Research suggests children can recover from autism (AP May 9, 2009)

I find it incredibly surprising that the medical field never considered this a possiblity. I find it even more surprising, and apalling, that some STILL will not consider the findings of this reasearch a legitimate probability.

"Doubters say "either they really weren't autistic to begin with ... or they're still socially odd and obsessive, but they don't exactly meet criteria" for autism..."

Realism is one thing, but is an improvement in a child's condition not worth anything? So they may not fully recover. Does that make the fact they get better less significant? If a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who would have needed constant supervision is now able to play independently, interact better with others, is that not a breakthrough? I can't believe that doctors can refuse to give parents, and those children, any hope for a better life... a close to normal life.

So how is anyone to trust any of these doctors, psychologists or special care-providers with helping their ASD-diagnosed child when they don't believe there is hope for them anyway? Can any of them really be sincere? No wonder preschools refuse such children and even children they suspect of having ASD. They feel there's nothing they can do to help, so they just refuse to help.

But here's what they do do. They reinforce in these children poor self-esteem. These children are raised to think that life will never improve for them. Any kind of congnitive therapy will fail if the child is surrounded by such pessimism regarding his odds of improvement and made to believe that any effort towards that will be futile or limited in yield at best.It's sad that they aren't given the option of thinking that life may still work out for them, even if they are different from the rest.

It is even more worrisome that children with mild to moderate behavior issues are also being slapped with the ASD label and given the same dim prognosis by doctors, psychologists, teachers and third party care-givers when clearly their world is full of more possibilities than those suffering from more severe forms of autism.

I wonder how many adults are walking around today, living their lives, working their jobs, growing families, who never got diagnosed with ASD when under current definitions, they should be. I wonder if never knowing they had ASD has made their life any harder or any easier. Perhaps they thought they had a few personality quirks to straighten out and that made it easier for them to bring about positive changes in themselves.

Doctors and psychologists have become so immersed in the science of it all that they have become severly detached from the humanity of it. We are but specimens to observe, study and analyze, practice their theories on and document. Have they forgotten that their purpose is to help improve our lives?