Is Autism Therapy Actually Worth It? Here's How to Know

How do you sort real help from snake oil when you're researching autism interventions? In this episode of Refrigerator Moms, Julianna Scott and Kelley Jensen share a practical checklist for evaluating any autism therapy whether you're looking at evidence-based treatments like ABA and speech therapy, or exploring options further off the beaten path like TMS, dietary protocols, or supplement. They talk about why waiting for full FDA approval isn't realistic when your kid's childhood has an expiration date, and how to make smart, informed decisions in the meantime.

Kelley and Julianna cover everything from vetting peer-reviewed research and checking provider qualifications to tracking your child's measurable progress and knowing when to pivot. They remind parents to account for comorbid diagnoses like anxiety, depression, and OCD, and they close with a pointed reminder to keep political noise out of your treatment decisions: you're raising a child, not joining a movement.

Whether you're newly navigating an autism diagnosis or a seasoned parent looking to refine your approach, this episode offers a grounded, experience-backed framework for cutting through the overwhelm.

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Refrigerator Moms is sponsored by Brain Performance Technologies, a specialty mental health clinic that offers neuromodulation treatments including SAINT (Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy) for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder, as well as MeRT (Magnetic e-resonance therapy) for autistic people aged three or older. Learn more at https://brainperformancetechnologies.com

00:00 Introduction & episode overview
00:54 Evidence-based treatments for autism
01:05 ABA is still worth it despite its issues
01:37 Sponsor: Brain Performance Technologies
02:04 Medications on-label for autism
02:57 The checklist: how to research interventions
03:09 Why parents have to try
03:31 Step 1: Find independent research
03:55 Exhaust insurance and school district first
04:05 Peer-reviewed journals vs. anecdotal claims
04:39 Reading summary studies and weighing evidence
05:31 Consider all comorbid diagnoses
06:20 Advocating for depression/mood diagnoses
07:18 Sponsor: Brain Performance Technologies (mid-roll)
07:45 Step 2: Check provider qualifications
08:29 Step 3: Evaluate claims critically
08:55 No cure, only better symptom management
09:10 Step 4: Cross-check multiple sources
09:45 Weigh the risk of harm before trying anything
10:10 Step 5: Consider international research
10:39 TMS research worldwide; MeRT Facebook group
11:28 Step 6: Track your child's progress
12:19 Adjust approach based on results
12:30 Step 7: Use community and professional support
13:07 Clinical trials as an option
13:28 Step 8: Maintain a critical, practical mindset
13:38 Keep politics out of treatment decisions
14:13 Combine sources for informed decisions
14:32 Closing & where to find resources

Creators and Guests

Guest

Julianna Scott

Guest

Kelley Jensen

What is Refrigerator Moms?

Born from 20 years of friendship, during which they navigated the trenches of autism parenting and advocacy, the Refrigerator Moms is Kelley Jensen and Julianna Scott’s way of reaching out to parents waging the same battles they were.  Their purpose with this podcast is to clear the fog, silence the noise, and find a path through neurodivergence for parents that are stuck between bad choices. They tackle parenting topics such as mom guilt, tantrums, pathological demand avoidance, siblings, medication, comorbidities, social media, and much more. 

