Abstract:
Background and Objectives: Childhood autism is severe and a serious disorder. A
study was conducted by Spandan holistic institute of applied Homoeopathy, Mumbai,
with the objective of demonstrating the usefulness of homeopathic management in
autism.
Materials and Methods: Sixty autistic children of both sexes, ≤12 years were selected
for this study. It was nonrandomized, self‑controlled, pre and post‑intervention study,
wherein the initial 6 months of observation period was used as the control period and the
same patients were thereafter treated for 1 year and compared with post‑intervention
findings.
Results: The study demonstrated significant improvement of autistic features with
mean change in ATEC score (ATEC1‑pre‑treatment with ATEC5‑post‑treatment) was
15.12 and ATEC mean percent change was 19.03. Statistically significant changes
in ATEC scores were observed in all the quarters analyzed through repeated
measures ANOVA, with F‑value 135.952, P = 0.0001. An impact was observed on
all core autistic features, which included communication, 12.61%, socialization, 17%,
sensory awareness, 18.82%, and health and behavior, 29% (P = 0.0001). Significant
improvement was observed in behavior by Autistic Hyperactivity Scale, AHS1 36 to
AHS5 14.30 with F‑value 210.599 (P = 0.0001). Outcome assessment was carried
out using MANOVA, which showed statistically significant changes in post‑treatment
scores, P < 0.005. Total 88.34% cases showed improvement, 8.33% showed status quo,
and 3.33% cases worsened. Nine out of 60 cases showed a reversal of CARS putting
them into non‑autistic zone, P = 0.0001. A sharp decrease (34%) in ATEC scores, in
the first quarter implied positive effect of homoeopathic medicines, prescribed, as per
the homoeopathic principles.
Conclusion: The study has demonstrated usefulness of homoeopathic treatment in
management of neuropsychological dysfunction in childhood autism disorder, which
is reflected in significant reduction of hyperactivity, behavioral dysfunction, sensory
impairment as well as communication difficulty. This was demonstrated well in
psychosocial adaptation of autistic children.
