Research Concludes Behavior-Based Interventions Are The Most Effective By LARA SALAHI April 4, 2011
Shannon Penrod, 48, of Saugus, Calif., could feel a change coming over her son Jem Miller. By the time he was two, parts of his speech gradually began to disappear. In just a few months, what started as, "Mama what are you doing?" turned to "Mama, what doing?" Then he retreated into silence. "He didn't even acknowledge me in a room or seek me out," said Penrod.
Within six months, Jem was diagnosed with autism, a disorder characterized by withdrawn social and behavioral skills. "Autism was like a thief coming into the night and stealing pieces of my child," said Penrod. "Something in him seemed like it was just going away." While Jem's deteriorating language skills and apparent emotional separation from his family was hard to bear for Penrod and her husband, learning about Jem's diagnosis was not the hardest part, she said. Finding the right treatment was.
While there is no cure for autism, there is no shortage of purported treatments to manage the range of symptoms associated with the wide spectrum of the disorder. And, like Penrod, many parents of newly diagnosed children find themselves inundated with overflowing and at times conflicting treatment recommendations.
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