Who are the foremost experts on autism?
Parents are the greatest experts on autism. Everyone else is second. This includes, alphabetically: ABA Therapists, DIR Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Medical Doctors, Physical Therapists, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Scientists, Social Workers, Speech Therapists and others. Parents know more about autism than anyone else and they should be respected by doctors and other professionals accordingly. Lynn Hamilton says in her book Facing Autism: Giving Parents Reasons for Hope and Guidance for Help, “You will need to initiate the discussion and be persistent in fighting for what your child needs…Don’t give up!..I often urge parents to stop seeing the doctor as the ultimate authority and to start viewing him or her as a member of their board of advisors.” While at NIH, I suggested to an MD who is one of the experts on autism there that the gluten-free, casein-free diet has improved symptoms to some extent for a certain subset of children with autism. This diet involves avoiding prot
