Alternative Therapies For Developmental and Learning Disabilities - Evidence Basis

Evidence Basis

Complementary and alternative medicine often lacks support in scientific evidence, so its safety and efficacy are often questionable. Some therapists who advocate CAM may claim to cure many conditions or disabilities that are not diseases and therefore cannot be "cured".

While some experts encourage parents to be open-minded, others argue that treatments and services with no proven efficacy have opportunity costs because they displace the opportunity to participate in efficient treatments and services. According to Scott O. Lilienfeld,

many individuals who spend large amounts of time and money on ineffective treatments may be left with precious little of either. As a result, they may forfeit the opportunity to obtain treatments that could be more helpful. Thus, even ineffective treatments that are by themselves innocuous can indirectly produce negative consequences.

There is often little or no scientific evidence for effectiveness of alternative therapies. It may be difficult to separate the success of a specific treatment from natural development or from the benefits of the individual's positive attitude. Some phenomena to be considered when evaluating studies are the placebo effect, the Hawthorne effect and different types of attentional and motivational effects. Doubtless, people with disabilities may benefit from some alternative therapies, at least for relaxation, social interaction, personal development and self-esteem. This can be important because many children with learning difficulties suffer from low self-esteem.

For instance, a randomised controlled trial with dyslexic children was undertaken to evaluate the efficiency of Sunflower therapy which includes applied kinesiology, physical manipulation, massage, homeopathy, herbal remedies and neuro-linguistic programming. There were no significant improvements in cognitive nor literacy test performance associated with the treatment, but there were significant improvements in self-esteem for the treatment group. This study did not control for the placebo effect.