The autism recovery story

You have seen the autism recovery storyinthemedia. Bloggershavejumpedin too. I was atIMFAR 2009 in Chicago and saw the educational symposium presentation by Deborah Fein that was the stated cause of all the excitement.Butin her presentation, as in her abstract, Dr Fein did not associate the findings she reported with any kind or quantity of autism intervention or treatment. When speaking at IMFAR, she expressed doubt that this in fact could be done.Dr Feinclearly added more information when speaking with the media. She expressed her view that recovery from autism, what Dr Fein calls " optimal outcome, " was associated with early intensive ABA-based autism interventions. Like all researchers, she is free to say what she wishes to the media.However, her statements relating kinds and amounts of intervention to outcomes in autistic children are not supported by any of the data she chose to present at IMFAR 2009, either in heroral presentation or in aseries ofrelatedposters.Indeed her study design does not permit any conclusions about effectiveness of interventions, no matter how " effectiveness " is defined. She has not conducted a true experimental design in which well-known sources of bias can to some degree be accounted for and therefore the effects of interventions, their benefits and harms, can usefully be assessed.In order to claim that conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of interventions in Dr Fein ' s study, as it has been presented, you have to be willing to...
Source: The Autism Crisis - Category: Child Development Source Type: blogs