Can you really CURE a child of autism? With parental devotion and a pioneering treatment, Jamie's behaviour has been transformed. So why are experts sceptical?

Robertson family paid for a psychologist to assess their son aged three

Father Christopher said learning about child's autism was 'distressing'

He has attended mainstream preparatory school since the age of four



Parents credit turnaround on vigorous intensive educational therapy



His grades are amongst the best in his class and he hopes to do GCSEs



Like all new parents, Rhona and Christopher Robertson were mesmerised by their adorable baby son, and when he reached normal development milestones a little later than expected, at first they thought nothing of it.

But by the time Jamie was two, they were getting concerned.

‘He was walking at 18 months — which was a wee bit late — but speaking just didn’t happen,’ recalls Christopher, 49, a technology marketing consultant who lives with his family in Cambridge.

Scroll down to hear Jamie play



Talented: Jamie Roberston, 11, who was diagnosed with a severe form of autism at the age of three

‘He would learn words but then seem to forget them. He was not interacting, he didn’t have good eye contact, and was prone to running up and down the room repetitively.’

Their GP and health worker both insisted that, like many boys, Jamie was simply a late developer.

But when Jamie was three and still not progressing or speaking, the Robertsons paid privately for a psychologist to assess their son for autism.

‘He was off the scale,’ says Christopher. ‘There was no question; no doubt whatsoever.’

Jamie was found to have a severe form of autism — a developmental disability causing problems with communication and learning. It is thought to affect one in every 100 children, and is more common in boys than girls.

Christopher found no relief in finally having their suspicions confirmed.

‘It was pretty distressing,’ he says. ‘We were told Jamie would never go to mainstream school, that there was no treatment for autism, and all we could do was learn to cope with the problem.

‘Not only was this depressing, I know now that it was totally wrong.’

Recovery: Christopher Robertson, Jamie's father, described learning of his son's diagnosis as 'distressing' but has always believed that a 'full recovery is possible'

For Jamie, who is now 11, has confounded all expectations. He has attended a mainstream preparatory school since the age of four, and his grades are among the best in his class, scoring 95 per cent in maths, 91 per cent in science and 85 per cent in English last year.

His parents and teachers are hopeful that he will go on to do GCSEs, and perhaps even A-Levels and a degree.

He has friends at school and was elected secretary of his school council. He has just started playing Monopoly.

Music man: Jamie has also been found to be highly musically gifted, and is already at grade six in piano and jazz piano, and grade four in both the double bass and organ

Jamie has also been found to be highly musically gifted, and is already at grade six in piano and jazz piano, and grade four in both the double bass and organ.

His parents credit this turnaround to a vigorous programme of intensive educational therapy and parenting techniques, along with dietary changes. Medication has been used to lower mercury levels in his body.

The Robertsons are among a growing number of people who believe autism is not a lifelong condition, but an illness that can be treated.

So can a child be ‘cured’ of autism? And should they be?

‘Throughout all this, we’ve been met with opposition and been told nothing can be done — but we’ve proved everyone wrong,’ says Christopher.

‘Autism is a complex disorder and I would not use the word “cure”, but I do think children can recover and be rehabilitated. I think that full recovery is possible: we just don’t know how to do it yet.’

According to the National Autistic Society, the leading charity for people with the condition, an estimated 500,000 people in the UK have an autistic spectrum disorder.

Typical signs are a lack of social instinct, an interest in things rather than people, difficulties with language, and finding comfort in routine and repetitiveness. People with autism tend to have all these symptoms, though to differing degrees.

Autistic people can also have great talents and strengths — for example in mathematics and music. This is now thought to be because the brain compensates for a deficiency in one region by overdeveloping in another.

Though autism is considered by many experts to be a lifelong condition, with a genetic basis, research is starting to show that some children may ‘grow out’ of it. Last year, in a U.S. study of 1,366 parents of children diagnosed with autism, a third said their children no longer had the condition.

And last month, scientists at the University of Connecticut reported on 34 children aged eight to 21 who had been diagnosed with autism early in life but now displayed no signs of it.



