Guidelines For Evaluating Treatments For Autism:

Adopted from B.J. Freeman, Guidelines for Evaluating Intervention Programs for Children with Autism, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol. 27, No. 6, Dec. 1997).

• Approach any new treatment with hopeful skepticism. Remember that the goal of any treatment should be to help the person with autism become a fully functioning memeber of society.

• Beware of any program or technique that is appropriate for every person with autism.

• Beware of any program that thwarts individualization and potentially results in harmful program decisions.

• Be aware that any treatment represents one of several options for a person with autism.

• Be aware that treatment should always depend on an individual assessment's information that points to it as an appropriate choice for a particular child.

• Be aware that no new treatment should be implemented until its proponents can specify assessment procedures necessary to determine whether it will be appropriate for an individual with autism.

• Be aware that debates over the use of various techniques are often reduced to superficial arguments over who is right, moral, ethical and who is the true advocate for the children. This can lead to results that are directly opposite to those intended including impediments to maximizing the program.

• Be aware that often, new treatments have not been validated scientifically.