The Puzzling Array of Autism "Treatments"

An article about "trying anything and everything" for autism in the January 20th New York Times goes through the usual litany of treatments "alternative" (various supplements, gluten-free casein-free diet, chelation, hyperbaric oxygen therapy) to medication and behavioral therapy/treatment. The "alternative" treatments are described by Rochelle Yankwitt, the mother of a 7-year-old boy on the autism spectrum, Casey. Concerns about the lack of evidence (beyond the anecdotal) and the resources invested in these treatments are voiced by psychologist, Laura Schreibman, the director of the Autism Research Program at the University of California, San Diego, who describes behavior therapy and by Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, also the parent of an autistic so and the author of Defeating Autism: A Damaging Delusion.

It's a fair assessment in the New York Times article, but what's with the accompanying graphic, a line drawing of a child with blonde pigtails and four small faces, all with different emotions? (Yes, that's one child with four faces.) While there's plenty of dispute about what autism is and isn't and maybe could be, I don't think it can be equated with dissociative identity disorder (which used to be called multiple personality disorder in the DSM). It's autism that's under discussion, not the condition The United States of Tara is about.

I mean, I thought autism was what the article was supposed to be about!

Photo by richardmasoner.