Navigating Autism Information | Autism Video Lecture | Understanding and Treating Autism - Health & Fitness

so how can a parent navigate the maze of
information that's now available on
autism I would break it down on areas of
intervention in the sense that you work
with diagnosis and looking at the
medical piece of it as one area that you
need more information on then you look
at the therapeutic modalities and then
you look at the research i would go
initially to your primary physician and
go to the reputed sites that you have
through the cdc as well as American
Academy of Pediatrics you build up on
that with information that is there with
parent support groups I think you know
the many autism groups that have been
set up by parents that offer a lot of
emotional support a lot of information
and a lot of controversial information
as well where some parents will be
saying something completely opposite to
another but it's important to hear both
sides of it however go back to your
pediatrician go back to a support that
you have to check the information out
getting on to different websites one
needs to really be navigating that
process and there are some more reputed
ones than others I don't want to get
into labeling beyond the ones that I
have mentioned but they are many sites
that are out there however look at two
sides of it and definitely go back and
check on the research or what is being
stated keep up with the research get to
some of the medical centers that have
centers of excellence with particular
focus on autism and research follow that
but you do that in stages initially
you're going to have to deal with the
diagnosis what else you can do for your
child from the medical point of view and
the evaluation point of view then you're
looking at the school systems and the
different services that are available
it's like buying a car I'm giving you're
not quite but you need to be an informed
consumer is what I'm trying to say you
need to get information and be able to
process it in a way that you can use it
and digest it and get it verified so
you're going from
diagnosis to educational interventions
to behavioral interventions to different
therapies that are approved and some
that are being researched and some that
are quite out there but pair some
parents are claiming that it's
beneficial I would keep your eyes and
ears open but I keep a level of caution
because something that may be benefiting
one child may not be benefiting your
child and when you do have a story it is
absolutely fair to share it I do agree
with parents supporting and helping and
guiding and navigating each other but do
it with consensus and support of the
medical community or the professionals
and experts involved and absolutely look
at how many people are saying the same
thing whether the hypothesis mix is
correct for you one of the sites that I
do like because it is a research site
and it is being developed called autism
360 where parents use it like their own
passport they put in their child
symptoms and put in the interventions
that they use whether it was diet
supplements medication and this helps us
differentiate the subtypes this was
something developed by doctor said Baker
and this is your information you have a
password and a code word that you then
share with your practitioner whether you
go from one pediatrician to a specialist
or to somebody else this is information
and your child which you have put in but
it's available for research and for
helping the researcher or the group of
researchers look at the subtypes and
possibly guide you on with what would
next be beneficial for you for that
particular subtype