Sadly, I stumbled across the article below on a Facebook Autism awareness raising page. Now as I've made clear previously, I am not medically trained, unless you actually give some credence to the concept of Google degrees. Nor am I a Neurologist or Chiropractor so can't claim to express anything more than an opinion based on reading many ASD related articles, both credible and not so. And as many research papers as both time, and limited comprehension has allowed. So caveat over, let me say I call bullshit on the claims made by the Chiropractor in the clip below.
For starters I am willing to bet the kid in the clip is not Autistic. I'm happy to be corrected, but he seems too compliant to me. Maybe that's an indication of the kids I'm used to spending time with (I'm looking at you Harri) but the childs stillness, his ability to easily follow directions, his overall presentation is unlike that of any Autistic young people I know.
Secondly there is a claim of improvement in statistic speak, specifically of 50% - 60% improvement after three months. I wonder what the tools of measurement are to support these claims? Then there's the statement about symptoms returning when medication is stopped. Which is not always the case, and is dependent on what is being treated, and how. He makes lots of references to struggles with attention, but nothing about anxiety and a host of others more complex neurological challenges our kids battle with.
Of course diet and environment get plenty of blame, yet not one mention of genetics. This guy seems to be deliberately ignoring current research of Autism in order to promote his flimflammery.
Frankly I don't get how someone who is trained to manipulate the spine has any business claiming knowledge and treatment of a neurological disorder as complex and variable as ASD.
http://southampton.patch.com/articles/video-bridgehampton-chiropractors-autism-therapy-yields-success#vid
For starters I am willing to bet the kid in the clip is not Autistic. I'm happy to be corrected, but he seems too compliant to me. Maybe that's an indication of the kids I'm used to spending time with (I'm looking at you Harri) but the childs stillness, his ability to easily follow directions, his overall presentation is unlike that of any Autistic young people I know.
Secondly there is a claim of improvement in statistic speak, specifically of 50% - 60% improvement after three months. I wonder what the tools of measurement are to support these claims? Then there's the statement about symptoms returning when medication is stopped. Which is not always the case, and is dependent on what is being treated, and how. He makes lots of references to struggles with attention, but nothing about anxiety and a host of others more complex neurological challenges our kids battle with.
Of course diet and environment get plenty of blame, yet not one mention of genetics. This guy seems to be deliberately ignoring current research of Autism in order to promote his flimflammery.
Frankly I don't get how someone who is trained to manipulate the spine has any business claiming knowledge and treatment of a neurological disorder as complex and variable as ASD.
http://southampton.patch.com/articles/video-bridgehampton-chiropractors-autism-therapy-yields-success#vid
He does use some techniques that are fairly commonly used in ophthalmology and orthoptics, usually given by a Behavioural Ophthalmologist.
ReplyDeleteHis explanation is off. A lot of alternate practitioners have very little understanding of human physiology. They get most of their learning from People magazine by the looks of things.
So the upshot is that the guy has taken someone else's work, made it his own without understanding how it works, and invented a science to fit around it that most uneducated people would believe. e.g. Lifting a kid's arm and saying "this is how the nervous system works" is dumming it down to sand level. What that does is remove any kind of credibility to the treatment, and therefore ensuring it will be bypassed by science as an area for research.
Probably should stop reading this shit. Makes one cranky. ^-^
Yes, i think your above summary is a good one. I stifled a small laugh at the "this is how neurology works" comment regarding left brain right brain hempispheres controlling the opposite sides of the body as if this was an encapsulating comment describing all brain function. Bet he wouldn't say that to a neurologist.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what this guy charges?
Don't know, but I do know what he discharges.
ReplyDelete