Silver bullets and magic pills

Unfortunately, there are none for autism as a whole. As the article Desperate families search for autism's 'magic pill' from the Daily Telegraph in London discusses, however, this doesn't stop us from trying to find the treatment (or cure) that works best in our case. Although generally negative in tone towards what the author is basically calling "fad cures", it is worth a read.

Another interesting aspect of the article is the perspective on autism from "across the pond" and how it relates to how we see things stateside:

In Britain, blame has been laid at the door of the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. In America, parents believe that mercury added to a range of childhood vaccines may be the cause. None of the suggested causes has any solid scientific evidence to support it.

All this hot on the tail of the big story of the week, the death of a 5 year-old autistic boy undergoing chelation treatment. I don't really have anything to add to what has been said so well in other places (for example Ginger and Craig), but the whole thing definitely gives us something to think about when looking at the things we do for our kids, autistic or not.