Article_Autism and Food allergies____________________________________________________________________

Title of Journal

__Autism and food allergies_________________________________________________________________________

Volume_NA___________________________ Date __no date given______ Page Number(s) _NA_____________

·          What organization is responsible for publishing the journal you chose?

Berglund Health & Wellness Center

www.berglundcenter.com

This is not from a formal journal.

·          What is your overall evaluation of this article?

__X___Poor          ______Fair            ______Good        _______Very Good       _____Excellent

In regards to standing up to a scholarly journal article, this article fails miserably!

·          Why did you choose to review this particular article?

This article is assigned, but a very good example of an opinion piece that lacks true validity & credibility due to the bias of the author.

·          How would you rate this article as a tool for teaching a student about cardiopulmonary physiology, radiography, or another allied health specialty? 

Students:               _X__Poor       ____Fair       _____Good     _____Very Good      _____Excellent

Teachers:               __X_Poor       ____Fair       _____Good     _____Very Good      _____Excellent

Patients:                __X_Poor       ____Fair       _____Good     _____Very Good      _____Excellent

·          Comment on the readability of this article. 

This article is easy to follow.  I can see it easily intriguing someone who is at a loss for what to do for their autistic or undiagnosed child.  It is short and to the point.  It uses layman’s terms.  I almost see it as “bait.”  I am surprised there is no section on this website to purchase nutritional supplements as far as I could tell.

·          Course Topics covered:

Examples of non-scholarly articles from non-scholarly sources; opinion/bias article; non-scientific methodology

·          Brief Summary:

This article discusses the proposed positive benefits of dietary habits such as a milk and wheat free diet and its effects on health such as a “cure” for autism.  The author offers no other possible method for curing autism in his piece.  The chiropractic society tends to strongly embrace natural healing and nutritional supplements in addition to traditional manipulations.

Once you log onto the website that this article is from, it is not until you click the “about” link that you discover this is a chiropractor and not a medical doctor as the banner to his web page suggests.  None of his credentials other than where he attended chiropractic school are listed on the website. 

There is a research link on his site that seems to suggest he is in some way tied to research through the American Journal of Psychiatry, which upon investigation appears bogus.  The author fails to note the references to this full article and how this brief section of the article relates to “Dr.” Berglund or his research “prowess.”  The average person would probably not have researched this mans background.

·          Identify and attempt to explain three (3) terms, procedures or concepts that were unfamiliar to you when reviewing this article.

There were no terms, procedures, or concepts that this author presented that I was unfamiliar with.  It was clear to me this article was not of scholarly worth.  It was merely a biased opinion piece. 

·          Detail the strengths/weaknesses of this article.

Strengths: None noted

Weakness:  This article has none of the traditional scholarly article sections like an abstract, epidemiology, clinical information, diagnosis, treatment, etc.  There are no references listed.  The article makes no mention of a control group, type of study, standard deviations, etc.  It does not list limitations or clearly state its biases.  The author has no clear identification as an official researcher.  He does not even use his professional journal as a supporting journal.  There are other links about various ailments or diseases and most list nutritional measures as a means of treatment or cure.  I found no reference lists with these articles either.

·          How might this article be useful to you in your further studies and career?

This article not only is directly irrelevant to my current career, it holds no scientific research credibility.

·          Does the article include a list of references/citations that can be used to find more information on the topics they cover?  No

Your Name: ___Allison Bolt___________________________________________ Date: __2__/__2__/__08__