Do You Believe Autism Can Be Healed or Prevented?

April 5, 2009

While Autism Awareness Day, teaches the public about the developmental disorder, Jenny McCarthy has been vocalizing her thoughts publicly and on paper since her son, Evan, 6, was diagnosed at the age of two. in her latest release, Healing and Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide, the advocate talks about the causes of the developmental disorder and how she has helped her child heal. She coauthored the text with Evan's pediatrician, Dr. Jerry Kartzinel, who also has a son with autism.

15 Comments

3 years 39 weeks

Whats cure mean? Lets say you have two year that regressed into severe autism. The child LOSES ALL language. You can't make them look at you or anyone anymore. They stop playing with ALL toys. They won't look at a book. They have terrible drop down tantrums that last for an hour. They hit and bite themselves and others without warning. They are oblivious to animals. They don't feel pain. They have terrible gastrointestinal problems and NEVER have a normal stool. They refuse to eat almost all foods. They develop numerous food allergies almost overnight.They do not like to be touched or held and do not acknowledge the existence of other people in any way. You start aggressive biomedical treatments with a defeat autism now doctor. You implement a high dose vitamin and mineral regime, probiotics-200 billion cells a day. subcutaneous b-12, reduced glutathione, allergy shots, cod oil. After the child's healthier you start chelation with DMSA and ALA under your doctors supervision. You (after 8 months of waiting for available services) start speech and occupational therapy. Two years later you have a healthy, verbal, happy cuddly little boy that feels pain normally, has normal stools- still doesn't like the dog but is completely in the here and now and loves imaginary play with his star wars figures and playing with his sister and his parents. Is he cured? I don't care to mince words- but that kid is my son and he is living testimony on the value of the D.A.N protocol. He has surpassed every single professional he has worked withs. expectations, teachers, therapists, all of them. PS-Most autism is actually VACCINE INJURY.

4 years 2 weeks

How truly SAD for all of you who have given up hope for your truly "gifted" or Autistic children. You are all waiting for the world to hand you a cure for what you see as a problem in your life....DON'T BE MAD, just read this. I am a single parent of 2 kids. BOTH my daughter and son are Autistic. I understand and feel your pain and frustration. I have lived it daily. My daughter has moderate Autism, and my son is severe, and has placed into a group home. I have found with my son, I can get him to very easily transition from a favored task to an unfavored task. While making eye contact, I tell him, " I know you like to play on the computer, and this makes you feel happy. It would make dad very happy if you would (take a shower)or whatever task I need him to transition to. People think an Autistic child's brain is damaged...it is not! I believe part of an Autistic persons brain (called the pleasure center) is not functioning as it should. This may be caused by issues with the body to produce endorphins. This helps to regulate the brain, thus telling the body it is happy or unhappy. When an Autistic person is unhappy, their body reverts back to infant stage, of body thrashing, screaming, and crying. This is a built in defense mechanism, to bring attention to the person. What we are being told simply is: I AM NOT HAPPY. I WANT TO BE HAPPY. No rational reasoning will work in this case. WHY? Because you are not dealing with a normal mind, but a gifted mind. What does it feel like when an Autistic person is unhappy..? Try to imagine having no control of your body, and your mind feels like it is tumbling in a dryer. (very similar to say a Morphine or possibly Opium withdrawal) STOP trying to make your gifted child FIT into society. Instead find out what their likes and passions are. Encourage these always... My ex-wife told me she had a fear that our 14 year old daughters new High School may not be able to prepare her for a job someday....my very simple solution. I asked my daughter to close her eyes, and tell my 5 things that make her happier than any other things in this world. From this I was able to find 5 professions my daughter would have passion for. (she wants to be a pastry chef or a veterinarian). I then asked her what her 5 biggest fears were. Quite simply was too much homework, and having to re-do homework many, many times. You stress out the mind that way. I do not think that is successful teaching. Repetition without further guidance, or mentoring is a waste of time. My son has an intense passion for computers, and has been called the next Bill Gates. Lookout world, because he is coming. My son will succeed in this world, and I will help to show him the way, and when needed protect him from society. Rember that an Autistic mind does NOT like anything negative or NO words. Just simple validate their need, but redirect with what you as the parent need to happen. (refer to my wording above). My Best to All, patrick FERGUSON

4 years 6 weeks

I wish that austim will be prevented. If we can prevent it, a heal is not needed.

skigurl 4 years 6 weeks

if a child is misdiagnosed with autism and then subsequently healed, he or she is not actually healed, rather is re-diagnosed with what they ahd in the first place!