Julianna Scott [0:00:10] Hi, I'm Julianna Scott. I'm here with Kelley Jensen, and we are the Refrigerator Moms. Today we're going to talk about something that you brought to my attention from one of the groups that you're in online. There's a question about — there's so much conflicting information about what interventions work for autism, or what should I do. And this brought up the Trientific Method that we've talked about before — we've written a paper about it. I urge people to go to our website and read online or download the PDF, our paper on the Trientific Method, which the gist of it is that autism has very few on-label —
Kelley Jensen [0:00:54] Evidence-based.
Julianna Scott [0:00:55] Evidence-based treatments. Yes, there are a few, yes. But you exhaust those pretty quickly.
Kelley Jensen [0:01:01] Pretty quickly. Let's go through where they are. ABA.
Julianna Scott [0:01:05] Yep.
Kelley Jensen [0:01:05] And the current state of ABA is not good. But you're gonna hang — you're gonna work through it. You're gonna look at our paper on ABA and you're not gonna give up on ABA because of the business failings of ABA.
Julianna Scott [0:01:17] No, no. Still worth.
Kelley Jensen [0:01:19] Still worth.
Julianna Scott [0:01:20] Absolutely.
Kelley Jensen [0:01:21] And there's some suggestions in that paper for how to follow through if bad clinics are all you have access to in your area of the country. Speech therapy, occupational therapy — those are absolutely. Do them. Do whatever your insurance coverage or your school district will pay for.
Julianna Scott [0:01:37] This episode of the Refrigerator Moms is brought to you by Brain Performance Technologies. Brain Performance Technologies is a specialty mental health clinic that offers MeRT — Magnetic e-resonance therapy — for autistic people aged 3 or older. MeRT is a transcranial magnetic stimulation protocol that utilizes an EEG diagnostic to deliver personalized magnetic pulses to stimulate the brain and build neural pathways effective in managing autistic symptoms.
Kelley Jensen [0:02:04] Drugs. But there's not as many drugs as you'd think. There's Abilify and Risperidone — they're the only two that are on-label for autism. Specifically for the irritability of autism. Right.
Julianna Scott [0:02:19] The —
Kelley Jensen [0:02:19] The weird thing, the head-scratcher thing about drugs though, is that Abilify and Risperidone are on-label for autism, and everything else is off-label for autism — still covered by insurance, though.
Julianna Scott [0:02:31] Right.
Kelley Jensen [0:02:33] I wonder how that happened. I wonder who advocated for that.
Julianna Scott [0:02:36] Yeah.
Kelley Jensen [0:02:36] Papa needs a brand new yacht, right? I know, but that's okay. You know, you get your child an SSRI because that is what the psychiatrist or the developmental pediatrician recommends. You do what you got to do — you pretty much are still going to exhaust all you can with medication, OT, speech therapy, and ABA. And then what? You hear about all these things.
Julianna Scott [0:02:57] Right. So today we're just going to go through kind of a checklist for how to research autism interventions and try.
Kelley Jensen [0:03:06] And that's our spin on — you have to try.
Julianna Scott [0:03:09] Right.
Kelley Jensen [0:03:09] Because this gentleman, a parent in our clinic, said, "Well, I have to try. I can't do nothing." And he summed it up so eloquently — you have to try because it's your child. And if you wait for evidence-based, if you wait for the research, which will drag its feet for decades and decades, your child's childhood will expire. And you don't want to do that. So you try. How do you try? What do you try? What do you allocate funds to?
Julianna Scott [0:03:31] Okay, so the first thing you do is you do look for independent, evidence-based research on whatever it is you're trying.
Kelley Jensen [0:03:38] I'm going to back up. The first thing you do is you start a savings account.
Julianna Scott [0:03:43] Well, yes.
Kelley Jensen [0:03:43] To pay for it.
Julianna Scott [0:03:44] Yes.
Kelley Jensen [0:03:44] So that you've got a future stash.
Julianna Scott [0:03:47] So you have some funds to start exploring some of these options. Okay. So yes, of course, you first want to exhaust what your insurance can cover.
Kelley Jensen [0:03:55] Absolutely. And the school district.
Julianna Scott [0:03:56] But I guarantee it's not going to be enough.
Kelley Jensen [0:03:59] No.
Julianna Scott [0:03:59] To enable you to try some of these other treatments that might work.
Kelley Jensen [0:04:04] Absolutely.
Julianna Scott [0:04:05] So, yes. First things first — start growing your money pot. Then, yeah, look for independent, evidence-based research. So those are your peer-reviewed journals, your university studies, your research hospitals. Those are the most reliable things. So you want to be cautious of single studies or anecdotal claims.
Kelley Jensen [0:04:27] Yes.
Julianna Scott [0:04:28] Yeah, look for those papers. And I know nowadays sometimes we worry about what the government websites are putting out. That's why you go back to these peer-reviewed journals and university studies.
Kelley Jensen [0:04:39] Yes. And they're out there — and how many of them there are. There are summary studies — we get this a lot in TMS for autism because we do a brand of TMS for autism in our clinic. There are people who will summarize all of the studies related to TMS for autism out there and they will tell you the good, the bad; they will rank the study; they will tell you what the study lacked; they will tell you what the study did that was credible. And you just assess all that evidence and you basically have to put your FDA hat on and say, okay, in the absence of the funds to push this through on a national level — what can I sleep at night knowing? Can I put my head on the pillow and say, "Well, this has pretty good data"? It's not FDA-approved yet, FDA-cleared yet, but I can live with this data.
