Autism Research Institute

Autism Research Institute
TypeNon-profit 501(c)3[1]
Founded1967 (1967)[2]
FounderBernard Rimland[3]
Headquarters
San Diego, CA[1]
,
United States[1]
Key people
Stephen M. Edelson, Director[4]
ServicesOnline education, phone support, research grants, Autistic Global Initiative
Revenue$1,754,803 (2012)[5]
Websiteautism.org

The Autism Research Institute (ARI) is an organization that created a controversial program, Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!), in 1995.[6] ARI was founded in 1967 by Bernard Rimland.

Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!)

DAN! advocated for alternative treatments for autism and maintained a registry of doctors that were trained by the program to perform them.[7] DAN! was one of the more prominent advocates for the now discredited belief that vaccines may be a cause of autism.[2] Its "highest rated" autism treatment was chelation therapy, which involves removing heavy metals from the body.[7] Its chelation treatment was not supported by mainstream doctors.[8] Doctors told the Chicago Tribune the treatments were dangerous and that misleading tests were used to show that those with autism had a high rate of heavy metals.[7] According to the Chicago Tribune, metals occur naturally in the body and very little is known about what a normal range is.[7] As of 2009, three-fourths of families with a child diagnosed with autism will try an alternative treatment like those that were prescribed by DAN!.[7]

ARI's director said in 2011 that the organization's views on autism treatments had changed.[6] The DAN! program and doctor registry was discontinued in January 2011,[9] which was followed by the disbanding of the DAN! conference in 2012.[10][11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 About Our Work, Autism Research Institute, retrieved August 5, 2014
  2. 1 2 Eyal, Gil; Hart, Brendan; Onculer, Emine; Oren, Neta; et al. (2010). The Autism Matrix. Polity. pp. 237–238. ISBN 9780745643991.
  3. ↑ Carey, Benedict (November 28, 2006). "Bernard Rimland, 78, Scientist Who Revised View of Autism, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  4. ↑ About ARI: ARI Staff, Autism Research Institute, retrieved August 5, 2014
  5. ↑ "Charity Navigator Rating - Autism Research Institute". Charity Navigator. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Rudy, Lisa Jo (November 4, 2011). "Biomedical treatments for autism from the Autism Research Institute". About.com. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Tsouderos, Trine; Callahan, Patricia (November 22, 2009). "Risky alternative therapies for autism have little basis in science". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  8. ↑ Brownstein, Joseph (March 9, 2010). "Father sues doctors over 'fraudulent' autism therapy". ABC News.
  9. ↑ Rudy, Lisa Jo (September 2, 2011), DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) Is No More, About.com
  10. ↑ "Disbanding the ARI Conference". autism.com. Autism Research Institute.
  11. ↑ Dominus, Susan (April 20, 2011). "The crash and burn of an autism guru". The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2014. He [ Andrew Wakefield ] no longer speaks at the popular Autism Research Institute conference
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