Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences at Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
Autism Res. 2020 May;13(5):828-836. doi: 10.1002/aur.2290. Epub 2020 Mar 9.
Dysfunctional frontal cortical areas associated with clinical features are observed in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study attempted to identify any potential therapeutic effects of bilateral anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the left and right prefrontal and motor areas on the clinical characteristics of children with ASD. Fifty children with confirmed ASD medical diagnoses were divided equally and randomly into a tDCS treatment group and a control group. The tDCS treatment group underwent 10 sessions (20-min durations, five per week) of bilateral anodal tDCS stimulation applied simultaneously over the left and right prefrontal and motor areas, whereas the control group underwent the same procedures but with the use of sham tDCS stimulation. Total scores and sub-scores of autism treatment evaluation checklist (ATEC) (language and communication; sociability; sensory awareness; and behavioral, health, and physical conditions) were measured before and after the tDCS treatment sessions of both groups. There were significant decreases in total ATEC scores (P = 0.014), sociability sub-scores (P = 0.021), and behavioral, health, and physical condition sub-scores (P = 0.011) in the tDCS treatment group. No significant changes were observed in total ATEC scores and sub-scores in the control group. In conclusion, compared to the control group, bilateral anodal tDCS showed potential therapeutic effects on children with ASD in terms of improvements in sociability, behavior, health, and physical conditions with no reported side effects. Autism Res 2020, 13: 828-836. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Dysfunctional frontal cortical areas are associated with clinical features in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is found to be a safe, noninvasive method to stimulate cortical regions and thus have therapeutic effects on children with ASD. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患儿存在与临床特征相关的功能障碍额皮质区。本研究试图确定双侧阳极经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）应用于左、右前额和运动区对 ASD 患儿临床特征的潜在治疗效果。将 50 名确诊为 ASD 的患儿平均且随机分为 tDCS 治疗组和对照组。tDCS 治疗组接受 10 次双侧阳极 tDCS 刺激（每次 20 分钟，每周 5 次），同时施加于左、右前额和运动区；而对照组则接受相同的程序，但使用假 tDCS 刺激。两组均在 tDCS 治疗前后测量自闭症治疗评估检查表（ATEC）的总分和子分（语言和交流；社交能力；感觉意识；行为、健康和身体状况）。tDCS 治疗组的 ATEC 总分（P = 0.014）、社交能力子分（P = 0.021）和行为、健康和身体状况子分（P = 0.011）显著降低。对照组的 ATEC 总分和子分均无显著变化。总之，与对照组相比，双侧阳极 tDCS 在改善社交能力、行为、健康和身体状况方面对 ASD 患儿显示出潜在的治疗效果，且无不良反应报告。自闭症研究 2020, 13: 828-836. © 2020 国际自闭症研究协会，威利期刊，公司。摘要：自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患儿存在与临床特征相关的功能障碍额皮质区。经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）被发现是一种安全、非侵入性的刺激皮质区域的方法，因此对 ASD 患儿具有治疗作用。© 2020 国际自闭症研究协会，威利期刊，公司。
