Further Notes On Alan Griswold's Bizarre Autism Rant

I have to admit I was very startled reading Alan Griswold's bizarre rant about the Deborah Fein study being a "fictitious study" and the intervention involved not being ABA (yeah right 40 hours a week of intensive early behavioral intervention and it wasn't really ABA?) .

I also found it odd that AG would single me out for fame and misfortune in his blog post. (rant). His fellow Neurodiversity blogger Kristina Chew at the Change.org's Neurodiversity page, and with whom I usually disagree, concurred with my interpretation of the word "study" (it means "study" Alan) and IEBI as being ABA:

An ongoing study involving children on the autism spectrum aged nine to 18 is finding that "the range for children recovering from autism is 10 percent to 20 percent." As reported in yesterday's Telegraph, University of Connecticut psychology professor Deborah Fein is studying the effects of intensive behavior therapy---Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)---on children on the spectrum. The study is still in its preliminary stages and is funded by the NIMH:

Of course Ms Chew supports the Neurodiversity ideology Mr Griswold subscribes to so she wasn't on the receiving end of the AG rant. Where I have never drunk from the ND Kool-Aid I was singled out for Mr. G's weird little outburst.

I wonder if Alan Griswold is capable of admitting his errors?

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Fein's Autism Study: Alan Griswold's Bizarre Commentary

Anti-ABA blogger Alan Griswold appears to have consumed too much coffee, before publishing his comment "Harold Doherty's Fictitious ABA Study". In his silly rant, Mr Griswold contends that the study was fictitious, that there is no ongoing study, etc. He claims that I took some words about what he calls a non-existent study out of context from a Washington Post article.

Here is what I said about the study itself in my comment Autism Recovery: More Evidence of ABA Effectiveness :

a study was presented at an autism conference by University of Connecticut psychology professor Deborah Fein showing recovery of between 10 and 20% of subjects originally diagnosed as autistic who were later determined to have lost the autism diagnosis after years of intensive applied behavioral analysis.

The full WP article, in fact makes several references to a study conducted by Professor Fein:

She presented research this week at an autism conference in Chicago that included 20 children who, according to rigorous analysis, got a correct diagnosis but years later were no longer considered autistic ... The study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, involves children ages 9 to 18.

...

The children in Fein's study, which is still ongoing, were diagnosed by an autism specialist before age 5 but no longer meet diagnostic criteria for autism. The initial diagnoses were verified through early medical records.

The WP article also indicates clearly that children recovered after years of intensive behavioral therapy. If the study pertained to an intensive behavioral therapy other than ABA I don't know what that would be and Mr. Griswold does not identify any such therapy.

I am not sure if Mr. Griswold actually read the WP article or not but it clearly indicates that Ms Fein conducted a study as I indicated and contrary to Mr. Griswold's strange commentary.

Despite his tortured interpretation of the WP article the whole point was that it demonstrated, recovery from autism, which in the real world outsdie of Mr. Griswold's blog, is a measure of the effectiveness of the intervention.

Mr. Griswold also mocks the 10-20% results but glosses over the fact that the 10-20% figure refers to full recovery, children assessed as autistic who no longer met the criteria for an autism diagnosis after years of behavioral intervention. The WP article does not state that the other children did not benefit from ABA. It was silent as to whether the children who did not lose their diagnosis acquired benefits short of full recovery.

I did not state that the study as reported was a comparative study with any other interventions. What I did do was refer again to the AAP 2007 comments which appear on the sidebar of this blog and which I repeat again:

The effectiveness of ABA-based intervention in ASDs has been well documented through 5 decades of research by using single-subject methodology21,25,27,28 and in controlled studies of comprehensive early intensive behavioral intervention programs in university and community settings.29–40 Children who receive early intensive behavioral treatment have been shown to make substantial, sustained gains in IQ, language, academic performance, and adaptive behavior as well as some measures of social behavior, and their outcomes have been significantly better than those of children in control groups.31–4

American Academy of Pediatrics, Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2007

File Alan Griswold's blog under B in your blog lists, B for bizarre. But leave room. Any time a study, report, article, analysis or commentary suggests that some children can recover from autism those who have made a fetish out of the neurological disorder will start buzzing hysterically. Griswold's is only one of many such rants' to come.

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Autism Recovery: More Evidence of ABA Effectiveness

It has been a very bad week for the anti-ABA, anti-autism treatment crowd.

