dbd33

I looked it up. Not only will the government not fund chelation, filling removal, gluten free diets, herbal laxatives and the like but following the DAN protocol in Ontario can get you busted for child abuse. Generally, fringe "medical" procedures and protocols are more acceptable in BC and in Mexico though the Option cult and the Huxley Institute manage to stay in business in NY so they must have pretty lax laws there too.

CDNReturner

Just one other thing I want to add.

A number of years ago something called 'hyperbolic treatment' was going round and being written about in the papers. Anne tried very hard to get funding for Troy to have this treatment. She didn't get it. Meanwhile my mother investigated him getting this treatment in the UK where it was funded. Our parents are Scottish and my mother's best friend in Ayr in Scotland found out that Troy could have 'funded hyperbolic treatment' in a centre just outside of Ayr (presumably because of the parentage). My sister didn't actually follow up with this and ended up paying 10,000 dollars for the treatment here.

I'm just mentioning this as a comparison of 'special needs' services available here in Ontario to that in the UK.

Cathie

dbd33

Isn't it better that the government not pay for crackpot "treatments" ? It's bad enough that people torture their already disadvantaged children without sending the bill to the taxpayer.

TrishP

Hyperbolic or hyperbaric?

alwayssaythanku

Its hyperbaric oxygen therapy and its quite scientific used by people with MS and professional athletes. We can get it for £15.00 per session. In the states, its ridiculously expensive. all it is, is going into a pure oxygen chamber, breathing the air for an hour and coming out. the pure oxygen is noted by people like beckham, etc who play football. It helps heal muscles and ligaments and also helps the brain repair.

Biomedical intervention is the term coined to describe the alternative medical treatment of children with autism in lieu of any treatment provided by mainstream medical establishment. It is based on science and evidence collated and compared both by professional and highly regarded doctors worldwide as well as thousands of parents who have anecdotal evidence of it helping their children. Its a movement which is small but growing and addresses the need for children with autism to have the right to medical care as much as any child who does not have autism. There are a lot of medical "coincidences" and comparisons that can be made between autistic children and doctors realise this, those who care, and there is much to be gained by investigating this for your child, if s/he is autistic. But it is something every parent must decide for themselves as its not easy, and it is far from cheap. We have been using it for some years now with great success. Unfortunately those who poo poo it, usually don't have any first hand experience of it, except for maybe cod liver oil, or some other product. For our child, it has helped him immensely. UK has a pretty big biomed community as does the U.S. I don't know about Canada but I am sure it is there too.

TrishP

Have worked with clients with MS who had hyperbaric treatment in the UK - mixed reports as to the efficacy of this therapy as it seems to work for some but not others.
As long as a 'treatment' does no harm but has potential to improve health, I'm all for it!

dbd33

What does it do for autism?

Alterrnatively, it is the abuse of children who are unable to defend themselves for the profit of the promoters. Some background:

http://www.quackwatch.org/search/web...1&query=autism

http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quackery...chelation.html

What stands to be lost is the child's general health. It is not harmless to subject child to experiment diets based on "anecdotal evidence". Something like facilitated communication may be a charade and a waste of money but it's essential harmless;whacko diets are not.

What has been the nature of this success and do you have any peer reviewed documentation either that positive results were achieved or, at least, the children subjected to these "treatments" were unharmed ?

I don't poo poo alternative therapies I think they are dangerous and that the peddlers are unscrupulous monsters preying on the insecurities of desperate parents. They have the morals of lawyers.

In what way? How do you know?

Obviously there are gullible people in Canada and, I suppose, there's no reason to stop them giving money to astologers, faith healers or churches, however the tax payers money absolutely should not be spent on this sort of witchcraft and, in the case of children, there's an argument that the state should intervene for the sake of their welfare.

dbd33

Me too, but the high cost programs of herbal laxatives and gluten free diets have the potential to do direct harm and benefit only the people selling the programs and products. A hyperbaric chamber might be fun and justifiable on that basis, whereas the popularity of chelation, gamma-globulin infusions, hyper-vitamins and the rest among the parents of autistic children makes me wonder if autism isn't, after all, an inherited mental illness.

