ASAT Responds to Recent ABC News Ten Myths About Autism

Thursday, October 23, 2008

ASAT's response posted to their website:

As Chairperson of the Public Relations Committee for the Association for Science in Autism Treatment, I appreciate efforts to debunk misconceptions about autism. In general, this article corrected many misconceptions related to the condition of autism; however, the information about autism treatment was scant. There is one widespread misconception that was not included in this piece: All autism treatments are equally effective.

Unfortunately, there are dozens of treatments that have never been researched yet their proponents assure families of their effectiveness and in some cases misrepresent the scientific support. Applied behavior analysis is the only treatment that has decades of supporting research published in peer reviewed journals.
I encourage readers to visit two sites for more information: [ http://www.asatonline.org/ ]www.asatonline.org
http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/can-autism-be-cured-or-managed

Mary E McDonald, Ph.D., BCBA
Association for Science in Autism Treatment

Response from ABC Editors:

Dear Mary McDonald

Thanks so much for sending us your contribution. We read everything we get from our users, and will pass on this information to our reporters and editors. We hope you’ll continue to send along facts and information.

Thanks again —
The Team at ABCNEWS.com