Biomedical intervention for autism: Encyclopedia II - Biomedical intervention for autism - Conceptual foundations

Biomedical intervention for autism - Conceptual foundations

The premise for biomedical intervention is that at least some autistic children have in fact been made sick in a way that prevents their nervous system from functioning properly. They have great difficulties sorting out sensory impressions and are prone to hyper- or hyposensitivity to impressions from their sense of sight, hearing, smell, touch, propreoception, or balance. Since they spend all their energy seeking or avoiding sensory input, they have no mental, emotional, or physical energy left to learn some of the most complex aspects of human life.

Most parents and some medical professionals believe that the aggressive schedule of vaccinations early in life are the cause for the illness that underlies autism. While different children may have differing sensitivity to the vaccination material, it has been noted that autistic children often show evidence of mercury poisoning, viral infections in their gut, and an abnormal level of antibodies against the relevant viruses in their blood.

Others agree that some kind of environmental shock made the children sick, but are uncertain whether vaccinations are the culprit. Much-criticized studies indicate a lack of correlation between vaccination and autism, and most physicians are dismissive of such causality.

What proponents of biomedical intervention have noticed, is that autistic children:

• Are consistently compromised in three essential systems:
  • Gastrointestinal, in that they tend toward constipation or diarrhea and often have abnormal cravings for certain kinds of food
  • Immunological, in that they are prone to allergies, migraines, and react abnormally to infectious diseases
  • Neurological, in that they are consistently hypo- or hypersensitive to sensory impressions
• Generally improve in all three systems with a restrictive diet
• Will present with regression if there is an infraction against the restrictive diet

The working hypothesis is that autistic children often have a "leaky gut" that allows compounds into the bloodstream that are fully broken apart in typical children. Parallels have been drawn between autistic children and patients with celiac disease and other gastrointestinal disorders.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Conceptual foundations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki