Autism, the Way Forward

‘We are sick to death of watching the holocaust unfold before our eyes’
(Kathy Blanco, Founder, Childscreen USA)

This book has been written with the aim of helping the world face up to the
reality of autism.

Over the past ten years enormous strides have been made in understanding this condition, developing programs and treatments. Many parents, especially those in affluent countries with financial resources, or with the political or legal clout, can obtain the best available for their child, including early diagnosis, behavioural intervention, relevant medical treatments and strategies, inclusion in mainstream schools with classroom modifications, onsite therapists, transport to and from school etc. etc.

Autism is a very variable condition, and those with the mildest symptoms and in the best circumstances, can now live lives of fulfilment knowing that society is beginning to understand and make accommodation for their difficulties.

But what is the reality for the rest? And how is that reality changing in a world where resources are being stretched thinner and thinner just as the incidence of autism is exploding into a worldwide epidemic?

Our experience of working in many different settings worldwide is that the institutions where autistic children are cared for and educated, and the social service system designed to administrate their care, are collapsing under the burden of this ever increasing and tremendously challenging population.

We have shared information on the lutein-free diet approach for years. In this book we provide more information as well as share some of the stories of people we have lived and worked with, pulling together the stories of the people who have lived with this condition, and how their lives have been impacted, not only by the condition itself, but by the ways they have been treated, the indignities they have suffered, the care, or lack of, that they have received.

We also include success stories from our work. The recovery model (The Desorgher Method) that we have developed and used most successfully is based on the ‘magic of the family’ model developed at Appalachian State University by Dr. Bob Jones, a method of intensive therapeutic foster care, of
professional parenting based on unconditional love.