how do i deal with my dads advise

It sounds to me as though you are well on track to dealing with this properly :-)

Your doctor is giving good advice and it sounds as though he really understands the condition. Keep talking to him and listening to his advice and reading this forum as there is lots of real exerience here.

When you look at 'alternative' therapies there are a few things to bear in mind.

Autism is a big problem for a lot of people so there is a lot of work going on. One of the biggest problems for this work is the difficulty in getting useful responses out of the patients. Autistic people are, by their very nature, poor communicators so it is difficult for researchers to know what is making a positive difference and what is not. On top of that, autisitic people respond massively to different environments as you have seen with his response to shopping. When a child is subjected to a study programme or a dietary intervention it can be difficult to separate the placebo effect of the extra attention that is involved in the study from the actual effect of the intervention itself.

I keep an open mind about most interventions but I am also very wary of people who get carried away and claim miracle cures or who claim that they have found the answer to autism. Dr Andrew Wakefield thought he found a connection between MMR and autism but his theory has been tested over and over and they have found nothing except that he was guilty of making up results. The stem cell advocates don't have any data or real theory about why a stem cell therapy would make any difference. They may have someone who appeared to respond to treatment but was the response a coincidence or the placebo affect or what? Autistic children change from time to time and indeed I have noticed that my own sensory problems have come and gone over time.

The one constant through this is that the underlying condition is unavoidable. I have the same problems now as I had 50 years ago as a child. I hated parties, had few friends at school etc etc. However, I have lead a fairly normal and successful life and have only recently needed a diagnosis due to finding myself in a hostile work environment. What I am learning is that you can make a massive difference to an autistic person's happiness by attending to the things that press their buttons.

I hope you can keep on going with working out what it means for your son and hope that he starts to talk to you soon. I think he will but it takes patience and something will set him going when he gets the opportunity and motivation to communicate.

It sounds to me as though you are well on track to dealing with this properly :-)

Your doctor is giving good advice and it sounds as though he really understands the condition. Keep talking to him and listening to his advice and reading this forum as there is lots of real exerience here.

When you look at 'alternative' therapies there are a few things to bear in mind.

Autism is a big problem for a lot of people so there is a lot of work going on. One of the biggest problems for this work is the difficulty in getting useful responses out of the patients. Autistic people are, by their very nature, poor communicators so it is difficult for researchers to know what is making a positive difference and what is not. On top of that, autisitic people respond massively to different environments as you have seen with his response to shopping. When a child is subjected to a study programme or a dietary intervention it can be difficult to separate the placebo effect of the extra attention that is involved in the study from the actual effect of the intervention itself.

I keep an open mind about most interventions but I am also very wary of people who get carried away and claim miracle cures or who claim that they have found the answer to autism. Dr Andrew Wakefield thought he found a connection between MMR and autism but his theory has been tested over and over and they have found nothing except that he was guilty of making up results. The stem cell advocates don't have any data or real theory about why a stem cell therapy would make any difference. They may have someone who appeared to respond to treatment but was the response a coincidence or the placebo affect or what? Autistic children change from time to time and indeed I have noticed that my own sensory problems have come and gone over time.

The one constant through this is that the underlying condition is unavoidable. I have the same problems now as I had 50 years ago as a child. I hated parties, had few friends at school etc etc. However, I have lead a fairly normal and successful life and have only recently needed a diagnosis due to finding myself in a hostile work environment. What I am learning is that you can make a massive difference to an autistic person's happiness by attending to the things that press their buttons.

I hope you can keep on going with working out what it means for your son and hope that he starts to talk to you soon. I think he will but it takes patience and something will set him going when he gets the opportunity and motivation to communicate.