The Never Normal

People like to send me articles about autism. I understand that their motivation is kind, but I’m rarely hearing something I haven’t heard before.

Yesterday I got one from someone which says stuff like: “Generation Rescue parents are successfully treating their children biomedically and removing mercury from their bodies through a safe and proven detoxification treatment known as chelation therapy,” explains spokesgal Anne Purdy.

“Our message for parents is very simple: Autism is reversible,” explains J.B. Handley, one of the organization’s founding parents and father of a son diagnosed with autism.

I answered the e-mail, and this article, with the following:

Thanks for thinking of us. I’ve read a lot of these types of articles.  Unfortunately autism is one of those things where everyone thinks they’ve got it all figured out and nobody really does.  There are always these people who claim you can “reverse” or “cure” autism by doing this or that — providing a special diet, sauna treatments, chelation, medication, etc.

It might work for one kid but there’s no scientific proof that it will work for another.  Jonah’s school has a nice holistic approach that feels right for us.

For me it’s like religion: every group likes to believe they have a handle on the truth.

But you have to do what works for you and your family.