• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.50-59
• /
• 2015

Objectives The purpose of this study is to report seven cases of autism spectrum disorder treated by oriental medicine. Methods Seven patients who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder were treated with herbal medicine (Kwakhyangjungkisanhapyukmijihwangtang-gamibang), and the effect was measured. Results After the treatment, cognitive skill, speech, motor function, communication skill, and the patients' general conditions have gotten better. Conclusions This study has shown that the oriental medical treatment for autism spectrum disorder was effective, but further studies are needed.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.53-58
• /
• 2013

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior and interest. Sleep problems are not uncommon in children with autism spectrum disorders. Symptoms of insomnia are the most frequent sleep problems in individuals with ASD. Sleep problems can cause significant difficulties in the daily life of children with ASD and their families. Genetic factor, deregulations of melatonin synthesis, extraneous environmental stimuli and psychiatric and medical conditions may cause sleep problems. The first line treatment of sleep problems in ASD includes managements for potential contributing factors and parent education about sleep hygiene care for child and behavioral therapy. Supplementation with melatonin may be effective before considering other medications, such as risperidone, clonidine, and mirtazapine.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.58 no.1
• /
• pp.8-14
• /
• 2015

In patients with a language developmental delay, it is necessary to make a differential diagnosis for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), specific language impairment, and mental retardation. It is important that pediatricians recognize the signs and symptoms of ASDs, as many patients with language developmental delays are ultimately diagnosed with ASDs. Pediatricians play an important role in the early recognition of ASDs, because they are usually the first point of contact for children with ASDs. A revision of the diagnostic criteria of ASDs was proposed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) that was released in May 2013. The autism spectrum describes a range of conditions classified as neurodevelopmental disorders in the fifth edition of the DSM. The new diagnostic criteria encompasses previous elements from the diagnosis of autistic disorder, Asperger disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified. An additional change to the DSM includes synthesizing the section on social and communication deficits into one domain. In ASD patients, the appropriate behavioral therapies and rehabilitation treatments significantly affect the prognosis. Therefore, this makes early diagnosis and treatment very important. In conclusion, pediatricians need to be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of ASDs and be attentive to them in order to make an early diagnosis and provide treatment.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.165-171
• /
• 2012

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the oral health conditions of Autism Spectrum Disease (ASD) and cerebral palsy(CP) patients visiting the Kyung Hee University Dental Hospital from January 2003 to december 2010. Methods: This study analyzed the data (patient's chart and radiograph) of fifty-eight ASD patients and fifty-seven CP patients. The oral health conditions of patients were surveyed by DMFT (dmft) and periodontal condition at the first visit. The performed dental procedure, behavior management methods and follow-up check were analyzed. Results: The average age of patients having ASD and CP was 12 year 2 month (ASD; 11 year 9 month and CP; 12 year 4 month). Within the limit of this study, the rate of dental caries was higher in CP patients than autism patients. Both of diseases showed the periodontal problem. Autistic patients showed more difficult management problems according to the rate of general anesthesia experiences. Conclusions: This article would contribute for dental practitioners to provide appropriate and specialized treatment to ASD patients and CP patients.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.213-219
• /
• 2017

Objectives: Early intensive interventions are very important for children with autism spectrum disorder. We examined the actual conditions of hospital-based early intensive interventions for autism spectrum disorder in Seoul, in order to help develop and implement an evidence-based early intensive intervention model for use in Korea. Methods: Nine hospital-based institutes running an early intensive intervention program for children with autism spectrum disorder responded to a questionnaire in September 2014. They provided a brief introduction to their program, explained its theoretical bases, and reported the number of children, their age, intervention time, duration and so on. Results: In the majority of the institutions, the intervention was provided for over 20 hours every week, and the theoretical bases included various applied behavioral analysis (ABA) methods and other therapies (language and occupational therapy). The therapist-child ratio ranged from 1:1 to 5:3. Various types of therapists were involved, including behavioral analysts, special education teachers and (or) language pathologists. There was only one clinic where the behavioral analyst was the main therapist. Usually, the intervention was terminated just before the child entered elementary school. The main merit of the hospital-based intervention in our survey was the effectiveness of the multi-disciplinary intervention plan and its other merits were the accuracy of the diagnosis, its ability to be combined with medicine, and so on. Conclusion: The current hospital-based early intensive intervention programs provide interventions for over 20 hours per week and employ multidisciplinary approaches. However, there are very few institutes for children with autism and very few intervention specialists and specialist education courses in the country. We need more educational programs for intervention therapists and have to try to develop policies which encourage the implementation of an evidence-based early intensive intervention program nationwide.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.69-87
• /
• 2024

This study investigated whether joint attention response behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) change in response to musical cues and reinforcing stimulus, and compared them with neurotypically developing (NT) children. The participants included 13 children with ASD and 14 NT children aged between 3 to 5 years. The study established six task conditions, involving cues (verbal vs. musical) for responding to joint attention (RJA) behaviors and reinforcing stimulus (verbal vs. sound vs. musical) for social referencing behaviors. These tasks were presented 12 times with two repetitions each. The results of the study showed that providing musical cues during the RJA phase increased levels of RJA in children with ASD, consistent with prior studies. Subsequently, musical reinforcing stimuli increased the frequency of social referencing behaviors in these children. This indicates that musical stimuli can extend beyond mere sensory cues, helping individuals to understand and respond to social and emotional cues from others. Moreover, these musical stimuli could serve as effective social reinforcement factors for this population.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.19-43
• /
• 2017

