There is no one therapy that does it all. And, to complicate it further, like most "mental" problems", it's not simple to diagnose. In the younger ages, it's easily confused with mental retardation, or brain damage. What are the known causes of autism? Perhaps the best known today is the usage of mercury ( thimeroserol) in infant and childhood vaccines. Only in the past few years was this practice discontinued. So, we've literally poisoned millions of children with good intent! Protecting them from dangerous childhood diseases has caused much worse problems. Another well known cause of autism is food sensitivity and allergy. Virtually every known mental problem may be caused by a normally harmless allergen - a simple food that has been " recognized" by that person's immune system as " dangerous". This seems to be caused by what is called "leaky gut syndrome". A major theory in this cause is that the malnourishment of the mother prior to birth and during initial feeding after birth opens the entrances from the gut too much in the attempt to obtain more needed vitamins and minerals and enzymes, etc. This larger "leaky gut opening" allows larger " particles" thru the gut walls into the portal vein. Instead of digested single amino acids, or simple combinations of a few amino acids, longer chains of amino acids are allowed thru. These larger than "normal" collections of amino acids may then be recognized by the immune system as possible viruses, bacteria, or even parasites. This particular collection of amino acids is now a distinct allergen to that person, even though it is actually harmless. There are possibly many other minor causes and/or combinations of causes. We know very little about the evolution of our immune system, and how allergy/sensitivity is developed. What can we do to "normalize" autistic children? What are the answers that we already know? The Mercury Toxicity Problem< /font> As a former orthomolecular psychologist, mineral toxicity is well known to me. I've seen several schizophrenic patients "cured" that suffered from copper toxicity in particular. The first step is diagnosis of this problem. Is mineral toxicity involved? There are several different ways to diagnose mineral toxicity. In my opinion the best way is a mineral hair analysis. Most MD's prefer a 24 hour urine collection. Actual blood tests and urine and saliva tests are not reliable. It seems that all toxic minerals are stopped from getting into the brain by the filtering and storage facility of the liver. A large amount of mercury getting to the brain would be very dangerous, so the liver stops it and stores it, and then gradually releases as small an amount back into the bloodstream so that it can be excreted. Hair is an excretion route, and an inch or so of hair tells a "history" of mineral excretion over a period of weeks. While hair analysis isn't very accurate insofar as amount in the body, it's very accurate as to what's been excreted over time. A hair analysis would be my first step towards solving the autism problem. Supposing that the hair analysis came back showing large amounts of mercury. What to do next? The answer is some form of chelation. Chelation means "to grab onto". There are several drugs that do this for minerals. In the blood stream, these drugs (EDTA and others) literally grab onto minerals, and allow them to exit the body thru the kidney/urine excretion system. This usually involves going to a chelation clinic, sitting for an hour or so with a needle in the arm. It's not that uncomfortable, although a small child might find it so. This procedure is done several times over a period of several weeks. . One problem with this is that because the chelation agent (drug) "claws onto" all minerals in the blood stream, it takes out essential minerals as well as the toxic ones. So, it becomes very necessary to supplement the minerals our bodies need for everyday use. In effect, taking all out, good and bad, and putting back the good. It's also not cheap, as it involves "doctor time".