ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES@#To study the effect of probiotics combined with applied behavior analysis (ABA) in the treatment of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).@*METHODS@#A total of 41 children with ASD who attended the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University from May 2019 to December 2020 were enrolled and randomly divided into an observation group with 21 children and a control group with 20 children. The children in the observation group were given oral probiotics combined with ABA intervention, while those in the control group were given ABA intervention alone. The treatment outcomes were compared between the two groups. Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) was used to evaluate the severity of behavioral symptoms in both groups before intervention and at 3 months after intervention. The fecal samples were collected to analyze the difference in intestinal flora between the two groups based on 16s rRNA high-throughput sequencing.@*RESULTS@#Before intervention, there was no significant difference in the ATEC score between the observation and control groups (@*CONCLUSIONS@#Probiotics may improve the effect of conventional ABA intervention in children with ASD by regulating intestinal flora.