Laurent Mottron, Morton Ann Gernsbacher and Michelle Dawson, amongst others, are probably not happy with the latest autism research news out of Chicago where a study was presented at an autism conference by University of Connecticut psychology professor Deborah Fein showing recovery of between 10 and 20% of subjects originally diagnosed as autistic who were later determined to have lost the autism diagnosis after years of intensive applied behavioral analysis.

The recovery story itself is not knew. The highly respected Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh and other researchers and clinical psychologists, who actually work with autistic children, have presented stories of autistic children who have recovered after years of ABA treatment. What is most significant in this instance is the rigour of the analysis which resulted in the initial autism diagnosis and the thorough documentation involved in the study as reported in the Washington Post:

Autism researcher Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of the advocacy group Autism Speaks, called Fein's research a breakthrough.

"Even though a number of us out in the clinical field have seen kids who appear to recover," it has never been documented as thoroughly as Fein's work, Dawson said.

Previous studies have suggested between 3 percent and 25 percent of autistic kids recover. Fein says her studies have shown the range is 10 percent to 20 percent.

But even after lots of therapy _ often carefully designed educational and social activities with rewards _ most autistic children remain autistic.

Recovery is "not a realistic expectation for the majority of kids," but parents should know it can happen, Fein said.

Fein is being responsible in cautioning that recovery will not happen for most children with autism who receive ABA. But that does not mean that it is an all or nothing proposition either. Gains in reducing problem behaviors as in self injurious behavior and aggression, and skill acquisition with ABA use are well documented as noted in the American Academy of Pediatrics Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders report (2007):

The effectiveness of ABA-based intervention in ASDs has been well documented through 5 decades of research by using single-subject methodology21,25,27,28 and in controlled studies of comprehensive early intensive behavioral intervention programs in university and community settings.29–40 Children who receive early intensive behavioral treatment have been shown to make substantial, sustained gains in IQ, language, academic performance, and adaptive behavior as well as some measures of social behavior, and their outcomes have been significantly better than those of children in control groups.31–4

ABA for autism. The evidence of ABA effectiveness in treating autism has grown over the past decade despite the ideological obstinacy of those who condemn ABA. This week that evidence grew yet again.

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Change.org's Straw Man Attack On Autism Recovery

Change.org represents a progressive voice on many fronts but when it comes to children and adults with autism spectrum disorders it has chosen to embrace the regressive ideology of Neurodiversity (ND). The ND ideology is regressive on many fronts, it is inherently undemocratic in that adults with mild versions of autism disorders assert a right to speak on behalf of autistic children they do not know, some of whom are far more severely affected then they, by autism disorders. ND is also regressive in its opposition to cure or recovery from autism spectrum disorders, neurological disorders which impair the lives of many children and adults.

Change.org hired two ND bloggers, Dora Raymaker and Kristina Chew, both of whom subscribe to the "ND, autism can not and should not, be cured" manual. Ms Chew, although she is a parent who has recognized the serious deficits accompanying her own son's autism disorder by having him receive ABA therapy AND at least two autism targeting medications, frowns upon the notion of curing autism or recovery from autism. In "Recovery" from Autism: Fantasy and Reality Ms Chew again criticizes the idea of recovery from autism this time by a critique of The Horse Boy: A Father's Quest to Heal His Son, a recently published account of a father's apparent attempt to recover his son from autism by taking him to ride horses in Mongolia and visit with Shamans. Ms Chew justifiably critizes the bizarre notion that autism recovery could result from such activities. But she is not content to take a well deserved shot at Mongolian horse nonsense. She continues on with a rambling general attack on the concept of recovery from autism:

"I've yet to read The Horse Boy to see what its covers hold so, beyond expressing my reservations about talking about "healing" a child from autism---because focusing on "recovery" from autism twists discussions in endless circles about causes and treatments, rather than about lifelong needs and supports and services---I'll just say that life as some mixture of light and loss and goodness and dark----that has been what our journey with Charlie has been like. There've been many epic moments when I felt I was witnessing about the grandest thing the universe could provide---Charlie riding his bike on a street in a midsize north Jersey town, Jim pedaling proudly behind---and it's all been real, no fantasy, and the result not of magic but of hard work, of sweat, some tears, and love."

Kristina Chew has apparently abandoned the idea that her son with an autism disorder, who has received ABA, pharmaceutical and biomedical treatments for his disorder, will recover from his autism. I can understand the feelings that must bring about as he grows older, as my son is now 13, and realize that he will not be living an independent life. But I can not follow Ms Chew down the path of rejection of the concept of autism cure, treatment or recovery.

