Online Therapeutic Options for ASD

News the public has been waiting for: swine flu vaccinations will be available to people who want one around mid October. In other vaccine-related news, the FDA vaccines advisory committee has recommended that GlaxoSmithKline’s BLA for Cervarix to prevent cervical cancer in females aged 10-25 years and Merck’s sBLA for Gardasil to prevent genital warts in males age 9-26 years be approved.

I ran across a therapeutic alternative that I wasn’t aware existed for autism spectrum disorder yesterday, an online subscription service called rethink autism that delivers customizable applied behavioral analysis (ABA)-based treatment plans to parents for use at home. The sample lessons that the company posted on the website looked useful and the ones I looked at appeared in video format.

I performed a brief (emphasis on brief) Google search to see if I could come up with software comparable to the rethink autism offering, and didn’t see a similar product. Because I know how difficult it can be for parents to find—and pay for–the traditionally delivered services for children, I like the idea of a potentially more cost effective and convenient at-home offering. The primary concern that comes to mind is effective delivery in the absence of regular professional support.

If any readers have experience with this program or a like program, please comment. I’d like to hear about it.