Julianna Scott [0:05:31] But also, let's not forget to say: consider all of your child's diagnoses.
Kelley Jensen [0:05:38] Yes.
Julianna Scott [0:05:40] So we're talking about researching autism interventions, but as we know, comorbidities are more common than not. Does your child have generalized anxiety, depression, treatment-resistant depression, OCD, mood disorders, eating disorders — all of these things? So look at all of those diagnoses and see what treatments are available, what evidence-based research is out there for treatment of all of these disorders. Because if you can mitigate some of those issues, that's going to help. Every little bit will help.
Kelley Jensen [0:06:20] I started advocating for — and I wish I would have done this when my son was younger. I mean, I got there, I'm there now. But if he has an SSRI and a mood stabilizer — they used to give him a depression diagnosis.
Julianna Scott [0:06:35] Right.
Kelley Jensen [0:06:36] You know, you're never too early to have that. Can you make the case for depression? We're giving him this SSRI, we're giving him this mood stabilizer because his mood — he's got these violent mood swings.
Julianna Scott [0:06:45] What is that?
Kelley Jensen [0:06:46] Can we make the case for that? That's not autism as primary, that's depression. And you might not be able to make it right away, but certainly don't withhold the SSRI because your doctor isn't ready to make that case yet.
Julianna Scott [0:06:59] But anxiety is more common before depression.
Kelley Jensen [0:07:03] Yes.
Julianna Scott [0:07:03] And it's hard when your child is small to get a depression diagnosis.
Kelley Jensen [0:07:07] Yes. But as many diagnoses per pill as you can — if you can make the case for it, right?
Julianna Scott [0:07:12] Yeah, yeah.
Kelley Jensen [0:07:13] I mean, you should have it because it will make a difference as they age and what's available to them.
Julianna Scott [0:07:17] Right, right.
Kelley Jensen [0:07:18] Are you taking care of your brain? You've tried medication, you've gone to therapy, but has anyone talked to you about brain care? It is the mental health treatment no one has told you about. At Brain Performance Technologies, we help with depression, PTSD, autism, and many other mental health conditions. Our treatments are drug-free and non-invasive. Reach out to us about insurance options. brainperformancetechnologies.com
Kelley Jensen (continued) [0:07:45 — continued from sponsor read]* So the second thing you do —
Julianna Scott [0:07:45] — after you've done that research is check provider qualifications and transparency. So, for example with TMS and MeRT — it's not on-label for autism, but you've got some research. So what's the next step? Check your provider qualifications and transparency. That means confirming licensing and certifications in other arenas — that could be your BCBA, your speech therapist, it could be your doctor who is administering or prescribing this. Ask how the supervision works, what staff training standards exist. Make sure the provider documents progress and can explain methods and outcomes clearly. You want your provider to be able to provide all of that information.
Kelley Jensen [0:08:29] Yeah, absolutely.
Julianna Scott [0:08:30] And then the next thing would be to evaluate claims critically. Avoid therapies that promise cures — I can't stress that enough. Look for independent evidence supporting any claims.
Kelley Jensen [0:08:41] Listen, if you believe that your child is cured from autism, you're inevitably disappointed.
Julianna Scott [0:08:47] And we've talked before about facilitated communication — if something seems too good to be true, most likely it is.
Kelley Jensen [0:08:55] Yes. There is no cure. There's only better management of symptoms.
Julianna Scott [0:08:58] Right, right. Be skeptical of claims from organizations or individuals with a financial interest in promoting a therapy. That's your classic snake oil salesman. What's in it for them? Think about that.
Kelley Jensen [0:09:09] Right.
Julianna Scott [0:09:10] The next thing would be to cross-check multiple sources. Compare information from academic research, professional organizations, and independent advocacy groups. Look for consensus among experts rather than relying on a single opinion. That's really important. Even if we're going back to chelation or any of those things — if it's only coming from one quarter, that's a red flag.
Kelley Jensen [0:09:38] And then I'm going to throw in there — bottom line — what is the over-under on hurting the child?
Julianna Scott [0:09:44] Right.
Kelley Jensen [0:09:45] Give low priority to things where you could do some real damage. You don't want to do something that is going to turn your child silver or blue — some of these interventions that are pumping minerals through the child. It's one thing if you try something and it has no effect.
Julianna Scott [0:10:02] Right.
Kelley Jensen [0:10:02] You can live with that. But it's another thing if you try something and it does harm to your child. And they're out there — those therapies are out there. So be careful.
Julianna Scott [0:10:10] Yeah. And also consider international research. I think this is a good one because often when I'm doing research for our papers and things, the US will have kind of a consensus — or they have some stricter guardrails on certain things. Not to say that other countries are loose, but especially European trials. Those seem to be pretty interesting to look at. They seem to be doing a lot of autism research.
