Summary
Mason Connor, diagnosed with autism at 2.5 years old, was nonverbal until his parents discovered leucovorin, a folic acid-based drug used to counter chemotherapy side effects.
Within days of taking it, Mason spoke his first words. Dr. Richard Frye, a pediatric neurologist, believes leucovorin can help many autistic children but lacks FDA approval due to low profitability.
Nonprofit Every Cure advocates for repurposing existing drugs for new treatments.
Mason, now 5, is set to start mainstream kindergarten.
It’s the symptom of nonverbalism, not autism itself, that’s treatable with medication in this instance. This kid is still autistic, but it seems with this medication they can learn to speak.
Sorry if I was unclear. I have a relative with this exact nonverbal situation, and we’re really excited to know there’s a potential treatment for it.
Oh, I see. Congrats, then; hoping it works for you. Also to explain the downvotes, implying that autism is curable puts you in the same group as some pretty bad people who have inflicted deep collective trauma on the autist community. If your nephew has autism then it might be a good idea to ask on nostupidquestions or one of the autism communities (or just look it up) for the details, as unfortunately I’m pretty hazy on them. It’ll leave you in a better position to detect misinformation related to the topic, and this kind of drama just comes with being autistic.
Ah, I see. Didn’t mean to step into any pre-existing drama.