Creatively Ironic

One would have hoped that new age therapies for autism were fading out in favor of proven ABA methods. Not so for 16 children in Harbin, China according to this article: Beluga whales helping children with autism in China.

Experts said that the sounds by beluga whales can help to treat infantile autism by stimulating thee [sic] children's nerve cells, which will be more effective when the children make direct contacts [sic] with the animals.

Less bad is that the kids are only exposed to these shenanigans for 30 minutes 3 times per week. Still, one could imagine the transportation to the site, washing, waiting, and post therapy routine to consume at least another 1 hour, 3 times per week. That's 4.5 hours of time lost per week. Over the 20 day therapy routine, the child would lose 30 hours of therapy. That's a lost opportunity for more effective intervention.

It's interesting that the article also states that the kids are "given medicine and get other treatment" after the 20 day course. Here's hoping that the "other treatment" is ABA based.