Like many children who develop autism, Jake Exkorn experienced normal development, then lost nearly all of his communication skills before the age of two. But unlike most children who received the diagnosis, today at age 13, doctors say Jake no longer has the disorder.
After two years of intensive therapy including applied behavior analysis (ABA), Jake’s doctor reported that he had recovered from autism.
But the question of whether or not anyone can “recover” from autism remains a hot one. And researchers are delving in to determine whether or not that is in fact possible.
Some research relying on social skills testing and MRI’s does indicate recovery has occurred in some people with autism. However, researchers warn that the number of people who “recover” is minimal and recovery does not mean that all challenges disappear, reports The Today Show.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
My daughter was one of the few. She also recovered from PDD/NOS. It was a hard time for us. I had no privacy and people were coming and going every day.
She does fall within the ADHD spectrum now, but I am glad that I am able to talk with her and discuss pretty much everything.
I don’t think the word should be recovery because it denotes “cure”. Autism is not cured, children learn to adapt. To the untrained eye it could look “cured,” but while an autistic child can be engaged, social and have a great sense of humor, they can still be rigid, have a very hard time with theory of mind, POV and language comprehension.
Also many parents that deem their child “cured” have young children (ala Jenny McCarthy) who have not yet begun to navigate the complex social structure of middle and high school where body language is “everything” and taunting is at an all time high. Also school work becomes about inferencing vs concrete learning. Lots of high functioning autistic kids become diagnosed in adolescence because their symptoms become so much more pronounced now that the peer social structure has changed.
Robin
It is absolutely possible to recover from autism. My son did and so do may other children. As was previously mentioned, it is not a cure. But there is recovery just as there is from other injuries and autism is an injury, most often caused by an environmental insult such as vaccines. Defeat Autism Now (DAN!) has been working tirelessly for many years in conjunction with the Autism research Institute (ARI) to give hope to families and help their children improve or recover.
Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) has groups of parents in many major cities to help these families. They also have the most complete website for helping families of autistic children you could wish for. My son was one of the lucky ones who has recovered. At 3 years old he was given a diagnosis of moderate to severe autism. We were told that he would never speak, go to school, have friends or a significant relationship. As he got older he would need to be sedated to keep him from becoming violent and he would end up in an institution. Today, he is a happy, healthy almost 10 year old who attends regular school without an aide. He speaks, has friends and has completely lost his diagnosis after following the DAN! medical protocol. Don’t tell me that autism isn’t treatable! I’ve seen the proof. I cuddled with him and his little brother this morning. Don’t ever give up. Fight for your child’s recovery!
I have to totally disagree with spedexaminer. My son has indeed recovered. While it is true that some children do regress during adolescense, there are indeed many children that do recover with biomedical interventions. I know of many children besides my own son that are now older and virtually identical from their neuro-typical peers. If you are assuming that the child changes or recovers utilizing behavioral therapy, then you are possibly correct.
Autism is treatable. I’ve watched it happen hundreds of times with kids that were completely non-verbal and unresponsive to most behavioral therapies. The parents staarted the DAN protocol and followed it religiously, reinstituted the behavioral therapies and the child improves or recovers. It doesn’t happen with all children. However no medical therapy is 100% effective in all patients.
But to claim that children don’t recover in the face of the proof of these children is rediculous. TACA has all the information you need to get your child started. The big question is, how hard are you willing to fight this? Therapies won’t do it on their own. It requires fighting it tooth and nail. It requires changing their diet and finding a DAN doctor that won’t give up on your child the way that your pediatrician probably has.
I met a child who bonded with mine at Zoo Camp. I have another son with Ds so I mentioned OT in our conversation. The mom told me her son had had OT as well. I was curious as to why bec. I could see no signs of anything unusual. She told me her son had had autism. I didn’t really press the issue any further but I went home and googled their name. I was blown away. You never ever would know that this child was the same child I saw on videos. He remains a friend of my sons and he did recover. He is a different child and no not all kids can recover but some do. It is a possibility. You can believe it or not but it definately would be worth investigation in my humble opinion.This should in no way define or devalue autism but it is an option for some people. If the tools are there try them out.