Autism: Long Term Outlook

No Cure

Various hopeful reports in the last two decades have promised a ‘cure’ for autism. Parents of autistic children, understandably, often find themselves grasping at straws. Particular supplements and treatments have promised to reverse autistism, and to make normal development of social skills possible. Many parents gave their autistic child the digestion hormone secretin, for instance, as early reports had been so positive. Unfortunately, clinical trials have been unable to reproduce these results.

Serotonin reuptake inhibitor drugs may prove to be more generally helpful. Early trials using Prozac have had encouraging results. However, relatives and friends of sufferers must understand that autism is very likely due to brain damage, rather than a simple chemical imbalance. This puts a true cure out of the reach of current medicine.

Autistic Aloneness

A sufferer with very poor communication skills can be taught to use gestures and vocalization more effectively. However, true person-to-person communication skills are unlikely to surface in a low-functioning sufferer. Even the most intelligent autistic individuals report feeling left out of many human interactions.

This means that most sufferers will require life-long care of some sort. Many appear to be most comfortable living at home with their parents. This can be a depressing situation for parents, who had hoped that their child would grow more independent. Outside help to ease the burden of care may be expensive or simply unavailable. However, it may help parents to know that the home is likely to be the best place for their unique child to learn, improve and find security.

High-functioning autistic individuals may benefit from being placed in a household with other sufferers. If communication skills are good, and the sufferer can take care of most of their daily activities themselves, then this move may be appropriate. A carer or therapist will probably visit often, or may live in. Thus, the burden of care may be taken from parents, while sufferers gain a sense of independence.

The Good News

The good news is every autistic individual will make progress given time, teaching, love, care and attention. A combination of affection, education and behavior modification therapy represent the current best hope for sufferers. Long-term improvements are almost always made, continuing into adult life.

Current treatment cannot give sufferers an intuitive understanding of eye contact, modulation of voice, conversational technique or social niceties. However, sufferers may learn about the correct application of each of these things, and be able to join in social interactions with success.