Complementary and Alternative Treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review for Parents and Clinicians

Abstract

Complementary and alternative therapy (CAT) methods for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are widespread in European countries and the Russian Federation; however, their efficacy and safety is not routinely considered by parents and clinicians when recommended or used. The current narrative review presents the most widely known CAT interventions for children with ASD synthesizing data from meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and randomized controlled trials obtained from the PubMed database based on the safety-efficacy model. We have found that, of the reviewed CATs, only the melatonin intervention can be considered safe and effective for children with ASD with comorbid sleep problems. The methods that were classified as safe but had inconclusive efficacy are recommended to be implemented only when they do not interfere with front line treatment for ASD, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Methods with the lack of current evidence for the efficacy such as auditory integration therapies, bioacoustic correction, sensory integration therapy, micropolarization, animal assisted therapy, and dietary interventions should not be recommended as alternative treatments and can only be used as complimentary to ABA-based interventions. We advise against the use of chelation, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and holding therapy due their documented harmful psychological and physical effects. When considering CAT for ASD we recommend parents and clinicians use the criteria suggested by Lofthouse and colleagues [59]: only the therapies that are safe, easy, cheap, and sensible can be recommended and used, as opposed to therapies that are risky, unrealistic, difficult, or expensive that should not be recommended or utilized.

Music and Sound-Based Intervention in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review

“…Similar to previous reviews, the present findings reflected positive trends in the social communication aspects after treatment. 24,35,36 For behavioural aspects, hyperkinetic movement, stereotypic-repetitive behaviour, self-stimulatory, and aberrant behaviour were among the features found in this study. The outcome for behaviour aspects produced positive trends, 26,[37][38][39] which is in agreement with prior reviews.…”

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review

“…With regard to the review papers, 1 analysis from 2020, 2 from 2017, 3 from 2016 and 4 from 2015 were cited in the paper. Zhukova et al in their report, dedicated as a review to parents and clinicians, divided complementary and alternative treatments (CAT) into different subgroups de-pending on their effectiveness, classifying HBOT as "harmful, inconclusive or no efficacy" method for patients with autism [26]. However, they made this conclusion only on the basis of a systematic review by Xiong et al based on RCT (randomized controlled trials) and quasi-RCT, results of which were published before 10 December 2015.…”

Terapias y actividades asistidas con animales para niños con TEA: un estudio de revisión

“…En conclusión, este estudio ha encontrado resultados positivos respecto a la efectividad de la TAA y las AAA en niños y adolescentes con TEA. Sin embargo, resulta fundamental aclarar que son estrategias de intervención que deben considerarse siempre complementarias a las intervenciones de corte psicoeducativo y/o farmacológico que cuentan con una evidencia empírica ya ampliamente contrastada (Berry et al, 2013;Mills & Marchant, 2011;Zhukova et al, 2020). Por tanto, estas intervenciones nunca deben sustituir las estrategias tradicionales, pero sí han demostrado su eficacia como complementarias, que pueden contribuir a optimizar los resultados en niños y adolescentes con TEA.…”

“…En las últimas décadas han cobrado peso terapias alternativas a estos tipos de intervención (Zhukova et al, 2020), como por ejemplo la Intervención Asistida con Animales (IAA), donde estructuradamente se incorpora un animal en la intervención para obtener algún beneficio terapéutico (International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations [IAHAIO], 2014). Son intervenciones prometedoras tal y como muestra el metaanálisis de Nimer y Lundahl (2007), en el que se concluye que los animales pueden mejorar el bienestar de las personas, especialmente de las que presentan diversidad funcional.…”

“…La TAA debe ser implementada por profesionales certificados y pretende mejorar el funcionamiento físico, cognitivo, conductual y/ o socioemocional del sujeto. Las AAA persigue fines educativos, motivacionales y recreativos (IAHAIO, 2014;Zhukova et al, 2020). En los últimos años, se han realizado diversas revisiones de estudios sobre este tema con la intención de identificar, resumir y evaluar la eficacia de la IAA en personas con TEA.…”