Sociable: Jamie's parents credit this turnaround to a vigorous programme of intensive educational therapy and parenting techniques, along with dietary changes

Experts accept that some of these cases may be explained by the fact that some children are misdiagnosed, and that the most dramatic improvements tend to be seen in those on the milder end of the spectrum.

But many hope the findings may help improve behavioural therapies for autism.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, a psychologist at Cambridge University and one of Britain’s leading experts on the condition, said recently: ‘People with autism are just like anyone else and can be capable of learning.

‘This can change the nature of their brains — because when any child learns, this process must make changes in their brain.’

Richard Mills, director of research at charity Research Autism, adds: ‘It’s always been the case that some people who met the diagnosis of autism when they were young don’t meet it as they get older — but we don’t really know the reason.



‘They may have lived in supportive environments and become more stable. However, no one can point to one intervention and say: “That’s how you do it.”’

Christopher says a therapy called Applied Behavioural Analysis, or ABA, was particularly beneficial in treating Jamie’s autism. Originally developed at the University of California, ABA uses a system of rewards to teach a child skills and train them to behave according to social norms.

Under the supervision of a trained psychologist, ABA tutors work with the family at home, breaking tasks down into chunks which are repeated over and over. They also teach parents the techniques. ABA can be used to teach everything from toilet training and academic subjects to how to play and have conversations.

Independence: Mr Robertson said: 'I believe you have to expose these children to the real world to give them a chance of independence'

Jamie began an intense programme of 40 hours a week of ABA at the age of three.

‘We spent £50,000 on it, all of which came out of our pension savings,’ says Christopher. ‘We knew this was our retirement going up in smoke.

‘But after one year, Jamie was showing such improvements in IQ that we managed to win funding from our local education authority to continue it.’

Alongside ABA, Christopher and Rhona researched and tried a multitude of strategies — some of which worked and some of which didn’t.

Mr Robertson believes that being in a mainstream school environment has, in itself, been instrumental in Jamie's improvements

When he was three-and-a-half, they had him tested for levels of mercury, as some theories link autism to metal poisoning from mercury in the environment.

Jamie’s levels of mercury were found to be six times higher than expected for his age, and he was given capsules of a drug called dimercaptosuccinic acid which binds to mercury, allowing the body to excrete it.

His parents say it had a dramatic impact, and soon afterwards Jamie started drawing — having never been able to do so before.

At four, Jamie started at a mainstream primary school for two mornings a week, having ABA at home for the rest of the time. By the time he was seven, he was attending school full-time, with a dedicated teaching assistant.

Christopher believes that being in a mainstream school environment has, in itself, been instrumental in Jamie’s improvements. ‘Special schools teach a narrow curriculum, to the lowest common denominator,’ he says, ‘meaning children come out with no GCSEs, and institutionalisation becomes inevitable.

‘I believe you have to expose these children to the real world to give them a chance of independence.’

But not everyone is convinced that autism is such a malleable condition. Richard Mills, of Research Autism, says many parents find interventions such as ABA useful, but warns that in the stress of diagnosis, it can be easy to succumb to claims of ‘miracle cures’.

‘The placebo effect can be powerful,’ he adds. ‘If you feel it’s doing good, then continue. But be honest with yourself, and if it’s not working, then stop doing it. There’s lots of extravagant — and groundless — claims made for treatments which don’t hold up, and which cost lots of money.’

The National Autistic Society also advises caution. ‘Many different interventions have been developed,’ said a spokesman, ‘yet there’s a great deal we still don’t know about their effectiveness, as very few have been independently or scientifically evaluated.

‘Too often, bold claims are made about therapies and interventions without any supporting evidence. This is irresponsible.’

This was June Cox-Smith’s experience. Her son Edward, now 15, underwent ABA between the ages of three and seven.

‘It was £15,000 a year — I sold my jewellery to pay for it,’ says June, 58, who lives with her husband Patrick, a retired banker, in Ilkesham, Sussex. They have two other children, Alexandra, 21, and Mark, 17.

