A number of autism books address the issue of supplementation.

Autism: Effective Biomedical Treatments (2005) by Jon Pangborn, PhD, and Sidney Baker, MD, has biomedical information and one entire section on supplements.

Pangborn outlines a general protocol for introducing supplements. He acknowledges that certainly not everyone would benefit from it, but he does explain in a lot of detail the background science and experience informing these recommendations.

Kenneth Bock, MD has a book which also addresses supplementation. Healing the New Childhood Epidemics contains Bock's general recommendations along with brief discussions regarding what benefits the supplements can have.

Children with Starving Brains, by Jacquelyn McCandless, MD, also deals with supplement treatments for children with autism.

James Adams, PhD, has written a summary of biomedical treatments, including supplementation, that you can find here .

You will notice the comment "good ARI rating" in some of what follows. To find out a bit more about what has worked for other parents, visit the Autism Research Institute website.

Some information in this file was also gleaned from DANWebCast presentations. This includes presentations on autism, particularly biomedical options.

Dana, a parent who has recovered her children, has a website containing an amazing amount of information, including supplementation that worked for her kids. The supplement specific information is here

Another site for detailed supplement information that is not ASD specific is www.Vitaminherbuniversity.com which offers articles and helpful ideas such as how to read a vitamin label, what toxicity looks like, and health implications for each supplement.

Two books which discuss general supplementation are Michael Murray's Encyclopedia of Nutritional Supplements and The Power of Herbs. One knowledgeable parent describes them as "very well-organized, well-written, in depth (but not so much depth it's impossible to follow)."

A quick introduction to supplements common use for biomedical approaches to autism can be found at the on the Kirkman Labs website (be sure to roll over the supplements to get the information).

Some parents are using the Yasko protocol for their autistic children or simply using some of the supplements recommended by Amy Yasko. You can find out more information here

Her supplement recommendations are for the most part quite different from the Defeat Autism Now approach. Yasko's approach takes into account genetic testing and some parents have found this helpful in making supplement decisions for their child.

Knowing which are the fat soluble vitamins and which are the water soluble vitamins can help you organise your dosing schedule. The fat soluble vitamins are A, D, E, and K. The water soluble vitamins are B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B7 (biotin), B9 (folic acid), B12 (cobalamin), and C (ascorbic acid). NB Treating Autism receives no payment from any supplement manufacturer, our information is purely based on feedback from parents and practitioners. It is not medical advice.