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New autism treatment: cruel or
effective? August 14,
2007
By Amanda Paterson
 Video:
Controversial Therappy
It may seem like cruel and unusual
punishment, but intense electric shocks can help parents control
children made violent and aggressive by autism, says one expert.
The new therapy is the work of US
doctor Matthew Israel, who runs the Judge Rotenberg Centre in
Massachusetts.
It involves attaching electrodes to
a child's arms, legs and torso. When kids misbehave, a supervisor at
the centre presses a remote control to give the unruly youngster an
electronic skin shock.
The centre, which is also a school,
needs the permission of both parents and a court before the shock
therapy can begin.
"The real torture is what these
children are subjected to if they don't have this program," said Dr
Israel.
Autistic children in the program do
not suffer any long-term side effects, according to Dr Israel.
"…it has absolutely no side effects
and is extremely effective as a corrective procedure to encourage
children not to show violent behaviour," he said.
"If it didn't hurt it wouldn't be
effective. It has to hurt enough so that the student wants to avoid
showing that behaviour again."
Queensland mum, Joy, who struggles
to cope with her autistic son Jayden, thought she would try the new
device for herself.
"Before trying this I was sitting
on the fence and I wasn't sure if I was for or against it."
"After feeling the intensity of
this, I'm totally opposed to the whole thing," she said.
Sydney dad, Jim, has had his teeth
broken three times by daughter Molly and he was also willing to try
this new technique.
His six-year-old daughter has a
history of being violent and he was prepared to be open minded bout
this treatment.
"It might seem cruel (the eclectic
shock) but in the times where she's smashing her head against the
concrete or doing physical harm, that's got to outweigh ( the pain)
side of it," he said.
"Ow that hurt…it’s painful, very
painful," said Jim, after we've given him a shock using Dr Israel's
system.
Jim thinks the therapy would just
torture Molly who would be in tears after being subjected to the
controversial shock treatment.
Jackie Roberts, an Australian
autism expert, says the this kind of therapy simply wouldn't work
and would probably make things worse.
"Children with autism in particular
have a very high level of fear and anxiety, and punishing them
actually increases that fear," said Dr Roberts.
"…it's likely to make the
behaviours worse," she said. "We do know that punishment has a
short-term effect."
But US teenager Ed Ferry, who spent
five years attached to Dr Israel's device, says it helped him
overcome his condition.
"I would head bang, I would bit
myself I would be searing. I would be physically held down by
numerous staff members…My life wasn't going anywhere."
Now he has a job and his own place
to live. "I never envisaged getting this far in life."
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