Autism, Brain and Environment

From holding therapy to secretin, from facilitated communication to swimming with dolphins, the world of autism has long attracted promoters of miracle cures, and desperate parents and their children have suffered the consequences. The current vogue in the United States is for a range of “biomedical” investigations and treatments, including exclusion diets, courses of anti-fungals and antibiotics, and chelation therapy. Just like purveyors of earlier, long discredited, cures, advocates of these methods can readily provide moving testimonies for their benefits. But there is no coherent scientific rationale for …