Curative effect of progressively integrated sandplay therapy on core symptoms and sleep management in preschool children with mild-to-moderate autism spectrum disorder
LIU Gui-Hua, HUANG Long-Sheng, QIAN Qin-Fang, WANG Yan-Xia, GE Pin
Department of Child Healthcare Centre, Fujian Provincial Maternity and Children's Hospital/Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350001, China
Abstract：Objective To explore the curative effect of progressively integrated sandplay therapy on core symptoms and sleep management in preschool children with mild-to-moderate autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods A total of 50 mild-to-moderate ASD preschool children were randomly divided into an experimental group (n=25) and a control group (n=25). The control group was treated with structured teaching and auditory integration training (AIT). Based on these, the experimental group was treated with progressively integrated sandplay therapy. The Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), Children Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), Children's Sleep Habit Questionnaire (CSHQ) and emotion recognition tools were used to evaluate the overall curative effect before treatment and 3 months after treatment. Results The experimental group had significantly lower scores of feeling, social interaction, somatic motor, language factor, total ABC and total CARS than the control group (P < 0.05). The experimental group had also significantly lower scores of social cognition, social communication, social motivation, autistic behavior factor and total SRS than the control group (P < 0.05). The experimental group had a significantly higher accurate rate of recognition of the upper facial expression and lower facial expression than the control group (P < 0.05). The experimental group had significantly lower scores of bedtime resistance, sleep onset, sleep duration, night waking, daytime sleepiness, and total CSHQ than the control group (P < 0.05). The experimental group had significantly reduced themes of wounding and significantly increased themes of healing after sandplay therapy (P < 0.05). Conclusions Progressively integrated sandplay therapy can effectively improve the core symptoms and sleep quality of preschool children with mild-to-moderate ASD, which can be used as an early rehabilitation measure.
LIU Gui-Hua,HUANG Long-Sheng,QIAN Qin-Fang et al. Curative effect of progressively integrated sandplay therapy on core symptoms and sleep management in preschool children with mild-to-moderate autism spectrum disorder[J]. CJCP, 2019, 21(8): 743-748.
Posar A, Visconti P. Omega-3 supplementation in autism spectrum disorders:a still open question?[J]. J Pediatr Neurosci, 2016, 11(3):225-227.
[2]
Baio J, Wiggins L, Christensen DL, et al. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years -autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 11 sites, United States, 2014[J]. MMWR Surveill Summ, 2018, 67(6):1-23.
Gau SS, Liu LT, Wu YY, et a1. Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Social Responsiveness Scale[J]. Res Autism Spect Dis, 2013, 7(2):349-360.
[8]
陈秋如. 社交反应量表的修订和应用初步研究[D]. 广州:中山大学, 2009.
[9]
Cen CQ, Liang YY, Chen QR, et al. Investigating the validation of the Chinese Mandarin version of the Social Responsiveness Scale in a Mainland China child population[J]. BMC Psychiatry, 2017, 17(1):51.
Tchaconas A, Adesman A. Autism spectrum disorders:a pediatric overview and update[J]. Curr Opin Pediatr, 2013, 25(1):130-144.
[14]
Hsiao YJ, Higgins K, Pierce T, et al. Parental stress, family quality of life, and family-teacher partnerships:families of children with autism spectrum disorder[J]. Res Dev Disabil, 2017, 70:152-162.
[15]
Vernetti A, Senju A, Charman T, et al. Simulating interaction:using gaze-contingent eye-tracking to measure the reward value of social signals in toddlers with and without autism[J]. Dev Cogn Neurosci, 2018, 29:21-29.
Quinn S, Donnelly S, Kidd E. The relationship between symbolic play and language acquisition:a meta-analytic review[J]. Dev Rev, 2018, 49:121-135.
[19]
Won DC, Feldman HM, Huffman LC. Sleep problem detection and documentation in children with autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder by developmental-behavioral pediatricians:a DBPNet study[J]. J Dev Behav Pediatr, 2019, 40(1):20-31.
[20]
Sanberg SA, Kuhn BR, Kennedy AE. Outcomes of a behavioral intervention for sleep disturbances in children with autism spectrum disorder[J]. J Autism Dev Disord, 2018, 48(12):4250-4277.
