The “what if” factor, or why parents pursue pseudoscientific "treatments"

Peter Gerhardt is the President of the Organization for Autism Research (OAR). He recently wrote a guest post for Jen Laviano's blog, Special Ed Justice,titled On Science, Pseudoscience, and the Mega-millions Lottery I think it's worth reading by parents and by members of the skeptical community alike.

A father of a young man with autism I know once explained to me that the reason he had tried so many alternative therapies was the “what if” factor. “Maybe those other therapies didn’t work,” he explained, “But what if this new one does?” What if? For him, the greatest risk was in not trying something that might help his son achieve any number of desirable outcomes. Those desirable outcomes (e.g., language, independence, social competence, friends, absence of challenging behavior, diagnostic reversal, and happiness) are formidable motivators which may shape behavior away from embracing science, with its effortful and often plodding pace, and toward an acceptance of pseudoscience which promises greater results than science with, usually, significantly less effort

Also see

• The Fleecing of the Autism Community
• Identifying and Avoiding Autism Cults

Comments

[Squillo]

Great article, thanks for sharing this, Liz.

[susan senator]

Peter Gerhardt is the founder of OAR, Organization for Autism Research, and they support research that goes towards making the lives of autistic adults work better. He is an expert in teaching guys like my Nat how to work, and he also trains the workplaces on how to work with even severe ASD peeps. He is my hero! Thanks for pointing me to this article.

[calendars]

A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. meself read that one a few more.
i look forward to reading more in teh future.

[coffee bean]

A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. you read that one a few more.