{"id":156,"date":"2010-10-07T17:05:20","date_gmt":"2010-10-07T21:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aspergersparent.wordpress.com\/?p=156"},"modified":"2011-11-04T10:33:11","modified_gmt":"2011-11-04T14:33:11","slug":"can-autism-be-cured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Autism be Cured?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every so often, I read about some herbal preparation, nutritional supplement, or alternative therapy that is supposed to cure autism, or at least lessen the severity of autistic behaviors.<\/p>\n<p>At first, I thought this was complete nonsense. But then I heard about:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>how heavy metal poisoning produces autism-like behaviors;<\/li>\n<li>how some diseases or environmental factors produce autism-like behaviors;<\/li>\n<li>how some spectrum kids have major food issues, from extreme pickiness to severe allergies and intolerances;<\/li>\n<li>how therapies designed to attack the problems above reduced the autism-like behavior.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On the other hand, I know of many people who come from a long line of spectrum ancestry, who never had contact with heavy metals, or sick buildings, who have no allergies, food intolerances, or eating problems.<\/p>\n<p>So, my brain went chugging along, and came up with an idea: what if there are <strong>two<\/strong> very different causes for Spectrum behavior?<\/p>\n<p>One would be the genetic brain wiring issue, that is inherited and has been a human variant for millenia. This type is not affected by any alternative therapies, can&#8217;t be cured, and can be passed down to our kids.<\/p>\n<p>The other would be non-genetic, but caused instead by some external factor. The symptoms are caused by that external factor, and may be reversible with the right therapy, or permanent. In either case, this type of autism is not genetic, and won&#8217;t be passed to one&#8217;s children.<\/p>\n<p>Because the symptom list is so similar, we tend to not notice that there are two very different underlying conditions here. The group Autism Speaks is seeking a &#8220;cure&#8221; for autism, meaning for non-genetic autism. People on autism forums suggest various therapies for reducing autism symptoms, not realizing these are ineffective on genetic auties. I have seen some flame-filled arguments on who is right &#8230; but both are, since we&#8217;re dealing with two very different conditions.<\/p>\n<p>So, when I now see an e-mail post extolling the benefits of chelation therapy, or a gluten-free diet, I no longer think the poster is crazy &#8230; instead, I think: that may work for your Aspie, but not for my type of Asperger&#8217;s!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every so often, I read about some herbal preparation, nutritional supplement, or alternative therapy that is supposed to cure autism, or at least lessen the severity of autistic behaviors. At first, I thought this was complete nonsense. But then I heard about: how heavy metal poisoning produces autism-like behaviors; how some diseases or environmental factors [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aspie-parent","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Can Autism be Cured? - Polymath Solution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Liz\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8aadd911e62a97bd7a148b88033d0225\"},\"headline\":\"Can Autism be Cured?\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-07T21:05:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-04T14:33:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/\"},\"wordCount\":353,\"commentCount\":11,\"articleSection\":[\"Aspie Parent\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/\",\"name\":\"Can Autism be Cured? - Polymath Solution\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-07T21:05:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-04T14:33:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8aadd911e62a97bd7a148b88033d0225\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Polymath Solution\",\"description\":\"Interesting things, stuff and items\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8aadd911e62a97bd7a148b88033d0225\",\"name\":\"Liz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd57a0579485d7d6e60f0db24ad3ee4bcadcb98c442e23f93311423ffd52d67a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd57a0579485d7d6e60f0db24ad3ee4bcadcb98c442e23f93311423ffd52d67a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Liz\"},\"description\":\"Professional polymath, currently earning a living in web and graphic design and development. Also available to teach knitting or chain mail, fix furniture, help design your house, give a lecture on gifted or special education in public schools, or help you with a science fiction con. \\\"Specialization is for insects\\\" and \\\"We also walk dogs\\\", two quotes from Robert Heinlein.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can Autism be Cured? - Polymath Solution","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Liz","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/"},"author":{"name":"Liz","@id":"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8aadd911e62a97bd7a148b88033d0225"},"headline":"Can Autism be Cured?","datePublished":"2010-10-07T21:05:20+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-04T14:33:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/"},"wordCount":353,"commentCount":11,"articleSection":["Aspie Parent"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/","url":"https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/","name":"Can Autism be Cured? - Polymath Solution","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-10-07T21:05:20+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-04T14:33:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8aadd911e62a97bd7a148b88033d0225"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/07\/can-autism-be-cured\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/","name":"Polymath Solution","description":"Interesting things, stuff and items","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8aadd911e62a97bd7a148b88033d0225","name":"Liz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/polymathsolution.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd57a0579485d7d6e60f0db24ad3ee4bcadcb98c442e23f93311423ffd52d67a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd57a0579485d7d6e60f0db24ad3ee4bcadcb98c442e23f93311423ffd52d67a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Liz"},"description":"Professional polymath, currently earning a living in web and graphic design and development. 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