Environmental enrichment as an effective treatment for autism: A randomized controlled trial.

Abstract

Enriched sensorimotor environments enable rodents to compensate for a wide range of neurological challenges, including those induced in animal models of autism. Given the sensorimotor deficits in most children with autism, we attempted to translate that approach to their treatment. In a randomized controlled trial, 3-12 year-old children with autism were assigned to either a sensorimotor enrichment group, which received daily olfactory/tactile stimulation along with exercises that stimulated other paired sensory modalities, or to a control group. We administered tests of cognitive performance and autism severity to both groups at the initiation of the study and after 6 months. Severity of autism, as assessed with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, improved significantly in the enriched group compared to controls. Indeed, 42% of the enriched group and only 7% of the control group had what we considered to be a clinically significant improvement of 5 points on that scale. Sensorimotor enrichment also produced a clear improvement in cognition, as determined by their Leiter-R Visualization and Reasoning scores. At 6 months, the change in average scores for the enriched group was 11.3 points higher than that for the control group. Finally, 69% of parents in the enriched group and 31% of parents in the control group reported improvement in their child over the 6-month study. Environmental enrichment therefore appears to be effective in ameliorating some of the symptoms of autism in children.

Translating preclinical environmental enrichment studies for the treatment of autism and other brain disorders: Comment on Woo and Leon (2013).

“…We emphasize diat the approach used in this study by Woo and Leon (2013) demonstrates strong potential for clinical translation. Nevertheless, in order to identify the most efficient paradigms and ensure that therapies are tailored to individual patients, we also highlight remaining shortcomings, which could be addressed in future larger scale randomized controlled trials.…”

Modulation of GABAergic transmission in development and neurodevelopmental disorders: investigating physiology and pathology to gain therapeutic perspectives

“…Although EE does seem ideal as a non-invasive treatment, there is however controversy as to how well it will translate to the human setting, given that some of the effects that are sometimes reported in environmentally enriched animals could be just considered as the rescue of the environmental deprivation of the standard housing conditions of laboratory animals (Nithianantharajah and Hannan, 2006; Sale et al, 2014). Nevertheless, the first recent attempts to translate EE into the humans setting have proven useful for the treatment of autism (Woo and Leon, 2013). …”

Sensory-motor problems in Autism

“…Combined with evidence for persistent sensory-motor difficulties across the spectrum, this suggests the need for early interventions to promote early engaged, exploratory behavior in infants at risk of or with a preliminary diagnosis of ASD. Breaking research has explicitly demonstrated the potential for sensory-motor therapy in ASD (Woo and Leon, 2013), with sensory enrichment (including movement) leading to improved perceptual, social and cognitive functioning in children aged 3–12 years. Sensitivity to the particular sensory preferences and difficulties of an individual, may allow tailored sensory enrichment to facilitate this exploratory process at later stages of development.…”