The Autism Research Institute (ARI), established in 1967 by Bernard Rimland, is a San Diego, California, based nonprofit that funds research[1] and provides information on autism and autism spectrum disorders. Stephen M. Edelson became the director of ARI upon Rimland's death in 2006.
ARI holds to the medically-discredited[2][3][4] belief that autism is partially caused by vaccinations;[5] it also suggests chelation therapy, a treatment which is dangerous enough to have caused multiple deaths[6] and has never been shown to have any impact on autism.[7]
In addition to these psuedoscientific positions, they hold that autism can be treated through a combination of intensive behavior modification, such as Applied Behavior Analysis, and a wide variety of biomedical interventions, including the use of drugs, dietary supplements, and special diets. To this end, they sponsored a yearly conference of researchers, scientists, and physicians, which was known as Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!).
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In 1995, the Autism Research Institute brought together a group of about 30 physicians and scientists to share information and ideas toward defeating autism as quickly as possible. This became known as Defeat Autism Now! which comprises a network of doctors whose stated goal is to educate parents and clinicians about biomedically-based research, appropriate testing, and a variety of interventions for autism.
The premise for biomedical intervention is that certain neurological disorders, including autism, might be caused by environmental triggers that compromise the gastrointestinal, immunological, and neurological systems. Gastrointestinal, in that they tend toward constipation and/or diarrhea and often have abnormal cravings or abhorrence for certain kinds of food; immunological, in that many have poor regulation of the immune system, many have decreased ability to fight infectious diseases, and some are prone to allergies; and neurological, in that they are consistently hypo- or hypersensitive to sensory impressions. Proponents of biomedical intervention claim that children with autism generally improve in all three systems with an adapted or 'special' diet, or with the addition to their diet of certain dietary supplements, nutrients, and enzyme supplements. [8] Based on this premise, what is often diagnosed as autism or PDD is seen as a physiological syndrome involving many parts of the body that could be treated as a physiological disorder.
Research into immune abnormalities in autism began in the 1980s[9] and has been continued by more recent research demonstrating a dysregulated innate immune response in some children with autism,[10][11] amid increasing speculation that immune inflammatory responses may be involved in the etiology of autism.[12] This led to the development of an Autism Biomedical movement that developed from the 1990s and focussed on Conferences such as Montreal’s 2nd Annual Medical Conference on Autism[13] which brought together immunologists, dieticians and DAN doctors amid a surge of interest in dietary models of treatment stimulated via internet chat groups, autism support groups and conferences.
Some researchers and advocates of biomedical therapies in autism have children with autism of their own and have been driven by their own experiences; these include Bernard Rimland. Rimland, a psychologist and parent of an son with autism, speculated that his son's autism was the result of the DPT vaccine, a discredited idea.[14][15][16] He experimented with eliminating certain kinds of food and says that by eliminating casein and gluten from his son's diet, autistic symptoms were reduced. Studies supporting dietary claims for autism treatment have had significant flaws, so the data are inadequate to guide treatment recommendations.[17] A study by the University of Rochester found "eliminating gluten and casein from the diets of children with autism had no impact on their behavior, sleep or bowel patterns".[18]
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