Emerging treatments
Emerging therapies
These are the methods families are most often asked about. None of them has yet entered routine practice in children. Each page follows the same structure: what it is, how it is meant to work, what has genuinely been tested, what is unknown, the risks, and the questions to ask.
If the therapies on What works are not fully in place, that is where the next decision belongs — not here.
Stem cell therapy
Several different products share this name. Some are licensed medicines for blood disorders; none is a licensed treatment for cerebral palsy or autism anywhere in the world.
Umbilical cord blood, cord tissue MSCs, bone marrow mononuclear cells
Early research onlyExosomes
The cell-free next step after stem cells, with genuinely interesting laboratory science — and, in children, almost no controlled clinical evidence at all.
Extracellular vesicles, MSC-derived EVs
Early research onlyMuse cells
A distinct, well-characterised cell type with an unusual biology — it appears to find damaged tissue on its own — supported by a substantial laboratory literature and an early but real clinical programme. Controlled paediatric efficacy data are not yet available.
Dezawa MuseCells, Multilineage-differentiating Stress Enduring cells, SSEA-3 positive cells, CL2020
Early research onlyPhotobiomodulation
Non-invasive, painless and simple to deliver compared with cell therapies, with a literature that is growing quickly and is mostly positive. The studies are still small and short, so the open question is not whether anything happens but how large the effect is and how long it lasts.
Transcranial near-infrared light, low-level laser therapy, PBM
In clinical trialsMagnetic stimulation
The most clinically established technique on this site. Approved for some uses in older adolescents, with its best paediatric results when it is paired with intensive physiotherapy or occupational therapy rather than given on its own.
rTMS, theta-burst stimulation, TMS
Early research onlyPeptide preparations
Two quite different things share this word: prescription neuropeptide preparations used routinely in some countries, and an unregulated wellness trade. Neither has good evidence in children.
Cerebrolysin, Cortexin, Semax, and “peptide therapy” sold by wellness clinics
Early research onlyMedicinal mushrooms and nootropics
A research band worth watching, and a supplement shelf to approach carefully. Some of these compounds have real laboratory interest; almost none has been tested in children with neurological conditions.
Lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus), reishi, cordyceps, citicoline, piracetam, psilocybin
Established careCannabidiol and cannabis-based products
The one product in this group that became a real medicine. Licensed for three named epilepsy syndromes, and supported beyond them by a large body of real-world evidence in other drug-resistant epilepsies. The oil sold in a shop and the licensed solution are still not the same thing.
CBD, purified cannabidiol (Epidiolex / Epidyolex), CBD oils, THC, nabiximols
Not supported by evidenceChelation therapy
The idea behind it was tested and failed. There is no trial evidence that it helps an autistic child, there is a documented record of children harmed, and at least one child has died. This is the clearest no on this site.
DMSA (succimer), DMPS, EDTA, “heavy metal detox”, provoked urine testing
Early research onlyProbiotics, prebiotics and the gut–brain axis
Genuinely interesting science with a few solid, specific uses in children — and a large gap between those uses and what is sold to families of autistic and neurologically disabled children.
Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, synbiotics, fibre supplements, faecal microbiota transfer