Complementary and alternative medicine treatments in children with autism spectrum disorders

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Вчера и денес денови за објавување на публицирани апстракти од конгреси. Еве го и најновиот од петтиот логопедски конгрес одржан неодамна во Осиек, Република Хрватска.

Trajkovski V. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Book of abstracts ‡ 5th Congress of Croatian speech and language therapists with international participation – „Multidisciplinary approach in speech and language sciences and practice“. Osijek, September 24-26, 2015; 94.

    

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)

Vladimir Trajkovski
Institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Phylosophi, University “St. Kiril and Metodij”
Keywords: autism spectrum disorders (ASD), complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM), treatments,
children

ABSTRACT

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is variably defined but generally refers to
medical therapies and practices that are not commonly taught at medical schools or available
at major hospitals and clinics. Sometimes complementary medicine is described as nontraditional
therapies that are used in conjunction with traditional therapies (to complement
their action), while alternative medicine is used to describe non-traditional therapies that
are used in place of (as an alternative to) traditional therapies. Interventions considered
to be branches of CAM for autism are on the rise. This article reviews the current state of
many CAMs and addresses the evidence that supports or fails to support their efficacy as a
treatment of ASD and their adoption in special education practices. A review of literature on
potential CAM interventions for ASD was conducted, including a review of the websites of
the primary autism organizations worldwide. This is web based research. Data used in this
paper are taken from the following data bases: EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, PubMed. Key
words were autism and CAM treatment. The most frequent CAM treatments in autism are:
dietary supplements, the gluten-free, casein-free diet, homeopathic remedies, melatonin,
probiotics, antioxidants, amino acid supplements, “immune support” products, multivitamins,
melatonin, and digestive enzymes. The procedures, such as neurofeedback and chelation;
some conventional medications that are being examined for new applications in treating
autism, such as antifungals, memantine, and nutraceuticals are commonly used in treatment
of ASD. Biomedical CAM treatments are integrative in nature, and most of them can be used
in combination with conventional treatments for autism. It is important to discuss alternative
therapies for autism openly and compassionately. Some CAM therapies are supported by
scientific evidence, but for some there are still questions. A majority of families using CAM
chose therapies that were likely to be safe.