Dejian mind-body intervention improves the cognitive functions of a child with autism

Agnes S. CHAN, Sophia L. SZE, Mei Chun CHEUNG, Yvonne Ming Yee HAN, Winnie W. M. LEUNG, Dejian SHI

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21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There has been increasing empirical evidence for the enhancing effects of Dejian Mind-Body Intervention (DMBI), a traditional Chinese Shaolin healing approach, on human frontal brain activity/functions, including patients with autism who are well documented to have frontal lobe problems. This study aims to compare the effects of DMBI with a conventional behavioural/cognitive intervention (CI) on enhancing the executive functions and memory of a nine-year-old boy with low-functioning autism (KY) and to explore possible underlying neural mechanism using EEG theta cordance. At post-one-month DMBI, KY's inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and memory functioning have significantly improved from “severely-to-moderately impaired” to “within-normal” range. This improvement was not observed from previous 12-month CI. Furthermore, KY showed increased cordance gradually extending from the anterior to the posterior brain region, suggesting possible neural mechanism underlying his cognitive improvement. These findings have implicated potential applicability of DMBI as a rehabilitation program for patients with severe frontal lobe and/or memory disorders. Copyright © 2011 Agnes S. Chan et al. The article is available online at: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2011/549254/
Original languageEnglish
Article number549254
JournalEvidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Volume2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

Citation

Chan, A. S., Sze, S. L., Cheung, M.-C., Han, Y. M. Y., Leung, W. W. M., & Shi, D. (2011). Dejian mind-body intervention improves the cognitive functions of a child with autism. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011, art. no. 549254.

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