Cures might arrive with more research on causes of autism, a subject of which Ms Chew seems to be tired. If a safe effective cure or treatment can help my son in future I will want it for him. ABA was not generally available for Conor in his early years but has become available for him for several years because of determined advocacy by me and my fellow parents here in New Brunswick, Canada, because we had responsive , conscientious government leaders and because we had the assistance of some key academics and professionals who put together a unique program which has helped autistic children across New Brunswick. ABA does not mean recovery for Conor Doherty but it has meant acquisition of some important skills and in particular enhanced communication and reduced self injurious behavior. For some ABA might mean full recovery. For me Conor's gains, although not recovery, are enough to keep my spirits up and my hopes alive.

The studies and professional literature on autism interventions have been reviewed by such agencies as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the US Surgeon General, the NY State Department of Health, the Association for Science in Autism Treatment, the MADSEC (Maine) Autism Task Force and many others and these reviews of the literature indicate by means of various euphemisms, eg. "indistinguishable from chronological peers", that recovery is possible in some instances using ABA. These sources and the method they endorse, ABA, are much more informative than generalizations made from one person's experiences whether it be Kristina Chew's experiences with, and feelings about, attempts by her to recover her son from autism or my efforts with Conor which have resulted in some important gains for Conor, albeit far short of recovery. Because Conor is not near "recovery" though I do not attack the merits of others seeking recovery for their child from autism or the possibility that it occurs.

The Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Inc., which includes Doreen Granpeesheh Ph. D., who has had a formidable career actually helping autistic children recover from the negative realities of autism disorders, now has a blog site on which is posted articles and videos concerning recovery from autism. For examples of recovery, and informed balanced discussion of autism recovery, parents and the public would do well to skip past the anti-cure, ND pages of Change.org and visit the CARD blog site. The CARD people, unlike Change.org, are not ideologically opposed to autism treatment or cure. They have not given up on helping autistic children recover and they are backing up their ideas with action to actually help autistic children.

Recovery, according to some people actually dedicated to, and involved with, helping autistic children, is possible. Cures might be possible in future. Do not let a regressive ideology or one mother's fatigue and pessimism dissuade you from seeking to recover your child.

Avoid the horse and dolphin nonsense, for sure, but seek out credible, evidence based intervention and trained providers for your autistic child. And lobby your congressman or member of parliament to increase funding research into the causes of, and cures for, autism disorders.

Our children with autism disorders deserve our best, unfailing, and untiring efforts.

Do not, out of fatigue or fear, surrender to the ideology of defeat.

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Four Teens Fully Recover from Autism Through ABA

Press Conference and World Premiere Movie.

Los Angeles, CA, April 25, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Four families who were told to institutionalize their autistic children years ago will be honored during the screening of a documentary about their journey to recovery. The four children featured in the documentary were all diagnosed with autism between the ages of 3 and 5, and their parents were told that the children would never be able to have meaningful relationships or even communicate with others. Today, they are teenagers who, through a treatment program with the Center for Autism & Related Disorders, have overcome the bleak prognosis to become active, successful individuals.

Ruffin, Janna, Nick and Brett participate in mainstreamed high school settings, and are exceptional students. They are involved with friends, hobbies and sports. By anyone’s standard, they are typical teenagers. All four children had a formal removal of their diagnosis, exhibiting scores in the normal range in intelligence, language and adaptive skills after treatment.

Their story is told by Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, founder of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Inc. (CARD), the organization responsible for their treatment. She and her staff developed and administered treatment programs for each of the children using Applied Behavior Analysis techniques and documented the children’s’ stories and progress.

Recovered: Journeys Through the Autism Spectrum and Back is a true and inspiring story of four families who were given no hope, one organization which refused to give up, and four brave children who overcame the odds to achieve success. The documentary includes pre and post treatment interviews and therapy sessions.

“Many people don’t believe it is possible to recover from Autism. Our purpose in developing this film is to show that there is reason for hope. These children can learn to communicate, socialize, and play. I wanted to make sure families hear and see that,” Granpeesheh said.

Press Conference & Star Studded Premiere
7:15pm – Friday, April 25, 2008
Pacific Design Center - Lobby - Silver Screen Theater – 2nd Floor
8687 Melrose Avenue – West Hollywood, CA

Available for interviews:
• Four recovered teenagers (3 from Los Angles Area; one from Midwest) + many, many more recovered children
• The therapists who worked with the children
• Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh
• World acclaimed psychologist, Dr. Ivar Lovaas
• Lou Diamond Phillips, Director/Actor/Autism Activist

Contact Information Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Inc
Daphne Plu
818-345-2345 X 270
d.plump@centerforautism.com
www.recoveredautism.com

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