Editor,
I am writing about the article featured on your front page March 1, 2004. "Parents: Autism curable" As a parent of a child with special needs and a professional in this field for more then 20 years, I was dismayed to see yet another article touting a "cure" for autism.
While autism is treatable there is no known cure for it and despite the delusions of Ms. Horn I find it incorrigible for her to claim that her daughter has been "cured" simply by taking B12. It is very sad that some people are able to generate such publicity and bring false hope to parents. I hope that you plan to follow up with Ms. Horn and her daughter in 10 years to see if Sophie has become a typically developing child. I also wonder how it is that Mr. Jim Cox became such an expert in the field of autism? Could you please tell me what his medical background is? Mr. Cox implies that autism is neural tube defect? This is the first I have heard of this, spina bifida is a neural tube defect but I didn't know that autism was. He also implied that autism or any neural tube defect is the fault of the mother who abused alcohol, cocaine and other substances.
It seems that he is implying that all mothers of children with special needs were substance abusers, this is totally false as any medical doctor will tell you. I would like to know where Mr. Cox gets his facts. Further more Bradstreet's remark that "The San Mateo-Foster City School district is up to its neck in autistic kids" was insensitive and very unprofessional. Give parents a break! They are trying as hard as they can to care for their children with special needs and don't need false hope or diagnoses from people who don't know what they are talking about.
Carolyn Locke
San Mateo
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