RECOVERED: How ABA Therapy is Helping Some Kids with Autism

Yesterday I went to a movie called Recovered, which was a documentary about children recovering from autism through ABA therapy with an agency called CARD. ABA is Applied Behavioral Therapy and basically you create an individualized plan which involves 30-40 hours a week of one to one therapy services to teach the child to overcome their challenges using reinforcements. It was fascinating and inspiring to meet in person two 11th graders who have recovered. A well spoken girl shared the story of her recovery with poise and eloquence and a boy passionately played his guitar and sang a song from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was a moving evening and it is nice to know there are so many ways you can help your children get better from what many think is a lifelong diagnosis. Most interesting to me was hearing Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh speak about the work she does at CARD.

She also mentioned how so many kids today, who don’t have autism, have autistic traits and how widespread these symptoms are and how worrisome this is for future generations of kids. I think this is the most important thing I took away from this event.

This issue is not just about the kids who have autism.

In my opinion, all our kids are being poisoned by something in the environment–some are just more sensitive than others. The chemicals in processed food, pesticides sprayed on fruits and vegetables, the air we breath which is filled with mercury, our drinking water with traces of pharmaceutical medication in it all create a body burden which affects the neurology and development of our children. And, the lack of fresh real food often makes it hard for the children to detoxify from their environment.

But it is nice to know that CARD has helped some children to get better from autism using ABA. And this movie is an important piece of evidence that some kids are getting better–and growing up to tell about their struggle to recover.