Welcome to the Autism Wiki
This Wiki was started by Kevin Leitch and taken down by him after his daughter was ridiculed and threatened by a member of Generation Rescue, an anti-vaccine/autism conspiracy theorist group. He passed it on to us and we will be working on it from this point on.
What is the Autism Wiki?
The Autism Wiki will be an ever growing resource of material related to autism. It will reference the science and bad science of autism and try to provide an evidence based resource as well as profiling some of the main 'players' on all sides of the scientific debates surrounding autism.
This is not an open Wiki and cannot be freely edited. If you wish to join the Autism Wiki writing team or you spot a factual inaccuracy in any article, please contact autismwiki@gmail.com
Please also note that this wiki does not claim to be impartial. The writers value science based evidence and will present material that is peer reviewed, journal published science. Whilst we might discuss poor science we will not rely on it to support or attack a position. This wiki will rely on the scientific method:
Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. The scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.
Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features distinguish scientific inquiry from other methodologies of knowledge. Scientific researchers propose hypotheses as explanations of phenomena, and design experimental studies to test these hypotheses. These steps must be repeatable in order to predict dependably any future results. Theories that encompass wider domains of inquiry may bind many hypotheses together in a coherent structure. This in turn may help form new hypotheses or place groups of hypotheses into context. We will also strive to use
Evidence based medicine:
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) or scientific medicine is an attempt to apply more uniformly the standards of evidence gained from the scientific method to certain aspects of medical practice. Specifically, EBM seeks to assess the quality of evidence relevant to the risks and benefits of treatments (including lack of treatment). According to the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, "Evidence-based medicine is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients."
And we reject the use of Pseudoscience:
Pseudoscience is any body of knowledge, methodology, belief, or practice that claims to be scientific or is made to appear scientific, but does not adhere to the basic requirements of the scientific method
