Despite there being lots of advancements aiming at diagnosing autism earlier in order to allow prompt management and to provide a better quality of life for children and adults living with such a lifelong condition, there has not been much progress in treating its core features. Current treatments only aim to alleviate unfavorable behaviors such as irritability and aggressiveness, and allow them to reach their full potential when it comes to their cognitive and social abilities. Commonly-used treatments include psychological therapy, nutritional therapy; and in extreme resistant cases, pharmacotherapy with medications (2, 5):

Psychotherapy/Behavioral Therapy
These include different psychological and educational treatment approaches that aim to reinforce positive behaviors and reduce undesired ones. One commonly-used approach in autism is applied behavior analysis (ABA). ABA involves some psychological interventions that aim to reinforce positive behaviors through establishing a reward system and inhibiting undesired behaviors through establishing an active or a passive consequence. This process is repeated throughout the sessions in order to “shape” the autistic child’s behavior. It has been estimated that this method improves social and behavioral features of children with autism when used early; with some children showing visible improvement in their IQ. However, these sessions take a long time to work and the degree of improvement differs from one child to another according to the severity of their autism (2, 5).

Pharmacotherapy (Medical Treatment)
Medications might be used to treat behaviors that have failed to respond to psychotherapy; including aggressiveness, anxiety, hyperactivity, or irritability. Some commonly used drugs include medications used in different psychological conditions (2, 5):

• Antipsychotics (ex. risperidone and aripiprazole): These drugs have been proven to improve irritability and impulsivity. However, they are commonly associated with multiple side effects that necessitate its use with extreme caution; especially given the age group they are used on.
• Antidepressants (ex. fluoxetine): Antidepressants have been proven in some studies to improve irritability and repetitive behaviors associated with autism.
• Stimulants (ex. Methylphenidate and atomoxetine): These are especially beneficial in autistic children with co-existing ADHD symptoms and hyperactivity and/or constant distraction.

Nutritional Therapy
These are diets that have been proven to improve symptoms associated with autism. Some commonly-used diets include ketogenic and gluten-free diets. Additional use of supplements (ex. probiotics and antioxidants) has also shown some improvement in symptoms (6, 7).

Of course there are other numerous treatments and medications that have proven benefits in autism, which are not the main topic of this article; yet they all share one thing in common, which is that they are solely symptomatic in nature – i.e. they aim to improve different autistic features to a certain extent – with no role in addressing the original neurological abnormality leading to the autistic presentation. This is where stem cell therapy has been emerging as a possible therapeutic option that could actually improve or even repair the original brain changes or damage contributing to different features of autism.