Johns Hopkins Reports ECT Helped Autistic Child Reduce Severe Self Injury

Deanna Chieco, in the Johns Hopkins Newsletter, reports on a case study in which ECT, electro convulsive therapy, was used to treat a young autistic child who was incurring 109 self injurious incidents per hour. With ECT the self injurious behavior was reduced from 109 to 19 incidents per hour, permitting the child to be able to attend educational programs, behavioral therapies and family activities and thus dramatically improving the child's quality of life.

This article and the study on which it reports should be must reads for parents of autistic children, neurodiversity ideologues, autism therapists and health care professionals and researchers. Reducing severe self injurious behavior should have no ideological component. Even Michelle Dawson, Ari Ne'eman and Estee Klar will have a difficult time arguing that dangerous, life restricting behaviors should not be reduced by treatment.

autism

Autism and Maternal Antibodies On The Johns Hopkins News-Letter

In Maternal antibodies may cause autism, published in the March 6, 2008, issue of The John Hopkins Newsletter Sam Ohmer discusses the recent study led by Hopkins pediatric neurologist Harvey Singer suggesting a possible connection between maternal antibodies and autism. The study focused on the role of the immune system in causing autism.

Singer and his group found that, in some cases of autism, pregnant women's bodies actually raise antibodies against their babies, which sets off a series of events that slowed the normal development of the infants' brains.

The team found that mothers of children with autism had heightened levels of certain antibodies during their pregnancies. "The presence of specific antibodies correlated with the presence of developmental regression in the affected child," Singer said.

"About 40 percent of mothers with autistic offspring had significant differences on Western immunoblots," Singer said, referring to analyses conducted on fetal fluids to measure levels of certain anti-brain antibodies.

This finding suggests that there may be a truly devastating link between maternal antibodies and autism. Singer's team and others are now moving toward a greater understanding of the causes of the illness.

The next step of the research is aimed at trying to discover which proteins are engaged in this immunological backfiring, in hopes of being able to prevent this process.

autism