Behavioral Therapy for Autism: The NYT Buries the All-Important Lead

In yet another news story about autism and its therapy, Jane Brody of the NYT reports on the anecdotal use of a slew of unproven and potentially risky alternative therapies for the severely autistic son of a lawyer couple. Their train of interventions over the years included several dietary changes, a truckload of supplements, glutathione cream, chelation, and hyperbaric oxygen treatments.* With reference to the last invention, Brody writes about the couple's perception of its efficacy for their son.

Only well into the article does Brody allude to the unproven nature of these interventions, by introducing Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, a general practitioner in London who also has an autistic son. Fitzpatrick is the author of MMR and Autism and the recently published Defeating Autism: A Damaging Delusion. Brody quotes Fitzpatrick, when he likens the use of alternative therapies for autism as a return to "medicine's dark ages."

And in the last 4 paragraphs of her article, Brody finally (finally) describes the use behavioral therapy for autism, a scientifically validated (but labor-intensive) approach to improve an autistic child's communication skills. Brody would have performed a greater journalistic service by describing this intervention and highlighting its benefits from the get-go.

* At least Brody didn't imply any relation between autism and the boy's vaccination status.