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Can Autism be Cured? Explore the nuance from a parents' perspective

Author: Warren Gouin

Last Updated

03 June 2023

Being confronted with the reality that you may have a child with autism can be a heartbreaking experience as a parent. You may experience a wide range of emotions from fear to confusion to guilt and sadness, but you should try to remain hopeful. Your child has an excellent shot at becoming an independent adult. In fact, there are some parents who have been able to overcome their fears and get their children back. Some even say that their child was cured of autism. These stories are inspiring and give hope to other parents.

The topic of curing autism is a very interesting one, with many differing opinions. There are many important questions to be asked and answered. Maybe none more important than - How can something that's not a disease be cured? We can't say if autism will ever be curable, and I argue that talking about a cure is pointless, because autism is not a disease. But there are some things that can be done to help children with autism overcome their challenges. There is hope.

Where do we start when we explore the idea of curing autism? This question can stimulate a lot of debate and opinion. So why don't we start with the basic question - Can autism be cured?

Can Autism Be Cured?

Autism is a lifelong disorder with no cure, by definition. Asking if something can be cured doesn't help us to make our children healthy and happy. Instead, it creates arguments and distracts us from what we should focus on.

If something can be cured then it implies that it's a disease. Autism is not a disease. It's a collection of symptoms. Autism is a label used to categorise symptoms to make it easier for therapists and for people to talk about. There are multiple possible causes for the symptoms that are called autism.

If there was a disease relating to autism, it would be the cause of the symptoms. Unfortunately for people with autism symptoms, experts just assume the cause is a permanent brain wiring difference between people with 'autism' and those that are considered to be 'neurotypical'. This is assumed without any testing to back it up. In reality, there are many possible causes for the symptoms.

This obsession with labelling based on a broad spectrum of symptoms, causes assumptions and over simplification. Once the label is made, the symptoms specific to each person can be forgotten about, and the text-book can be used instead.

Everyone is different. Some of our children with autism have differences that are uncommon in the population. These qualities are commonly referred to as strengths. We need to encourage these strengths rather than putting them in a box labelling them. Our children with autism have different strengths and weaknesses, just like everyone else. Their strengths tend to be rare ones. They're strengths that the rest of the world needs.

For something to be cured, it must first be a diagnosable condition and there must be conclusive tests that demonstrate the condition has gone away. Due to the grey areas of Autism's diagnosis, this often leads to disagreement.

This should not stop us from looking for ways to help our children. There may not be a “cure” for Autism, but we can still strive to make their lives better.

Autism is complex and poses many challenges. Some children improve quickly and become independent, while others struggle throughout their childhoods. While Autism poses many challenges, research suggests that treatments may be more effective than we previously thought. We should strive to help those affected by Autism live their true nature and purpose, rather than debating whether it can be cured.

Why Is There No Cure For Autism?

The term “cured” is often used when people talk about individuals with autism. They are talking about someone who has been able to overcome the difficulties that come with this diagnosis and make progress in their lives. In this sense, they are not cured, just of some of the symptoms that come with it. For example, an individual may be able to attend a mainstream school without any issues as a result of intensive therapy.

I don't particularly like the term cure. Even for diseases such as cancer, cure can be misleading. An example is when someone receives cancer treatment and later finds out that the cancer has disappeared. However, after six years, they discover that the cancer has come back in a different part of the body. Does this mean the cancer was cured, or just the most obvious symptom disappeared for a time?

Another reason I don't like using the word cure is that it's not allowed to be used to describe a medical condition going away, unless government-approved treatments were used. The medical industry has too much power, limiting our freedom to make decisions about our bodies and speak openly about health. This control has extended to autism, such that it's defined as incurable. There isn't a medicine that's approved and shown to cure autism, therefore it can't be cured.

