Biomedical intervention is one the most widely used intervention in treating the symptoms for ASD. There is not much intense research done on this due to which it is not been supported as evidence based method for treating ASD but it does not mean that biomedical treatment does not help at all.  Every child or human being is different. What works for one might not work for the other. Biomedical treatments might not help every child but thousands of parents have seen a dramatic improvement in their child by following biomedical treatment protocol. Although there is no scientific evidence behind but there is some stories that does ignite a spark of hope in biomedical intervention.

Biomedical intervention can be very helpful in bringing out the efficacy of other interventions like ABA, speech therapy sensory integration therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and social intervention. In fact good results can be seen if all the interventions can be done simultaneously without making it too stressful for a child.  Biomedical intervention may help in improving the health issues, which might be the cause for the autism symptoms. By making the body and brain healthy we can make the learning process easy for the child.

Theory behind Biomedical Intervention

Unlike scientific consensus, the basis that supports biomedical intervention is that the environmental factors play a very important role in neurological disorders. It disturbs the child’s neurological, immunological and gastrointestinal systems. Based on this belief that Autism spectrum disorders are due to physiological factors and should be treated the way physiological disorders are treated, biomedical intervention came into practice. Gastrointestinal issues faces by the autistic kids are constipation and diarrhea. They also crave too much for certain type of food like sugar. Immunological issues includes children’s high tendency to have allergies with certain kinds of food or environmental factors. Sensory issues, hyper or hypo activity contributes to the neurological factors

With the restrictive diet plan improvement has been reported and regression if goes back to unrestrictive diet. So the theory does provide the evidence that diet and nutrition plays an important role in behaviors in general but there is no proof of evidence that it can cure Autism.

Biomedical treatment includes

We have listed the approximate treatment order, but it is being followed on individual basis. Physician decides the order after thoroughly assessing the child and by doing the required test. No matter what order they follow but important is to deeply observe the effect of each treatment on child’s behavior as well through tests wherever required.

This Summary includes the following sections:

• Food Allergies (removing food like nuts, berries and eggs that are known to trigger  allergic reaction in kids,
• GFCF Diet (removing dairy products-casein and lactose, removing gluten products like wheat, rye, barley, oats etc.
• Improved diet
  •  Removing all artificially colored food (Feingold diet) removing all bi – and
  •  Removing poly-saccharides like starch, lactose, fructose (specific carbohydrate diet)
  •  Removing fruits and veggies that contains phenols, salicylates and other reactive substances.
  • Eating organic to avoid pesticides and hormones
• Lower sugar diet
• Vitamin/Mineral Supplements
• High-Dose Vitamin B6 and Magnesium
• Essential Fatty Acids
• Probiotics in diet
• Gut Treatments (Antifungal, probiotics, digestive enzymes)
• Amino Acids
• Melatonin (for sleep and other issues)
• Thyroid Supplements
• Sulfating
• Glutathione
• Chelation
• Immune System Regulation
• Herbs (Becopa , aurvedic  herb used for treating Autism) 

Pros and cons of Biomedical treatment

After following the biomedical intervention some parents and medical practitioners have seen improvements in the behavior of an autistic child.. Though there are anecdotal evidence to prove that biomedical treatment helps in improving the behavioral issues related to autism, but still there is no intense medical research done to prove it scientifically. There are many recovery stories mentioned by parents, after following one or various treatments. However, this fact may be confused with the progress seen in autistic children with or without any interventions. Some reported varying improvements with the change in diet or biomedical intervention and on the other hand no change is also reported by parents with the change in diet plan. There are lot for research done by the top practitioners in their respective field to prove their point but still the confusion persists. Whenever any new therapy or treatment is introduced for treating any illness, changes do happen, it could be positive or negative. Enough time should be given before coming to any conclusion.

Despite of all these studies and research, there are lot of parents and practitioners who are following the biomedical intervention. Also there are parents who want no stone should be left unturned when to comes to curing their child and try to follow all the possible treatments available with the thought that something might help in some way, their child.

Things to remember before starting biomedical treatment.

• Do not introduce more that one treatment at a time, instead of helping it will create problems.  This can dramatically swing the child’s mood and behavior.  It will become difficult to find out the actual cause of the change. A very aggressive approach is being followed by some practitioners. Just be careful and be aware.
• There should be a rest period between the two treatments. It should not be back to back. Often it is being noticed that child do not get enough time to learn and explore new skills  before they are shot by another treatment.
• Biomedical treatment should be backed by test or observation. It will become difficult to analyze whether the treatment is helping or not until there is a  baseline to support it. Test will give an evidence to see the effect of the treatment and can also help in making decision to continue it or not

Always follow the biomedical treatment that is being supported by some evidence based research and also should be based on child’s test results. It should be given a trial period and then  re-test should be performed. If results are positive, then only continue otherwise stop it.