Why Parents Seek Answers

After reading the article titled "The Hawthorne Effect--Why parents swear by ineffective treatments for autism" (http://www.slate.com/id/2215076/), I feel compelled to respond with an explanation. Parents of autistic children are willing through relentless dedicated effort to try an infinite number of ways to help their children. This is very simply due to one truth--parents love their children and will sacrifice nearly anything to help them.

When a parent eventually realizes and accepts the disability of his/her child, a process that can unfortunately take years, the next step is to seek a cure or at least find ways to alleviate the complex and difficult situation caused by this disability. Each morning, many parents awaken with an emotional mix of optimism, love, and despair that the day will bring some kind of improvement in behavior, learning, and response from their child. What begins as a problem that will be alleviated tomorrow, slowly demonstrates itself to be long-term. Yet, perhaps a change in diet or environment or medicine will be the "magic" cure for the problem.

Even as I write these words, I am conflicted. I know, logically, that the cure for autism will be found by the mathematicians in the laboratories poring through millions and zillions of strands of DNA, looking for those anamolies that cause learning and social problems. Yet I personally cannot contribute to this process due to my lack of experience and training. So instead of waiting patiently for the scientists to tell me what is wrong, I seek to solve the problem myself. I do this by doing what I do best: loving my child and sacrificing everything to help him.

And truthfully, almost anything we do or try does make some kind of difference. In some ways it is a variation on the Placebo effect by proxy. When the parent wants something enough to pay for it, to sacrifice for it, to study it, to make a journey, then it just may happen. This kind of projected desire for improvement often makes its way to the child, resulting in positive improvement for everyone. Unfortunately, it is often short-term growth. Yet, the glimmer of hope and joy is vastly beneficial to the parents of the disabled child.

But before sounding cynical, I must interject that many of the cures are indeed helpful. Good nutrition for one, is always valuable. Vitamins, if used judiciously, are also good for the body. Exercise, breathing techniques, conditioning are all good practices to consider. Behavior modification and rewards for good behavior are standard operating procedure for parents and all efforts at understanding behavior are helpful. So I urge parents to continue to find answers and to try myriad and sundry ways to help their children. In the end, it is all about love and sacrifice. We seek answers because we care, to do otherwise is not an option.