Treatments 'can modify autistic behaviour'

While there are no medications that will cure autism, certain treatments are available which can make the condition easier to live with, according to one expert, which could make some patients less dependent on respite care.

Dr Lars Davidsson, of the Anglo European Clinic, said that psychological and educational treatments are able to modify some of the behavioural problems experienced by those with the condition.

He said that these treatments are useful in that they can make the condition easier to live with.

The expert also queried recent comments from Baroness Greenfield, of the University of Oxford, who claimed that internet usage could be linked to autism.

He said that whether there is a link between chronic internet use and autism is "very much a question mark".

"Autism is a rather vague condition anyway. People who suffer from autism do suffer from it from birth when they haven't used electronic equipment," he pointed out.

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