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A few days ago I put the word "autism" in my web browser and found nearly 28,900,000 million web sites devoted to autism. I narrowed down the search by putting in "treatments for autism" and the number of hits dropped to 7,880,000. Many of these web sites were commercial and hawked various nutritional therapies, detoxification for heavy metals, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, anti- fungal therapy, antibiotics, EEG biofeedback, somatic therapies, play therapy, music therapy, immunological therapy, numerous medications, intense educational training, sensory integration therapy, applied behavioral analysis (ABA), computer software, books, videos, and web sites. And it's the same story for other neuropsychological disorders.

When parents and other caregivers come to my clinic for the first time they are bewildered if they have done any research or listened to anyone involved in providing services to children with autism or other neuropsychological disorders. During my thirty years of practice I have seen children with autism "treated" by many different therapies and I have seen what works and what does not work long term. (Much of what I have seen is presented in greater detail in my journal, Little Bubba's Not Ready for Nashville Yet: Case Histories of Kids with Autism and Other Neuropsychological Disorders, available on this website.)

We don't know what causes autism. There's little doubt that autism has a genetic component, but that's not the whole story. Something else has to happen in pre or post-natal development for autism to occur. It may be that there are multiple causes for the neurological changes that are seen in the child, usually around three years of age when developmental delays first become apparent.

Autism is a life long condition and, at the present time, cannot be cured. However, there are therapies available that can greatly improve the quality of life for your child and often allow mainstreaming in the school system. Based on my own clinical experience I think these therapies should be a protocol for treating autism.

I work in an early intervention clinic, and certainly the age that a child with autism first presents in my clinic is important. The brain is still being wired up at an early age, and ideally, children with autism and other neuropsychological disorders need to be under the care of a pediatrician experienced in the treatment of neuropsychological disorders. Additional evaluations and treatment by pediatric neurologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech language pathologists, and psychologists are usually necessary as well. (Many kids with autism and other neuropsychological disorders do not make eye contact or follow directions.) Parents often wonder if there is something wrong with their child's hearing. Usually, this is not the case, but children with autism do need a hearing evaluation just to make sure.

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and a handful of drugs are the most effective ways to manage behavior problems in children with autism and other neuropsychological disorders. Parents can contact an ABA therapist in their area for help (Go to http://www.aabt.org/ to locate ABA therapists) or if funding is not available because of the managed care nightmare or shortage of money in the school system, go to ABA4autism.com for help.

Eye contact on command is the first problem you will want to deal with if your child is not making consistent eye contact and seems unaware of what is going on. After your child is making eye contact reliably, then move to following directions. Many children who do not follow directions are also aggressive, have tantrums, or engage in self-injurious behavior when given a direction. The ABA program for following directions can be combined with the ABA programs for aggressive behavior, self-injurious behavior, or tantrums, and run at the same time.

Once you have your child making eye contact, following one-step directions 90% of the time, and have eliminated aggressive behavior, self-injurious behavior, and tantrums, you are ready to start working on your child's developmental delays. And remember--your child often engages in negative behavior just to get your attention. Try to focus on and reinforce appropriate behavior in your child. As appropriate behavior increases inappropriate behavior will decrease. You "reap what you sow" with kids.