Autism Scams - Give Us Your Money For The Cure
In the 14 years I've been dealing with Autism I can tell you that the best help you can give your children is yourself! Most people do not recognize that the MOST important learning of social / life skills begins at home. Often, doctors, therapists and so called "Professionals" Will tell you that they are expert and offer you their services to 'help'. Really this is about helping their business and nothing more. Once I was contacted online by a guy promising me that his program could significantly help with behavioral problems my autistic son was having. I asked him to relay what information he had and the first thing he needed was US$200. Initially people sound so caring and want to 'help' but the idea is you must pay them to 'help' you. The point about it is that people need to make money, true, but they are choosing to do it based on your desperation for help and thus they charge the most they can. In a place like Trinidad where specialized services is rare and what little is available can only be afforded by the very affluent, some parents of autistic children choose to go with whomever will 'take their children' (Usually schools really designed for neurotypical children or schools that say they are special needs but no one in the school is trained) not knowing what abuse might take place while the parent is not around. One therapy session every now and again is not going to significantly impact your autistic children, more so when you see that the therapist does nothing more amazing than what you can do for yourself. Granted, not every parent can be with their children constantly, but if they do not have big bucks then what are they supposed to do? This is not unique to my country either, see this article:
In any service profession there is a range of people that truly want to help, all the way down to people who want to "milk the system" for as much as they can. Dealing with mental issues, since there is no clear, medical proof of what a person has, and how to deal with it, it is an easy target for con artists, that can charge high prices for unproven techniques in teaching, therapy and "life skills". That said, for someone, like me, who doesn't know anything about mental issues, I"d go to someone who is an expert, I"d make sure to ask what his/her qualifications are, and find out if there is a group support for that mental issue, like there is for autism. Sadly there is no clear cut answer to how to help, since there is a wide range of function with autism, ranging from a person that mentally will stay 5-7 years old, all the way up to doctors and CEO's who have problems understanding social situations, facial expressions, etc"¦
The therapist my son saw was extraordinarily helpful. She taught us about neuro diversity, what autism is all about and what happens in their brains. She taught us about the culture and what it means to live with someone who's autistic. We also learned from her coping mechanisms and behavioral tips- raising a child with autism.
She also met with him to learn more about him. He found that very helpful.
I don't think all medical professionals are bad. That in itself is a blanket statement that I don't feel it's correct.
It was worth the money to us.
Name: Florance
Country:
Comments: The best thing is to find therapists by referral, someone you know who has used their services before and can give a recommendation that what they are doing works. You can avoid most scams this way. If you do not know anyone personally that can give you a recommendation then look for advocacy groups that might have a list of recommended therapists.
Here is a testimony from James R. Laidler, MD about how alternative autism treatments that he refers to as "Autism Quackery" Played out in his desperate search: