Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Children on the Autism Spectrum
“Are there any natural or non-pharmaceutical ways to treat symptoms of high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome?” Alternative approaches to treating symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorders do exist. One such approach is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), which is defined as “a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine.” CAM therapies used to treat Asperger’s (AS) and High-Functioning Autism (HFA) have been categorized as “biological” or “nonbiological.” Let’s look at each of these in turn… Examples of biological therapies include: detoxification therapies (e.g., chelation) dietary supplement regimens that are supposed to act by modulating neurotransmission or through immune factors (e.g., vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and magnesium, folic acid, folinic acid, vitamin B12, dimethylglycine and trimethylglycine, carnosine, omega-3 fatty acids, in