The BBC News reports that after 40 hours of hyperbaric treatment autistic children showed significant improvements in social interaction and eye contact compared with controls. However, this treatment has not been evaluated to date with a controlled study.

The study leader Dr Dan Rossignol from the International Child Development Resource Centre, in Florida, said the use of hyperbaric therapy for autism has been gaining popularity in the US where parents can buy their own hyperbaric chamber if they have a spare $14-17,000….continue reading

Source: BBC News BMC Pediatrics

Regular visitors to this blog will know that one of my first reads of the day is the Guardian. One of my favourite writers is their science correspondent Dr. Ben Goldacre
Check out this video that Ben posted on his blog Bad Science, which is well worth subcribing to. Oh and Ben keep the haircut, I think its cute!

Related posts: Court rules no link between vaccines and autism
Source: Bad Science

A special court ruled Thursday that evidence presented in three cases by parents of children with autism did not prove a link between autism and certain early childhood vaccines.

The ruling closes one chapter in a long feud that has pitted families with autistic children against the bulk of the scientific establishment. Those who believe passionately that routine childhood shots are to blame for the rising toll of autism feel they are locked in a David-and-Goliath struggle against vaccine manufacturers, corrupt scientists, federal agencies and the mainstream media. It remains to be seen whether yesterday’s ruling will end the controversy — or be seen as just more evidence of what some call a conspiracy. Washington Post

Related link A Sunday Times investigation has found that altered data was behind the decade-long scare over vaccination
Source: CNN