According to the National Autistic Society, the leading charity for people with the condition, an estimated 500,000 people in the UK have an autistic spectrum disorder

‘ABA was relentless, and very hard work,’ she says. We’d sit and make ten attempts with him to say one sound, take a break, then start again.

‘The first few sessions were a nightmare, but over a year Edward’s behaviour became much better. Within two-and-a-half years, we had taught him to speak. An amazing achievement.’

Within another year, Edward could read. At the age of six, he began attending mainstream school, with June there as his ABA assistant.

But something was wrong.

‘In the school setting, Edward just regressed,’ says June. ‘He didn’t understand what was going on. He was used to working one-to-one, not sitting quietly in a group and listening to a story. If ever I wasn’t there, he would become upset and try to escape.

‘Within eight months, I’d transferred him to a special school.’

Although June says ABA was what got Edward to speak and to read, she now believes she was overly optimistic about curing her son.

‘We spent thousands of hours teaching him things like maths, geography and history — which are all gone now.

‘All those play skills, too, they were forced. Autistic children don’t play.

‘The practitioners put forward all this propaganda — reports of children who had been cured — and I just wanted it to be true. You suspend your disbelief because you’re so desperate for your child to do well.’

June now believes that while children with autism may learn to cope with their condition, they will never get better.

Jamie has attended a mainstream preparatory school since the age of four, and his grades are among the best in his class, scoring 95 per cent in maths, 91 per cent in science and 85 per cent in English last year

‘Nothing will change the way they see the world. Their brain is damaged and you can’t change it. If you think your child was cured, then they couldn’t have been autistic in the first place.

‘In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s wrong to want to “cure” them. My son is like a sweet, gentle bear who happens to be a little different.’

Indeed, many parents say that, if anything, their child’s autism has worsened, not improved, with age.

Paul Stuart’s son Andrew was diagnosed with autism aged four.

‘To an extent, youth masked some of the problems, and people said “He’ll grow out of it”,’ says Paul, 59, a retired teacher from Glasgow.

‘Now he’s 16, it’s much more prominent because people expect more from him than when he was eight.’

Paul, who is married to Isobel, 46, and has a daughter Suzanne, 22, and another son, Peter, 19, says he understands why parents want to treat the condition.

‘Parents, understandably, want to somehow change them and put them in mainstream education — but in my experience it never works. I wish you could use a magic wand to wave autism away, but you can’t.’



VIDEO Jamie's talent on display during performance at Dorchester Abbey

Paul and Isobel decided early on that rather than spend time on intervention techniques, they would immerse themselves in Andrew’s world and try to structure his life so that he could function as easily as possible.

‘Andrew is at his worst in the mornings,’ says Paul. ‘Left alone, he’d wear the wrong trousers, forget his lunch money, forget his coat, forget to clean his teeth and so on.

‘So we made a check list for him to follow every day — and now, nine times out of ten, he gets it right.

‘But it’s not because he’s thinking differently. It’s because he is being conditioned to do it. The autism isn’t going away, and he will never do it automatically, like I do.’

Andrew is currently attending a special school, but he goes to a course in football training at a mainstream college and is popular among friends at his local church’s youth group. His parents hope he will be able to live independently when he’s older.

‘Andrew is desperate to be independent, and I’m not going to be around for ever, so when the time is right we’ll get him into supported accommodation so that he can get used to it,’ says Paul.

Christopher and Rhona Robertson are all too aware that their son will face a new set of challenges as he reaches adolescence, and are researching more strategies to ensure he doesn’t regress.

‘The challenges are already here, and we’ve already gone way beyond ABA,’ says Christopher. ‘We both know we have to keep teaching Jamie the social skills he needs.

‘There is no magic bullet, and we can’t say that our formula would work for everyone.

‘But my fear is that other parents are told the same disheartening things we were told about autism, and they don’t have the resources to show otherwise.

‘I believe that it is possible to recover from autism — but the child needs all the help they can get.’