Kelley Jensen [0:10:39] Yes. And for TMS — it actually enjoys quite a lot of worldwide study. There's a great study out of Australia. There's a great researcher in China. I run a MeRT for autism Facebook group where I specifically get into the weeds of transcranial magnetic stimulation for autism and related comorbidities. And when I find a good study, I post it there. So if you're interested, check that out. A lot of times people want to hear from parents — parent testimonials are great, but take them with a grain of salt.
Julianna Scott [0:11:20] Yes.
Kelley Jensen [0:11:21] So that's my advice there. Take them — and I'm first in the firing squad — take what I say with a grain of salt.
Julianna Scott [0:11:28] Yeah. And again, go back to — that is one story. You're going to see the collective story and see what it says. But also, not everything works for everybody. So again — try, yes. Okay. The next thing we would do is track your child's progress. Record the milestone skills, observable outcomes for each intervention. This is a huge one. Especially when kids have been diagnosed early, we're doing all of those observations and collecting data. Yeah, we become detectives. It's really important. You're going to see the progress — you're going to track: are they meeting these goals and objectives? Assess whether therapy meets measurable goals. This is happening all across the board — in your student's IEP, their 504. You're always checking goals. Your ABA therapist, speech therapist — everybody should be saying, what's the goal here?
Kelley Jensen [0:12:19] Yeah.
Julianna Scott [0:12:19] And are they meeting these goals?
Kelley Jensen [0:12:21] Yes.
Julianna Scott [0:12:22] And adjust your approach based on what actually works for your child. Often we would have to take a break from something, pivot.
Kelley Jensen [0:12:28] You cannot do it all at once.
Julianna Scott [0:12:30] You can't do it all at once. Sometimes it's not the right time — the right time will be later. So keep it in mind, but revisit it later. The next one is use community and professional support. Consult teams — therapists, pediatricians, psychologists, educators. Engage with parent networks or advocacy organizations. Often they've got great websites with resources where you can start doing your own research. And seek examples of long-term outcomes. That's a big one. Talk to those people who have been through it. We're good examples of that.
Kelley Jensen [0:13:07] Yes. And in our area of the country, we are fortunate enough to have a lot of clinical trials going on.
Julianna Scott [0:13:14] Yep.
Kelley Jensen [0:13:14] TMS enjoys active research on many teaching campuses, many universities. So yeah — hop onto a clinical trial if you can. Do it in the summer.
Julianna Scott [0:13:28] Yeah, absolutely. So the last one we have is maintain a critical but practical mindset. Focus on what's documented and observable rather than media hype or political statements. That's a big one these days. Yes.
Kelley Jensen [0:13:38] You are not joining a political movement. You are raising a child. You owe no political persuasion anything. You owe your child.
Julianna Scott [0:13:46] No. And don't let that cloud your judgment.
Kelley Jensen [0:13:48] No.
Julianna Scott [0:13:49] So be open to it — or closed to it.
Kelley Jensen [0:13:54] Well, you know — and I'm just going to say it here — listen, we wag our fingers at everybody. We've got something to say to the left of the left and the right of the right. You should know: you are not joining a movement. You are raising a family and you owe nobody anything.
Julianna Scott [0:14:13] You should not be their anecdote. No, no, no. Recognize that research evolves and that no single intervention works for every child — we've said that before. Combine multiple sources and real-world observation to make informed decisions. And I want to leave on that note: informed decisions.
Kelley Jensen [0:14:32] All right. Have a great day.
Julianna Scott [0:14:34] Thank you for listening to this episode of Refrigerator Moms. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also find episode notes, resources, and any Refrigerator Paper connected to today's discussion on our website at refrigeratormoms.com, where you can sign up for our newsletter. We'd love to hear your questions and future episode ideas — reach out to us on social media or through our website. The information shared in this podcast is meant for informational and educational purposes only. It shouldn't be taken as medical, psychological, therapeutic, legal, or professional advice. If you have questions about a diagnosis, treatment, intervention, or any medical or developmental concerns, please consult a qualified healthcare or service provider. Don't rely on this podcast in place of professional guidance, and don't delay getting help because of something you heard here. The views and experiences we talk about are our own and those of our guests — they're not meant to serve as personalized recommendations for any individual or family. Listening to this podcast does not create any kind of professional relationship between you and the hosts or guests. Any choices you make based on the information here are completely your own, and we are not responsible for any outcomes that result from them. If this episode includes a Refrigerator Paper, you can find all sources and citations, along with additional notes, on our website at refrigeratormoms.com.