Autism alternatives
by Kelly Stone
New research developments into autism from scientists at UniSA were presented at an international conference in Sydney last month. And they were well received with much interest shown in the work.
Dr Manya Angley from UniSA’s Sansom Institute for Health Research and PhD students Lynn Wang and Penelope Main, were involved in five presentations including a keynote address at the Asia Pacific Autism Conference 2009.
In a keynote symposia, Dr Angley who heads the Autism Research Group based at UniSA, discussed complementary and alternative medicine use in autism.
Her research has found that parents and carers of children with autism often turn to alternative medicines because mainstream medicine doesn’t have a solution that addresses the core deficits of autism - communication and language impairment, socialisation, and restricted and repetitive behaviours.
"Conventional medicines only address the symptoms of autism, they’re kind of a ‘band-aid’ treatment and they also have many side effects," she said.
"These are key reasons why carers opt for complementary medicines. However, complementary medicines are not a ‘magic bullet’. More randomised control trials are needed to examine their evidence base."
PhD student Lynn Wang had a poster session at the conference on her discovery into a laboratory test that may assist autism diagnosis (diagnosis is currently based on a cluster of clinical behaviours). Dr Angley said a high frequency of gastro-intestinal disturbance is reported in children with autism.
"Lynn’s work has found that some children with autism, those who had concurrent gastrointestinal disturbance, had higher levels of a certain chemical in their urine called IAG," she said.
"So if we were to give the children with this urinary biomarker over-the-counter probiotics, it could improve gastrointestinal symptoms which may in turn reduce the manifestations of autism. It won’t be relevant for all children with autism. Our next step is to conduct rigorous clinical trials, to determine whether or not such interventions have a role in autism management."
UniSA research on sensory subtypes in autism was also presented at the conference. Dr Angley said this research found three subtypes in autism, based on various domains of sensory processing including visual, taste, touch and movement.
Dr Angley said there was much interest in the UniSA research at the conference.
"We had a lot of interest from delegates, especially paediatricians and the caregiver community," she said.
"As autism is a hetero-geneous condition, it has been difficult to identify which treatments have benefit. Key researchers in each of the states have made steps towards forming a national alliance to conduct more randomised trials in distinct autism subgroups. This is very exciting as the likelihood of unveiling specific treatments for different subtypes of autism will increase."
Dr Angley said the Federal Government also announced funds to develop a proposal to establish a national autism register. Dr Angley and UniSA lecturer Dr Michael Sorich will play a key role in the establishment of the South Australian autism register.
Autism is estimated to affect up to one in 160 Australian children.