Biomedical intervention for autism: Encyclopedia II - Biomedical intervention for autism - History

Biomedical intervention for autism - History

Bernard Rimland, a psychologist and parent of an autistic son, early speculated that his son's autism was the result of a shock to several physiological systems.

Dr. Rimland experimented with eliminating certain kinds of food and found that by eliminating casein and gluten from his son's diet, autistic symptoms were reduced. This gave rise to the notion of the "leaky gut" cause of autism, in which the gastrointestinal walls have been compromised, allowing for incompletely broken down and thereby toxic protein chains to be absorbed into the bloodstream.

Sidney Baker, MD, Maureen McDonnell, and other healthcare practitioners used Dr. Rimland's observations to develop the DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) protocol. While the DAN doctors operate outside the mainstream medical community, they have attracted a growing number of pediatricians, neurologists, allergists, nutritionists, and others to develop and refine their approaches.

In addition, parents are increasingly active in assessing a wide range of approaches to help their autistic children. A large and growing number of online communities are constantly exchanging information and ideas to further the state of biomedical intervention as treatment for autism and related disorders.

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