CaterpillarGirl 4 years 6 weeks

I believe that certain types of autism can be cured through nutrition, therapy, etc. And its not like "curing" downs syndrome, DS is a chromosomal issue. so i dont understand that comparison at all.

KAEB06 4 years 6 weeks

I am a firm believer that you can "recover" a child from Autism. A great analogy is that you can suffer an injury...even though you've healed from that injury you can still have good days and bad days, that to me is recovery. I've seen it happen and I know, with just the steps we have taken with my son, that we'll see the same outcome.

Sarana 4 years 6 weeks

I think misdiagnosed children can be "cured" and I think that is what happened to McCarthy's son. I think this huge epidemic of autism is partly because many children are being misdiagnosed.

Lukin 4 years 6 weeks

I don't think it can be completely cured (yet, anyways), but I do think that there are treatments that really help children "improve."

sarahinparis 4 years 6 weeks

I have seen McCarthy on TV and was really offended by how she presented what she had to say. She basiclly said that parents needed to be proactive about finding a cure for your child. I felt that she was saying that if you child has autisim, its up to you to find. Its almost like she is saying that its the parent's fault if the continues to have symptoms of autisum. My child does not have autism, but I have a very good friends who's brother has sever autism. His parents moved across the country in the 80s to provide the best treatment that they could, but he cannot be cured. I do think some children are probably misdiagnosed, so they might be "cured", but for truly autistic children, I do not believe they can be "cured" or "healed". That being said I do think there can be effective treatment that will help these children function more "normally".

lickety split 4 years 6 weeks

prevented yes. cured NO. my oldest is severely autistic and i can tell you, autism is brain damage. there is no cure from a brain injury. if someone has a stroke, or another traumatic brain injury (TMI) some can regain skills, to varying degrees, but the damage is done. i do think that at age 6 you can teach a child enough "parlor tricks" that you fool yourself into thinking the child is recovered. and i've seen this. there was a boy that went to my daughters school who was taught to respond as follows; how are you: "i'm fine thank you", what is your name: "my name is bob", did you have a nice day: "yes i had a nice day". but if you asked the child "what did you like about your day?" he had no idea what was being asked, it was a script. life is not lived in scripts. when her son is a little older she'll see what the truth is. he may be better than he was when he started his therapy, but he is far from typically developing and easy to pick out in a crowd. there is no recovery from autism.

mhg 4 years 6 weeks

i wish it was as simple as jenny mccarthy makes it seem. my little guy is on the spectrum too and we've tried everything. implicit in the title of this book is that if my son's not cured, then i'm clearly not doing something right.

iieee_grrl 4 years 6 weeks

My son is on the Autism spectrum, and while I believe that we can use OT and PT to help make adjustments so that autism doesn't effect the children and adults as severely, I don't believe it can be "cured." Sure, you can mask, hide, or adapt the symptoms, but that doesn't eliminate the disease. Personally, I think Ms McCarthy is giving a lot of false information - both on the "causes" and the "cures" of autism that could be dangerous and potentially emotionally heartbreaking to parents - parents of autistic kids have to be realistic and she gives a lot of false hope.

4 years 6 weeks

With therapy, Autism can be managed and children can greatly improve, but it cannot be "cured" and there is no real treatment, just finding the best types of therapy for the child.

lilegwene 4 years 6 weeks

Depends on the child. I've seen children with autism who are severely mentally and physically handicapped, and I think there is little to be done in some of those cases. My cousin has autism and it is manifested in an inability to express (possibly feel) emotions, extreme shyness, and obsessive compulsive behavior (including pulling out all of her hair). She has made leaps and bounds since being diagnosed.