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| ABA, the Treatment of Choice |
In contrast, pseudoscience tries to lend credibility to beliefs, speculations, and untested assumptions by making them appear scientific - for example, by using scientific jargon, endorsements from individuals with "scientific" credentials, perhaps even some numbers or graphs. But instead of objective measurements from well-controlled experiments, pseudoscientists offer testimonials, anecdotes, and unverified personal reports to back up their claims. Antiscience is the outright rejection of the time-tested methods of science as a means of producing valid and useful knowledge. The extreme antiscientific view is that there are no objective facts; all knowledge is made up of personal interpretations of phenomena.
Pseudoscientific and antiscientific treatments and approaches for various conditions, including autism, abound. They are promoted enthusiastically, not in peer-reviewed scientific journals, but in materials published by their promoters, such as newsletters, videotapes, books, advertisements, and the Internet. These treatments have several distinguishing features. Some may seem benign at first glance, but that can be misleading. Over the years, many such treatments have proven to have very harmful physical and emotional side effects. They also exact a great societal toll by diverting precious resources from effective treatments and sound research, raising false hopes, and perpetuating illusions (for some examples, see the September 1998 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and the book Crazy Therapies, listed below).
Parents and professionals can protect people with autism from the harms of bogus and ineffective treatments by exercising healthy skepticism, and asking several questions of everyone who claims to have an effective intervention for autism: What is the intervention, precisely? Exactly what is it supposed to do? Have its effects been tested in controlled experiments using direct, objective measures? If so, were those studies published in peer- reviewed scientific journals? What did studies show about positive effects and negative side effects? Did the effects carry over beyond the immediate treatment setting? Is there another scientifically validated treatment that is similarly effective but has fewer negative side effects? Who will administer this treatment, and how can I be sure they are qualified to do so? How will its effects on this individual be evaluated, and by whom? What will happen if we do nothing? Listen to the answers, but don't take them at face value. Seek out published research on the treatment, and, if necessary, someone with expertise in scientific research methodology to help you evaluate it. Also take note when no answers-and no solid supporting studies - are provided. What is not known or said matters, too.
When families seek treatment for a child diagnosed with cancer or diabetes, they aren't simply given a long list of interventions that someone somewhere believes to be effective, and told to choose from that list on their own; they can usually expect to be informed about treatments that are based on sound scientific research. Why settle for anything less when the diagnosis is autism? |
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For Additional Information on Science, Pseudoscience and Antiscience
- Barrett, S., & Jarvis, W. (Eds.) (1993). The health robbers: A close look at quackery in America. Buffalo: Prometheus Books.
- Green, G. (1996). Evaluating claims about treatments for autism. In Maurice, C., Green, G., & Luce, S.C. (Eds.) , Behavioral intervention for young children with autism: A manual for parents and professionals (pp. 15-28) .Austin ,TX :PRO - E D.
- Randi , J. (1982). Flim - flam! New York: Prometheus Books.
- Sagan ,C .(1995) . The demon-haunted world: Science as a candle in the dark . New York: Random House.
- Shermer, M. (1997). Why people believe weird things: Pseudoscience, superstition, and other confusions of our time. New York: W. H. Freeman.
- Singer, M.T. , & Lalich , J. (1996) ."Crazy" therapies . What are they? Do they work? San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Publishers.
- Taubes, G. (1993). Bad science: The short life and weird times of cold fusion. New York: Random House.
- Vyse, S. (1997). Believing in magic: The psychology of superstition. New York: Oxford University Press.
- www.skeptic.com - Web site for Skeptic magazine and the Skeptics Society
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