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Fad, Pseudoscientific, and Controversial Interventions

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Early Intervention for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Part of the book series: Evidence-Based Practices in Behavioral Health ((EBPBH))

Abstract

Mere tolerance of untested, disproven, and pseudoscientific interventions has too often created significant setbacks, immeasurable difficulties, and countless obstacles for children with autism and their families. The professions associated with autism have been plagued by subscription to and application of dubious interventions. New fads arise and dissipate with astonishing speed while disproven methods like facilitated communication regain popularity and unproven interventions like sensory integration proliferate widely. Previous chapters in this text outline various models derived from the scientific process in ways that reflect increasing emphasis on evidence-based practices for improving outcomes of children with autism and their families. However, delimiting these models, the associated methods and strategies, and the underlying theoretical constructs from which they are derived is insufficient for deterring adoption of unproven and disproven interventions. Accordingly, this chapter represents an attempt to contribute to the discussions about why autism continues to be fertile ground for pseudoscientific and fad interventions while also educating readers about conditions that sustain discredited and unproven practices. We overview some fundamental philosophical tenets of science and contrast them with tactics used by snake oil peddlers and charlatans. We then shift to provide an overview of historical and contemporary of examples of fad, pseudoscientific, and controversial interventions to illustrate the absence of evidence, fallacious logic, and otherwise irrational beliefs associated with them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Special Education, University of Kansas, 1122 West Campus Road, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Jason C. Travers & Richard L. Simpson

  2. Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Kevin Ayers

  3. Special Education, California Polytechnic State University, 444 Minnesota Avenue #300, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Stephen Crutchfield

Authors
  1. Jason C. Travers
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  2. Kevin Ayers
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  3. Richard L. Simpson
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  4. Stephen Crutchfield
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Correspondence to Jason C. Travers .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Texas State University Clinic for Autism, San Marcos, Texas, USA

    Russell Lang

  2. Texas State University Clinic for Autism, San Marcos, Texas, USA

    Terry B. Hancock

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Health Beha, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta Univ, Augusta, Georgia, USA

    Nirbhay N. Singh

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Travers, J.C., Ayers, K., Simpson, R.L., Crutchfield, S. (2016). Fad, Pseudoscientific, and Controversial Interventions. In: Lang, R., Hancock, T., Singh, N. (eds) Early Intervention for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Evidence-Based Practices in Behavioral Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30925-5_9

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