Behavior Therapy Trumps Medications for Autism, Study Says

April 4, 2011— -- Shannon Penrod, 48, of Saugus, Calif., could feel a change coming over her son Jem Miller. By the time he was two, parts of his speech gradually began to disappear.

In just a few months, what started as, "Mama what are you doing?" turned to "Mama, what doing?" Then he retreated into silence.

"He didn't even acknowledge me in a room or seek me out," said Penrod.

Within six months, Jem was diagnosed with autism, a disorder characterized by withdrawn social and behavioral skills.

"Autism was like a thief coming into the night and stealing pieces of my child," said Penrod. "Something in him seemed like it was just going away."

While Jem's deteriorating language skills and apparent emotional separation from his family was hard to bear for Penrod and her husband, learning about Jem's diagnosis was not the hardest part, she said. Finding the right treatment was.

While there is no cure for autism, there is no shortage of purported treatments to manage the range of symptoms associated with the wide spectrum of the disorder. And, like Penrod, many parents of newly diagnosed children find themselves inundated with overflowing and at times conflicting treatment recommendations.

Penrod said each autism specialist she took Jem to see recommended a different type of treatment.

"One told me to stay away from behavioral therapy or my son would end up like a robot," she said.

Instead, Penrod first tried specialized diets and prescription medications to ease her son's erratic behavior.

But three study reviews published Monday in the Journal of Pediatrics found that early intensive behavioral interventions are more effective for autism symptoms than medical interventions.

Some of the common forms of medical treatment that are prescribed for children with autism include antidepressants, stimulants, and antipsychotics -- drugs often used to treat patients with schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and depression. One of the three reviews also looked at secretin, which is used to alleviate gastrointestinal issues that are found in some children diagnosed with autism.

The reviews found little evidence to support the purported benefits of these treatments.