By Amanda Paterson
It may seem like cruel and unusual punishment, but intense electric shocks can help parents control children made violent and aggressive by autism, says one expert.
The new therapy is the work of US doctor Matthew Israel, who runs the Judge Rotenberg Centre in Massachusetts.
It involves attaching electrodes to a child's arms, legs and torso. When kids misbehave, a supervisor at the centre presses a remote control to give the unruly youngster an electronic skin shock.
The centre, which is also a school, needs the permission of both parents and a court before the shock therapy can begin.
"The real torture is what these children are subjected to if they don't have this program," said Dr Israel.
Autistic children in the program do not suffer any long-term side effects, according to Dr Israel.
"…it has absolutely no side effects and is extremely effective as a corrective procedure to encourage children not to show violent behaviour," he said.
"If it didn't hurt it wouldn't be effective. It has to hurt enough so that the student wants to avoid showing that behaviour again."
Queensland mum, Joy, who struggles to cope with her autistic son Jayden, thought she would try the new device for herself.
"Before trying this I was sitting on the fence and I wasn't sure if I was for or against it."
"After feeling the intensity of this, I'm totally opposed to the whole thing," she said.
Sydney dad, Jim, has had his teeth broken three times by daughter Molly and he was also willing to try this new technique.
His six-year-old daughter has a history of being violent and he was prepared to be open minded bout this treatment.
"It might seem cruel (the eclectic shock) but in the times where she's smashing her head against the concrete or doing physical harm, that's got to outweigh ( the pain) side of it," he said.
"Ow that hurt…it’s painful, very painful," said Jim, after we've given him a shock using Dr Israel's system.
Jim thinks the therapy would just torture Molly who would be in tears after being subjected to the controversial shock treatment.
Jackie Roberts, an Australian autism expert, says the this kind of therapy simply wouldn't work and would probably make things worse.
"Children with autism in particular have a very high level of fear and anxiety, and punishing them actually increases that fear," said Dr Roberts.
"…it's likely to make the behaviours worse," she said. "We do know that punishment has a short-term effect."
But US teenager Ed Ferry, who spent five years attached to Dr Israel's device, says it helped him overcome his condition.
"I would head bang, I would bit myself I would be searing. I would be physically held down by numerous staff members…My life wasn't going anywhere."
Now he has a job and his own place to live. "I never envisaged getting this far in life."
