Controversial Therapies for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities: Fad, Fashion, and Science in Professional Practice - Softcover

"This newly updated and revised volume represents a truly important contribution to the professions of education, psychology, medicine, and even law. Its rich case examples serve as classroom exercises for enhancing critical thinking and teaching scientific research design for behavioral scientists. By debunking problematic treatments that lack empirical support and contradicting social media fads, these experts advocate for enhanced scientific approaches that could lead to the improvement of services for children with autism and intellectual disabilities and their families."

--Michael C. Roberts, PhD., ABPP, University of Kansas, USA

"Whenever conventional medical treatments fail to provide satisfactory outcomes, patients seek alternative treatments. The field of intellectual disabilities is ripe for such alternatives, sometimes developed by well-intentioned health professionals and sometimes not. Foxx and Mulick and their chapter authors provide a thorough look at what is out there, where it came from, and the problems with many of these proposed treatments. This book should be in the office of anyone delivering care to individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. It will help separate the wheat from the chaff in choosing treatments and in advising and counseling families seeking guidance."

--Daniel L. Coury, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at The Ohio State University, and Chief of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics at Nationwide Children's Hospital, USA

One of the largest and most complex human services systems in history has evolved to address the needs of people with autism and intellectual disabilities, yet important questions remain for many professionals, administrators, and parents. What approaches to early intervention, education, treatment, therapy, and remediation really help those with autism and other intellectual disabilities improve their functioning and adaptation? Alternatively, what approaches represent wastes of time, effort, and resources?

Controversial Therapies for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities, 2nd Edition brings together leading behavioral scientists and practitioners to shed much-needed light on the major controversies surrounding these questions. Expert authors review the origins, perpetuation, and resistance to scrutiny of questionable practices, and offer a clear rationale for appraising the quality of various services.

The second edition of Controversial Therapies for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities has been fully revised and updated and includes entirely new chapters on psychology fads, why applied behavioral analysis is not a fad, rapid prompting, relationship therapies, the gluten-free, casein-free diet, evidence based practices, state government regulation of behavioral treatment, teaching ethics, and a parents' primer for autism treatments.