My Letter about Autism Published in the Wall Street Journal

 4/27/25

Progress in Treating Autism but No Magic Bullet So Far

Crank, expensive autism treatments masquerading as science promising quick cures, lurk at the doors of progress, waiting

---

Jan. 29, 2016 11:05 am ET

---

Regarding Dr. Richard McNally’s fine review of John Donvan and Caren Zucker’s extraordinary book “In a Different Key” (Books, Jan. 23): The first time I evaluated an autistic child, in the 1970s, I met two warm, loving, guilt-ridden parents telling me through their tears about their unresponsive, odd five-year-old child who didn’t talk and was obsessed with playing with door knobs and hinges. When this child entered my office, he walked past me as if I wasn’t there, and went straight to curtains and began sucking on the cloth.

Scientists discovered the importance of genetics in autism and devised behavioral methods to help some autistic children reach closer to their potential and live lives of meaning. Because we know so little about the complex etiology of autism, crank, expensive treatments masquerading as science promising quick cures lurk at the doors of progress, waiting to lure parents down the road of dangerous psychiatric misadventures.

Steven J. Ceresnie, Ph.D.

Plymouth, Mich.