This study aimed to examine the effects of a reciprocal attention intervention on the joint attention behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by comparing the music and nonmusic conditions. An alternating treatment design was applied as one of the single subject designs and the reciprocal attention intervention included music and nonmusic conditions implemented alternately within a session. The participants were four children between the ages 4 and 5 years and each participant who participated in 23 intervention sessions that followed the sequence of baseline (3 sessions), treatment (15 sessions), and follow-up (5 sessions). The music condition consisted of structured joint instrument playing, trials for attentional shift, and interactive instrument playing. The nonmusic condition consisted of joint toy play, trials for attentional shift, and turn taking-based play. The occurrence of target behaviors (i. e., joint attention behavior, eye gaze, and joint action) was analyzed across sessions. At pretest and posttest, the Early Social Communication Scale was administered. All participants showed increasing tendency in all target behaviors, but such occurrence was greater in the music condition than in the nonmusic condition. The findings support the use of a reciprocal attention intervention with musical stimuli to effectively improve joint attention in this population.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.320-327
• /
• 2022

Neurodevelopmental disorders are complex conditions that pose difficulty in the modulation of proper motor, sensory and cognitive function due to dysregulated neuronal development. Previous studies have reported that an imbalance in the excitation/inhibition (E/I) in the brain regulated by glutamatergic and/or GABAergic neurotransmission can cause neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric behavioral deficits such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). NMDA acts as an agonist at the NMDA receptor and imitates the action of the glutamate on that receptor. NMDA however, unlike glutamate, only binds to and regulates the NMDA receptor subtypes and not the other glutamate receptors. This study seeks to determine whether NMDA administration in mice i.e., over-activation of the NMDA system would result in long-lasting behavioral deficits in the adolescent mice. Both gender mice were treated with NMDA or saline at early postnatal developmental period with significant synaptogenesis and synaptic maturation. On postnatal day 28, various behavioral experiments were conducted to assess and identify behavioral characteristics. NMDA-treated mice show social deficits, and repetitive behavior in both gender mice at adolescent periods. However, only the male mice but not female mice showed increased locomotor activity. This study implies that neonatal exposure to NMDA may illicit behavioral features similar to ASD. This study also confirms the validity of the E/I imbalance theory of ASD and that NMDA injection can be used as a pharmacologic model for ASD. Future studies may explore the mechanism behind the gender difference in locomotor activity as well as the human relevance and therapeutic significance of the present findings.

• Journal of Information Technology and Architecture
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.347-357
• /
• 2014

This research aims to suggest the possibility of functional culture contents based on interdisciplinary methodologies, especially for people who have Autism Spectrum Conditions, or those who have disabilities on express and receive gamsung (emotions). Recently, the development of application technologies in smartphones and tablet computers needs of functional culture contents, which are connected with the gamsung system. Moreover, the potential of marketplace of functional culture contents is emerging, as can be seen from the success of Augmentative and Alternative Communications (AAC) applications. Therefore, with the development of more applications that prevent and resolve Gamsung Disabilities anticipatively, there will be a positive economic effect of reducing back on intervention expenses as well as the construction of new contents ecosystem. So, in this research, we will attempt to make an approach of using the cultural semiotics methodology in finding attributes and features of applications that help to keep mental stability and balance for people with gamsung Disabilities. Particularly, this research will suggest an interdisciplinary theory on healing contents making methodology, using contents analysis; user interface (UI) analysis; and user experience (UX) analysis on existing smart healing applications.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.39-53
• /
• 2021

Objective : The purpose of this study was to systematically review dysphagia rehabilitation treatment for children with feeding disorders. Methods : The articles evaluated in this study were collected from the PubMed, Medline Complete, and CINAHL databases and subsequently reviewed using the PRISMA flow chart and PICOS approach. A total of 13 papers were analyzed for study quality, disease groups, evaluation tools, interventions, and post-intervention effects. Results : Of the reviewed papers, six (46.15%) related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and seven (53.85%) to cerebral palsy (CP) with age ranges of between 2 and 8 years for the ASD studies and between 12 months and 18 years for CP. In evaluating the types of feeding disorder involved, the ASD group exhibited predominantly behavioral conditions while the CP subjects had a larger number of functional oral and swallowing issues. In terms of interventions, behavior modifications were used most frequently with ASD while oral-sensory motor, texture modifications, and electrical stimulation were applied at the same frequency with children with CP. All interventions were found to be effective. Conclusion : In this study, research into children with feeding disorders was reviewed according to condition, evaluation tool, and method of intervention. It is expected that this review can be used as basic data for developing a protocol that will allow clinicians to efficiently apply condition-specific interventions for eating disorders without resorting to trial and error.