Stem Cell treatment

I can't comment on whether stem cell surgery works.  I am not a doctor nor a surgeon.  I know as a parent I would want the best for my children.

However, I do know the recognised treatment for 'naughty' children when I was young.  (For autism was not a condition that was recognised in those far off days, I am now 62, and we were simply classed as naughty).

We were punished.  We were made to do things we found really upsetting and punished for being what we now know as autistic.  And to some extent it worked.  It didn't cure me, and I am sure it didn't cure anyone else.  But it changed our behaviour somewhat.  In much the same way, a wild animal such as a lion can be made to perform circus tricks, but the animal is still wild and one day it decides to bite the trainers head off.  It is not the fault of the lion, it is a wild beast and has not be changed by its training.  It is just conditioned behaviour.

So despite my punishment, I was still autistic.  Yes I learned to adapt, but I still had the same underlying condition, ready to show itself at some indeterminate times which again I was duly punished for.

Stem cell may work.  I don't know.  But it may just change the personality of the child to be more compliant, not a cure but like the old surgical brain procedures of long ago, a procedure that actually changes the essential person.  And to me that is not something I would want for a child of mine.

I have led a life which I can say has been eventful, I have had times of severe depression, been misunderstood, not been able to express  myself.  But as I have said before, it is society that puts barriers in the way.  Left to my own devices I do  not suffer the same confusion I get from trying to fit in.  The best cure is not trying to make someone into something they are not.  Work on the strengths that your child has.  And with the support available now, I am sure that she will not have the same problems I had.

I can't comment on whether stem cell surgery works.  I am not a doctor nor a surgeon.  I know as a parent I would want the best for my children.

However, I do know the recognised treatment for 'naughty' children when I was young.  (For autism was not a condition that was recognised in those far off days, I am now 62, and we were simply classed as naughty).

We were punished.  We were made to do things we found really upsetting and punished for being what we now know as autistic.  And to some extent it worked.  It didn't cure me, and I am sure it didn't cure anyone else.  But it changed our behaviour somewhat.  In much the same way, a wild animal such as a lion can be made to perform circus tricks, but the animal is still wild and one day it decides to bite the trainers head off.  It is not the fault of the lion, it is a wild beast and has not be changed by its training.  It is just conditioned behaviour.

So despite my punishment, I was still autistic.  Yes I learned to adapt, but I still had the same underlying condition, ready to show itself at some indeterminate times which again I was duly punished for.

Stem cell may work.  I don't know.  But it may just change the personality of the child to be more compliant, not a cure but like the old surgical brain procedures of long ago, a procedure that actually changes the essential person.  And to me that is not something I would want for a child of mine.

I have led a life which I can say has been eventful, I have had times of severe depression, been misunderstood, not been able to express  myself.  But as I have said before, it is society that puts barriers in the way.  Left to my own devices I do  not suffer the same confusion I get from trying to fit in.  The best cure is not trying to make someone into something they are not.  Work on the strengths that your child has.  And with the support available now, I am sure that she will not have the same problems I had.