Hi All - summary of comments made to me on the Mente Austim device from a Behaviour Therapist with 7 years experience working in early intervention with children with autism:
1) I was challenged to find any evidence that the majority of children with ASD have elevated or high delta/theta brainwaves or brainwaves of any sort. Apparently it is known is that some do show this characteristic, but certainly not all and probably not even most. (This would have been clearly identified long ago and information should readily available if 1% of the worlds population has ASD).
2) It was pointed out to me that whilst the product may reduce said brainwaves, I was again challenged to find any evidence that this resulted in improvements to communication, attention spam, function etc. These are a result of therapy and not related to the technology or product at all. Parents can invest in therapy without the device to achieve these outcomes.
3) It was pointed out to me that any information available on the real effectiveness on autism (as opposed to brainwaves) on the product website was anecdotal (i.e - loose claims from anonymous parents, no different to those seen on late night TV commercials). It was also pointed out that some of the research papers backing the 'science' on the companies website was paid for by AAT.
Even if the device did work, the biggest issue is that children with mild to significant ASD symptoms simply couldnt be made to wear the device. Parents with an ASD child will tell you of the impossibility of getting their child to adhere to basic instructions like wearing shoes, allowing their hair to be brushed, going to the toilet etc. Things like cleaning ears with cotton tips or inserting headphones or securing a device on the head are beyond reality for most families with an ASD child except for those with the most mild of cases.
So if you happen to be one of the very small percentage of families who have a child with very mild ASD who happens to experience certain elevated brainwaves and receive decent therapeutic assistance then this device may work ok.
On the plus side - it was also pointed out to me that hundreds of 'scams' claiming to cure autism for desperate familes have been successfully commercialized despite them being shown to be ineffective or harmful in the long run. I also discovered that my partner is surprisingly good at reading research papers!!