CDNReturner

Sorry, did mean hyperbaric not hyperbolic. Unfortunately, it can't be measured whether or not he actually benefited from this treatment. I think this was about 6 years ago. 100 hours for $10,000. Troy has really never had any treatment of any sort off the government. I have a sister who is very 'proud'. She NEVER takes advantage of a disabled sticker unless absolutely necessary (never uses it for parking). Troy can walk, albeit a 1/2 step back for every 1 step forward and never in a straight line. In fact she only asks for a wheelchair at airports as she can't hold unto him with all those tickets and passports she has to keep showing. Troy is always on the move.

Something else. Anne had a very good job in management at the bank. She put in many hours of overtime over the years without pay. She used to travel all over Ontario. She used to train management trainees. When she needed time off to accompany Troy for these treatments she was not given it unless she used up her holiday time (and we all know how little that is). She actually went into a bad depression and had to give up the job. So this is another thing to bear in mind about 'Canadian employers'. However, as mentioned previously she is now back at the bank working part-time.

Cathie

alwayssaythanku

Well, i didnt come on this forum to discuss the merits of autism treatments, nor is it in my interest time wise to try and convince or debate same. Just to say that quackwatch has been discredited by many and anyone who reads or visits quackwatch should think very very carefully who is behind it.

there are plenty of autism forums online that debate autism interventions, and this is not one of them. Though i could debate and provide evidence till the cows come home, i choose not to here as my only interest is finding out what services are for autistic children in Canada.

yonk

Yes, but hand-in-hand with that goes hearing other people's experiences and if other posters go on to discuss other aspects of the subject, then that is up to them.

It is not a straight question and answer session here - more a debate.

dbd33

You have no evidence. There is no such evidence. Not for alternative therapies and not against quackwatch. What you want funded is not reasonable services for autistic children but your own personal fetishes.

You may care to note, btw, that only children who have had a full set of vaccinations can attend schools in Canada.

dbd33

A note on chelation, a "biomedical intervention" not from quackwatch:

"These therapies are not only of unproven efficacy, but they also can be dangerous, as unfortunately shown in the recent death of a five-year-old boy with autism."

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Infectio...ccines/tb/3669

alwayssaythanku

I will let you have the last word on whatever it is you are trying to convey dbd33. I am a member of a quite large community of parents totally convinced that autism is a medical condition, one that is treatable and one which has been maligned as untreatable by the mainstream medical establishment. You are one person who has opinion, i have my own as does each parent of a child with autism. I do not know what it is like generally in Canada in terms of biomedical intervention for children with autism, but here in the UK we have quite a few support groups, and communities who are totally committed and convinced. These groups include doctors who are full fledged members of the General medical council as well as other medical professionals. I am sure Canadians are well aware of the treatments available regarding autism and look forward to joining those groups and individuals when we arrive. I have just discovered two groups in Toronto and three in Vancouver so the knowledge is growing at a steady rate thankfully, just like it is here in the UK. In fact there is going to be conference in Vancouver in March next year, which I now hope to attend.

dbd33

I am trying to convey the following :

- I think you have been deliberately misinformed and are potentially a danger to your child. At the very least, your giving money to these fringe groups harms your child to the extent of spending foregone and is harmful to any other child drawn into your "community".

- to the extent that your chosen approach is simply ineffective I suppose you should be free to follow it but it would be quite wrong for the government to fund any of this nonsense. It would be a better use of tax dollars to extend drug regulations to all forms of herbal or holistic remedies.

- our opinions are not equal as mine is backed by citations and reflects that of the medical establishment at large. Your conviction is just unfounded superstition unsupported by any evidence at all.

I suggested earlier that you go to BC because it's a haven for charlatans. I note that you now intend to visit Vancouver; that's a good start. If, after that, you have more money to squander you could visit the Geneva Center and/or the Association for the Neurologically Disabled in Toronto. I'll save you a couple of grand, the latter believe autism can be cured by hanging the autistic person upside down before a strobe light. They're nuts (or, if you prefer, non-NT) but less dangerously nuts than the biomedical interveners.

Good grief woman, autism isn't the end of the world. Poisoning the child is not better than acknowledging the condition and living with it.