The Time is Ripe for the Renaissance of Autism Treatments: Evidence from Clinical Practitioners

The exponential rise in autism diagnosis, paired with the high heterogeneity of the newly diagnosed children, call for diversification of therapies that currently treat autism under a one-size-fits-all model. Through several surveys involving practitioners from top therapies of autism, we find that there is awareness of the need to bring transformative changes to the curricula of accreditation systems guided by science of the mid-20^th Century. Furthermore, we find enthusiasm for combining principles of neuroscience and wearable biosensors to capture nuance aspects of behavior that currently escape the naked eye. Despite boasting different philosophies, each of the groups surveyed acknowledges the relevance of approaches complementary to their own and the need for a new collaborative model. This work shows that the time is ripe for an autism renaissance and that the change will likely come from within these therapists and service providers themselves.