Am J Occup Ther. 2009 Jul-Aug;63(4):423-32.

Qigong massage treatment for sensory and self-regulation problems in young children with autism: a randomized controlled trial.

Silva LM, Schalock M, Ayres R, Bunse C, Budden S. Teaching Research Institute, Western Oregon University, PO Box 688, Salem, OR 97308, USA. lmtsilvaqigong@comcast.net

Autism is commonly associated with sensory and self-regulatory disturbances. This article presents a randomized controlled study evaluating the effect of a 5-month intervention directed toward improving sensory impairment, digestion, and sleep in 46 children with autism < age 6. The intervention, Qigong Sensory Training (QST), is a qigong massage intervention based in Chinese medicine. It is two-pronged: Trainers work with children directly 20 times over 5 months, and parents give the massage daily to their children. Improvement was evaluated in two settings--preschool and home--by teachers (blind to group) and parents. Teacher evaluations showed that treated children had significant classroom improvement of social and language skills and reduction in autistic behavior compared with wait-list control participants. These findings were confirmed by parent data, indicating that the gains had generalized across contexts. A model and supporting data for understanding and treating sensory and self-regulation problems in autism is presented.

PMID: 19708471 [PubMed - in process]

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