Even if autism could be cured by addressing the root cause, there would be remaining symptoms of autism that need support. For example, let's say Jared is a child with an autism diagnosis. When Jared was 10 years old, he took part in a treatment protocol based on research to verify if it could cure his autism. The treatment cured the root cause, however he missed developmental milestones earlier in his life. He hasn't developed social skills, hasn't developed skills in expressing empathy and never really learned English skills. He still ticks some boxes that meet the criteria for autism. This means that he still has ASD, even though the treatment worked. He will still need help to develop any skills that have been delayed, and he would like to improve on.

Autism isn't really a disease anyway. Many people with an autism diagnosis don't really need anything fixed. They have differences that the majority of people and may have challenges that mean it's hard for them to seem what we have defined as normal. Normal does not mean right or perfect. Normal just means you have learned how to be similar to others. An autistic child may have skills that he and his parents would like to work on, but so do us all. He may even have some brain fog and need support to improve health, as is the case with many adults. It's just that the brain fog and symptoms of poor health may have appeared earlier.

The aim should not be to cure autism, but rather improve the quality of life of the person.

I believe that if there are early signs of autism, support should start as soon as possible. The support should include a wider range of strategies than the current standard approach. It is important for parents or carers to recognise early signs of ASD in order to provide support before the condition becomes more challenging. Parents should remember that behaviours aren't the result of the child just being a naughty kid. Children don't want to be naughty. There is always a reason for a behaviour, even if it's being judged as bad. It's up to us to find the reason.

Research Into Treatment For Autism

There is no cure for autism, but there are treatments that can help. Treatment options are geared towards helping people with autism in the areas of mental health, educational support, and communication skills. There are a number of different therapies for this disorder, including Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and play therapy.

The diagnosis of ASD often comes with severe social limitations and challenges. The symptoms can be difficult to manage by themselves and need to be treated accordingly. However, these therapies show promise in treating the core symptoms of ASD as well as its accompanying conditions such as anxiety or depression. In fact, research has shown that CBT significantly reduces anxiety disorders in children with autism spectrum disorder.

If you are thinking about whether you have autism, it’s important to understand that there is no definitive way to diagnose it. This means that nobody knows what causes autism or how it will impact individuals who have it moving forward. If you or someone you know has ASD, it's important to look into available treatment options. There is a lot of information about possible treatments, and families should take note of these options.

Some parents use natural methods like changing their child's diet or alternative medicines instead of medications to treat autism symptoms. Parents can be worried about potential side effects of some medicines. These approaches will need to be used in conjunction with other more researched therapies mentioned above.

There's some research into genes that contribute to autism. I don't expect there will be an autism gene that scientists identify and devise a targeted treatment. We know that certain genes that are altered in autistic people that don't produce the protein they're supposed to. A common example is the MTHFR gene. MTHFR gene testing is a wise investment. You can read more about that here. Supporting those altered genes is one strategy used by doctors, which usually involves testing and nutrients to compensate for the impaired gene.

Focus On Therapies And Treatments, Not Cures.

Every person living and breathing is changing. Hopefully, with most of us, for the better. An Olympian trains, eats well, employs a coach and explores new ways to get that 1% better. An executive stays fit by going to the gym, eating well, taking supplements, meditating, and learning from others. All to perform excellently for her company. In our own way, we are all learning and improving. Not because we have a disorder, or we have something to be cured, but because we want certain things out of life. It's the same with autism spectrum disorder. We are supporting people to get more of what they want out of life.

To help people with autism, we consult with experts to determine which therapies to use. Then, we use these therapies to help them overcome their challenges. We can offer speech therapy or other kinds of therapy to help improve a child's social skills and ability to have conversations. We aren't curing anything, but just like everyone else, we are helping them learn, grow and overcome challenges.

Therapies should be supportive. They should not be designed to intimidate a person into doing what's considered normal. Rewards and consequences are often used by parents and teachers to get the child to do what we want. I suggest reducing our reliance on traditional methods of using rewards and punishments. In many children with autism, they can make the situation much worse. Children want to improve and do the right thing. It's better to inspire them to do what's best and use consequences that make sense.

We explore these topics further in our blog, including natural treatments for autism that are aimed at improving the health of our children. Improving health is a wise approach. Our bodies can do amazing things when we are healthy and happy.

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