By: By LINDSEY TANNER The Associated Press Monday, May 11, 2009
CHICAGO -- Leo Lytel was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. But
by age 9 he had overcome the disorder. His progress is part of a
growing body of research that suggests at least 10 percent of
children with autism can "recover" from it _ most of them after
undergoing years of intensive behavioral therapy. Skeptics
question the phenomenon, but University of Connecticut
psychology professor Deborah Fein is among those convinced it's
real. She presented research this week at an autism conference
in Chicago that included 20 children who, according to rigorous
analysis, got a correct diagnosis but years later were no longer
considered autistic. Among them was Leo, a boy in Washington,
D.C., who once made no eye contact, who echoed words said to him
and often spun around in circles _ all classic autism symptoms.
Now he is an articulate, social third-grader. His mother, Jayne
Lytel, says his teachers call Leo a leader. The study, funded by
the National I