ASA Adjudication on The Option Institute and Fellowship

Ad

A regional press ad, for The Autism Treatment Center of America, was headed "AUTISM RECOVERY 2 Hours to change your child's life With American Autism expert Raun K. Kaufman, himself fully recovered from Autism. Free Public Lectures". Below, were listed dates and venues and three testimonials.

Issue

1. Two readers believed the ad was misleading because it implied that autism was a temporary condition, which was curable.

2. One of the readers also believed the ad was misleading because it implied The Autism Treatment Center of America's programme would be effective within two hours.

3. The ASA challenged whether the testimonials were genuine.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. The Option Institute and Fellowship (OIF) said The Son-Rise Program, offered through the Autism Treatment Centre of America, a division of OIF, offered The Son-Rise Program, aimed to help parents of children challenged by autism, autism spectrum disorders, pervasive development disorder, Aspergers syndrome and other developmental challenges. They said their unique treatment programme was non-judgemental, and based on acceptance and respect for the childs world, which created the maximum opportunity for the childs growth.

OIF believed that a person diagnosed with autism might make a full recovery, as evidenced by the many cases of children who had made recoveries as a result of The Son-Rise Program. They said the ad did not claim that recoveries occurred in all cases and acknowledged that not every person with autism would make a full recovery, but maintained that recoveries could and had occurred, which they had been direct witness to. They argued that the efficacy of the programme was substantiated by both the personal experiences of many parents and by scientific evidence.

OIF explained that two separate and independent studies on the effectiveness of The Son-Rise Program were currently underway and were expected to be completed in spring 2010. They said preliminary results indicated substantial improvements in children with autism. They provided brief descriptions of three earlier studies that they said had also shown the programme to be effective, and a copy of one paper that discussed research supporting The Son-Rise Program.

2. OIF said the claim "2 Hours to change your childs life" was a reference to the projected duration of the advertised lecture. They did not believe that consumers generally would expect the lecture itself to lead to a childs recovery from autism in two hours.

3. OIF said the testimonials in the ad were quotes from parents of children diagnosed with autism related disorders who, to a greater or lesser degree, had made recoveries. They said they also held a number of other testimonials from parents who were pleased with the progress shown by their children as a result of The Son-Rise Program. OIF provided copies of signed and dated consent forms for the parents quoted in all three testimonials in the ad.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted the ad referred to "AUTISM RECOVERY" and considered that the word recovery was likely to be understood by readers to mean that OIF were offering a treatment or "cure" for autism. We also noted OIF's acknowledgment that results of the programme varied.

We noted we had not seen full copies of the three earlier studies on The Son-Rise Program to which OIF had referred. However, we understood from the summaries provided that none of those studies assessed whether the programme could cure Autism. We noted the discussion paper described how the principles of The Son-Rise Program were compatible with a more general understanding of autism and autistic behaviour, established through research carried out over the last 50 years. We also noted, however, that that paper did not assess the efficacy of The Son-Rise Program itself, but suggested that further independent research into the programme was needed. We therefore considered that the studies and discussion paper were not sufficient to support the efficacy claim made for The Son-Rise Program.

We noted two studies were currently being conducted on The Son-Rise Program, but considered that, whatever the initial observations might be, because the results of the studies were as yet unknown, unpublished research did not substantiate the claim. Because we had not seen robust scientific evidence to support the claim of recovery from autism, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 50.1 (Health and beauty products and therapies - general).

2. Not upheld

We noted the ad was promoting public lectures and considered that readers were likely to understand the claim "2 Hours to change your childs life" to refer to the length of time the lectures lasted for, rather than the length of time it would take for the programme to be effective. We therefore concluded that the claim was not misleading.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

3. Not upheld

We were satisfied that the signed and dated consent forms from the parents quoted in the ad showed that they had given permission for their testimonials to be used by OIF and that they were genuine.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clause 14.1 (Testimonials) but did not find it in breach.

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)