Last week, my friend, Cynthia, told me that she was considering getting B12 shots for her son, who has ADHD. She wanted to know what I thought about it. Since I just spent three hours reading a Jenny McCarthy book, it's a good time to blog about alternative medicine and autism. (Surprisingly, McCarthy's book did not suck.)

Some parents and doctors believe that B12 shots, a gluten-free diet, and other supplements help to minimize the affects of autism and other neurological differences. They believe that these children have unique digestive systems that cannot process certain foods and that they need supplements to help regulate their systems. I know some very smart, responsible parents who swear by the results in their children. While I respect these friends, I am a doubter. I'm not an angry doubter, as I am about the whole vaccination vacation thing. Still, I am a doubter. 

There is not one shred of scientific evidence that any of these alternative treatments work. Some believe that all scientists are in the pocket of the medical-pharmaceutical industry. I do not. 

It is very difficult as a parent to objectively evaluate the benefits of a treatment or therapy, because your sample size is one. You will never know if this treatment is responsible for the spike in your child's progress, when you are also doing two or three other therapies at the same time. The spike in progress could also just be an old-fashioned growth spurt. 

I am quite sure that if you stop eating pizza and pasta for dinner every night, you'll feel better and so will your disabled child. But that doesn't mean that completely removing gluten from your diet will make you feel like Superman. 

There may be a subset of disabled kids who have milk allergies or have celiac disease. For that group, a change of diet makes sense, but everyone else can benefit from moderation. 

This alternative medicine craze can sometimes push me from indifference to anger, when I think about the pseudo-professionals who are preying on the grief and helplessness of parents. I also worry that these treatments drain the energy and money of parents, when there are real exercises that can help the child. 

What makes a difference? What can parents do to help their neurologically atypical kids? It's very boring, time intensive stuff. You have to talk to your kid all the time. And when you get tired of it, you have to hire someone to step in and help. You have to limit time on the computer. They need to be outdoors, getting exercise. They need to eat vegetables and fruit. They need to be put in social situations. And they need to be appreciated for their differences.