Two separate papers published in two
scientific journals hold hope for children with autism
through chiropractic care. One paper published in the
March 2006 issue of Clinical Chiropractic reviews past
studies on chiropractic and Autism. This paper recounts
in clinical studies where children with autism are helped
with chiropractic care. Most of the studies reviewed
speak of problems in the upper cervical (neck) spine.
In addition to the Clinical Chiropractic paper, a study
published in the March 9, 2006 Journal of Vertebral
Subluxation (JVSR) compares two groups of children with
autism and their response under chiropractic care. In
this study 14 children diagnosed with autism were studied
undergoing chiropractic care. Seven of these children
received one form of chiropractic adjustments focusing
on the entire spine while the other seven received a
form of chiropractic adjustment focusing on the upper
cervical spine.
The children in this study were diagnosed with autism
at the Child Evaluation Center at the University of
Louisville Medical School. The evaluation of any progress
made was done by using the Autism Treatment Evaluation
Checklist (ATEC) created by the researchers at the Autism
Research Institute of San Diego, California. According
to the JVSR study, the ATEC is a one-page questionnaire
designed to be completed by parents, teachers, or caretakers.
It consists of 4 subsets: I. Speech/Language Communication
(14 items); II. Sociability (20 items); III. Sensory/Cognitive
Awareness (18 items); and IV. Health/Physical/Behavior
(25 items).
Each of the children in this study were scored according
to the ATEC evaluation. Then, twice each week for the
following 3 months, the children were checked and adjusted
as indicated. Follow up ATEC evaluations were performed
each month to monitor the progress.
The results showed that improvement of ATEC scores occurred
in six of the seven children under upper cervical adjustment
and in five of the seven children under full spine adjustment.
The children in the upper cervical group did show greater
score improvements overall. In this group, two of the
children improved so much that they no longer met the
criteria to be classified as autistic. Overall, the
study noted that the most common clinical aspects of
improvement were in communication, verbal skills, eye
contact, mood, and physical sport skills.
Two separate papers published in two
scientific journals hold hope for children with autism
through chiropractic care. One paper published in the
March 2006 issue of Clinical Chiropractic reviews past
studies on chiropractic and Autism. This paper recounts
in clinical studies where children with autism are helped
with chiropractic care. Most of the studies reviewed
speak of problems in the upper cervical (neck) spine.