Effectiveness of audiovisual stimulation on behavioral function in children with autism spectrum disorder, ASD

Abstract EN

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) severely impairs the development of a person’s ability to interact with other people, as the autistic individual is self- absorbed and unable to relate normally with the outside world.

It attacks without discrimination, afflicting all sectors of society.

Objective: To assess the effect of audio- visual stimulation (AVS) on behavioral functions in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Methodology: An intervention study which included thirty- four children with confirmed ASD.

Randomly recruited from Pediatric Outpatient Clinic, Center of Special Needs, FPGCS, Ain- Shams University, throughout a period of 12 months starting from June 2018 till the end of May 2019.

They were 26 males & 8 females with an age range from 4 to 9 years.

All participants were subjected to IQ test Sandford Binet 5th edition (SB5), Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and AVS sessions.

Candidates had received two sessions per week using the Mindspa Personal Development Device, completing a course of eight sessions (each session was 22 mins).

Results: Out of 34 children, were 26 males (76.74%)& 8 females (23.5 3%), with (M: F= 3.3: 1).

Intelligent quotient was; low average: (11.76%), borderline impaired: (23.53%), mildly impaired: (50%) & moderately impaired: (14.71%) with IQ mean± S.D.

score; (65.1± 10.9).

After AVS sessions, results revealed statistical significance decrease (i.

e.

improvement) (p- value < 0.001), between pre-& post- CARS total score with mean ± S.D (35.46 ± 4.1), (32.44 ± 4.5)& moreover, behavioral, symptomatology among studied cases, with mean ± S.

D (3.43 ± 0.58), (2.4 ± 0.73).

Conclusion: Using Mindspa software programs as an intervention method of rehabilitation provided a preliminary evidence for the feasibility and use of AVS in children with ASD to improve the target symptomatology.