By Joe Rios
CREATED 9:47 AM
(AP) In most developed countries, children with autism usually are sent to school, where they get special education classes. But in France, they are more often sent to a psychiatrist, where they get talk therapy meant for people with psychological or emotional problems.
Things are slowly changing, but not without resistance. Last month, a report by France's top health authority concluded there was no agreement among scientists about whether psychotherapy works for autism, and it was not included in the list of recommended treatments.
That provoked an outcry from psychiatrists. Groups including Freudian societies, the World Association of Psychoanalysis and France's Child Institute started a petition calling on the French government to recognize their clinical approach, focused on psychotherapy.
"The situation in France is sort of like the U.S. in the 1950s," said Fred Volkmar, a U.S. expert who directs the Child Study Center at Yale University. "The French have a very idiosyncratic view of autism, and for some reason, they are not convinced by the evidence."
Behavioral methods, which focus on helping autistic children communicate with others and develop social skills, are the norm in Britain, Canada, Japan, the United States and elsewhere in Europe. But they're seldom used in France.
France has long been criticized for its approach to treating autism. In 2002, the charity Autism Europe lodged a complaint against France with the Council of Europe, charging the country was refusing to educate autistic children, as required under the European Social Charter.
The charge was upheld, and the European Committee of Social Rights declared, "France has failed to achieve sufficient progress" in educating autistic children. The committee also slammed France for making autistic people "an excluded group" and said there was a chronic shortage of care.
Volkmar said some forms of psychotherapy might be helpful for high-functioning autistic children to handle specific problems such as anxiety but should not be considered a first-line treatment. He said the vast majority of autistic children in the United States more than 95 percent attend school.
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French Autism Therapy Criticized