Inside the autism treatment maze

Other researchers like Schreibman support more varied, less structured programs than the intensive 40-hour ABA. Such methods include Floortime, which gets children and therapists down on the floor and engaged in imitation play, and the Denver model developed by Sally Rogers, which integrates speech and language therapy and focuses on helping children with autism form relationships with their peers.

“Young people tend to learn better from people their own age, they watch the people more, and putting the kids with other kids allows them to learn appropriate behavior for their age," says Robert Hendren, a psychiatry professor and executive director of the MIND Institute, part of the University of California at Davis Medical Center, which focuses on the causes and treatments of autism.

A variation of behavioral treatment is the classroom-centered TEACCH program, which uses visual cues to help children focus their attention. "A lot of our intervention is based on teaching organizational strategies and skills," says Gary Mesibov, director of the TEACCH program, based in Chapel Hill, N.C.

One of the most controversial treatment methods, a detoxification treatment called chelation therapy, has been gaining acceptance among some doctors and parents. Based on the theory that exposure to heavy metals, particularly the mercury preservative in some children's vaccines, is behind some cases of autism, advocates claim chelation is an effective treatment.

"There is no question that chelation, taking the mercury out of the kids, is by far the most effective treatment available," says psychologist Bernard Rimland of the Autism Research Institute in San Diego.

Others warn that it could harm the child.

"Chelation brings risks of its own," says Dr. Eugene Arnold, a psychiatry professor at Ohio State University in Columbus. "A doctor shouldn’t do chelation therapy unless [body] tissue tests show high levels of mercury or lead."

Combination treatment
Because it's so difficult to match the child to a treatment, desperate parents often experiment with multiple therapies at the same time.

An estimated 30 percent of parents try alternative therapies like special diets, vitamin treatments or other non-traditional methods on their children, according to a 2004 study from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Many parents also enroll their children in music and vision therapy or programs like horseback riding and yoga to help develop motor skills.

Unfortunately, doctors can't yet predict which children will benefit from a particular program or whether a child will ever fit into a regular classroom. Even with treatment, about 25 percent of children never develop language skills, according to researchers. On the other hand, about 25 percent are able score in a normal range for their IQ and to function in public school.

Federal law requires public schools to provide special education classes for children with autism, although programs vary from state to state and some parents prefer private treatment, especially for their younger children. Yet because of a lack of scientific evidence supporting certain therapies, parents often find themselves battling health insurers for coverage or suing school systems to provide home-based instruction.

"Some parents hire a lawyer before they meet the preschool teacher," says Mesibov.

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