Play therapy in children with autism:Its role,implications,and limitations

Play is a pleasurable physical or mental activity that enhances the child’s skills involving negotiation abilities,problem-solving,manual dexterity,sharing,decision-making,and working in a group.Play affects all the brain's areas,structures,and functions.Children with autism have adaptive behavior,adaptive response,and social interaction limitations.This review explores the different applications of play therapy in helping children with autism disorder.Play is usually significantly impaired in children with autism.Play therapy is mainly intended to help children to honor their unique mental abilities and developmental levels.The main aim of play therapy is to prevent or solve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal child-healthy growth and development.Play therapy helps children with autism to engage in play activities of their interest and choice to express themselves in the most comfortable ways.It changes their way of self-expression from unwanted behaviors to more non-injurious expressive behavior using toys or activities of their choice as their words.Play therapy also helps those children to experience feeling out various interaction styles.Every child with autism is unique and responds differently.Therefore,different types of intervention,like play therapy,could fit the differences in children with autism.Proper evaluation of the child is mandatory to evaluate which type fits the child more than the others.This narrative review revised the different types of play therapy that could fit children with autism in an evidence-based way.Despite weak evidence,play therapy still has potential benefits for patients and their families.

Multimodal integrated intervention for children with attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder

BACKGROUND Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD)is one of the most common disorders in child and adolescent psychiatry,with a prevalence of more than 5%.Despite extensive research on ADHD in the last 10 to 20 years,effective treatments are still lacking.Instead,the concept of ADHD seems to have become broader and more heterogeneous.Therefore,the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD remains challenging for clinicians.AIM To investigate the effects of a multimodal integrated intervention for children with ADHD.METHODS Between March 2019 and September 2020,a total of 100 children with ADHD who were diagnosed and treated at our hospital were assessed for eligibility,two of whom revoked their consent.A case-control study was conducted in which the children were equally assigned,using a randomized number table,to either a medication group(methylphenidate hydrochloride extended-release tablets and atomoxetine hydrochloride tablets)or a multimodal integrated intervention group(medication+parent training+behavior modification+sensory integration therapy+sand tray therapy),with 49 patients in each group.The clinical endpoint was the efficacy of the different intervention modalities.RESULTS The two groups of children with ADHD had comparable patient characteristics(P>0.05).Multimodal integrated intervention resulted in a significantly higher treatment efficacy(91.84%)than medication alone(75.51%)(P<0.05).Children who received the multimodal integrated intervention showed lower scores in the Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire and the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale than those treated with medication alone(P<0.05).The Sensory Integration Scale scores of children in the multimodal integrated intervention group were higher than those of children in the medication group(P<0.05).Children who received the multimodal integrated intervention had higher compliance and family satisfaction and a lower incidence of adverse events than those treated with medication alone(P<0.05).CONCLUSION Multimodal integrated intervention effectively alleviated symptoms associated with ADHD in children.It enhanced their memory and attention with high safety and parental satisfaction,demonstrating good potential for clinical promotion.