ARI's Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist / The Abdominal Brain & Enteric Nervous System

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ARI's Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist / The Abdominal Brain & Enteric

Nervous System

Wednesday, January 12, 2000

[Announced today and taken verbatim from the Autism Research Institute

website: http://www.autism.com/ari/atec.html ]

A major obstacle in autism research has been the lack of a valid means

of measuring the effectiveness of various treatments. Over the years,

researchers have published hundreds of studies attempting to evaluate

different biomedical and psycho-educational interventions intended to

benefit autistic children. Much of this research has produced inconclusive

or, worse, misleading results, because there are no useful tests or scales

designed to measure treatment effectiveness. Lacking such a scale,

researchers have resorted to using scales such as the Childhood Autism

Rating Scale (CARS), the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS), or the Autism

Behavior Checklist (ABC), all of which were designed to diagnose autism- to

tell whether or not a child is autistic--and not to measure treatment

effectiveness.

Two recent reviews have commented on the problem: " Often,

investigators have to use diagnostic instruments to measure changes in

response to treatment. . .this approach has not been very successful. .

..because most diagnostic instruments. . .are not sufficiently sensitive to

changes within an individual. " 1 " ...[M]easures of clinical improvement to

validate treatment outcomes are even more seriously deficient. " 2

The Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) was developed by

Bernard Rimland and M. Edelson of the Autism Research Institute, to

fill this need, which is especially urgent right now because of the 20 or

more studies starting soon to evaluate secretin.

The ATEC is a one-page form designed to be completed by parents,

teachers, or caretakers. It consists of 4 subtests: I. Speech/Language

Communication (14 items); II. Sociability (20 items); III. Sensory/

Cognitive Awareness (18 items); and IV. Health/Physical/Behavior (25 items).

Unlike most of the scales, it is not copyrighted and may be used free

of charge by any researcher. Copies are available on request from the Autism

Research Institute or at the ARI web site, www.autism.com/atec.

Users of the ATEC may have it scored free (4 subscores and a total

score) by entering the responses via computer to the ATEC form on the

website for immediate and free-of-cost scoring.

Results of research using the ATEC will appear in future issues of the

ARRI (only with the express permission of the researchers who use ATEC, of

course).

1. Lord, , in: Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental

Disorders (1997). Ed. by D.J. Dohen and F.R. Volkmar, Wiley, New York City

(p. 477).

2. Accordo, P., and Bostwick, H., " Zebras in the living room: The

changing faces of autism, " Journal of Pediatrics, Vol. 135, No. 5,

Novemember 1999, p. 533.

[For the checklist website go to: http://www.autism.com/atec/ ]

* * *

The Abdominal Brain And Enteric Nervous System

J Altern Complement Med 1999 Dec;5(6):575-86

McMillin DL, s DG, Mein EA, CD

Meridian Institute, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23454, USA.

meridianinst@...

[Technical abstract.]

Conventional medical treatment for neurologic disorders such as

epilepsy, migraine, and autism focuses on the brain. Although standard

medical treatment is often helpful, the underlying causes of these disorders

are not well understood. Furthermore, some individuals respond poorly or not

at all to regular medicine. Evidence is accumulating in the medical

literature that the enteric nervous system (ENS)-that part of the nervous

system associated with the alimentary canal-also plays a role in these

disorders.

Historically, the concept of an autonomous abdominal nervous system

was advocated by Byron , Johannis Langley, and Edgar Cayce. The work

of these three prominent historical figures is considered along with modem

view-points on the abdominal nervous system. Complementary therapies that

address the nervous system of the abdomen have potential as useful adjuncts

to conventional treatment for certain neurologic disorders.

PMID: 10630351, UI: 20094047

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