COMPARISON OF THE EFFECT OF BRAIN GYM AND CHILD-PARENT RELATIONSHIP THERAPY ON BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

Considering the numerous consequences of behavioral problems in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the present study aims to compare the effects of Brain Gym (BG) and Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) on behavioral disorders in children with ASD in Kashan and Arak in 2020.

In this clinical trial, 36 eligible children were randomly selected and assigned to two intervention groups by block randomization. According to Dennison and Landreth-Bratton guidelines, BG and CPRT interventions were implemented in ten sessions. The demographic, Rutter, and Raven questionnaires were completed. Behavioral disorders were assessed by stereotyped behaviors, communication, and social interactions subscales of Gars-2 at the beginning, end of the intervention, and two months later. The data of 28 children (BG and CPRT, 15 and 13, respectively) were analyzed based on per-protocol and intention-to-treat designs by chi-square, Fisher, independent t-test, and repeated measures analysis of variance.

There was no significant difference between the two groups' demographic variables. Both analyses showed the non-significance of the interaction effect of time and intervention, the non-significance of the group effect, and the significance of the time effect (p<0.0001) on the behavioral disorder scores. At the end of the intervention and two months later, there was no significant difference in the behavioral disorder scores between the two groups.

Each of the BG and CPRT interventions, with a slight difference in effectiveness, alone can reduce behavioral disorders in ASD. Therefore, depending on the available conditions and facilities, at least one of the mentioned interventions is suggested to reduce behavioral disorders in children with ASD.