracks. It would also be a huge undertaking, at a time when both government and privately insured health care is foundering.

“For children like Alex with autism, social interactions are a struggle. But Freedman is part of a team of researchers at Baltimore’s Kennedy Krieger Institute that has developed a course to help these kids improve their social skills. The program is called Building Up Development of Socialization, or BUDS.”

Dr. Hyman’s editorial concludes: “Autism is a hologram. Through it a 3-dimensional picture of the failure of our current medical paradigm and the promise of a new one has formed. The lessons learned from the dissection of the functional causes and mechanisms of autism can illuminate the path for whole systems medicine and clinical research and the potential for it to address the global crisis of chronic disease. All we have to do is shine the light through the fragments of the hologram scattered at our feet. Then we have to pay attention and act collaboratively socially, politically, environmentally, and personally.”

Here’s the link to Dr. Hyman’s full editorial: Autism: Is it all in the head?

Download brochure.