Therapeutic effect of group sandplay on children with autism spectrum disorder / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the effect of group sandplay therapy on children with autism spectrum disorder(ASD).Methods:Ninety children with ASD of Zhuang nationality were randomly divided into individual sandplay group, parent-child sandplay group and peer sandplay group, with 30 cases in each group. All the children were taught by the method of applied behavior analysis (ABA). Individual sandplay group was added with individual sandplay therapy, parent-child sandplay group was added with parent-child group sandplay therapy, and peer sandplay group was added with peer group sandplay therapy. Autism Behavior Checklist(ABC), Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Psycho-educational Profile for Autistic and Developmentally Disabled Children Version 3(PEP-3), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and Assessment of Changes in Behavioural Trends were used to evaluate the efficacy before and after treatment for 6 months. SPSS 24.0 software was used for F test, paired t test and nonparametric test for statistical analysis. Results:After intervention, the scores of social interaction(16.90±2.14, 16.56±1.87), sports(20.60±2.43, 20.10±2.25), self-care(16.90±2.14, 16.93±2.30), ABC (97.53±7.18, 96.57±6.61)and CARS(36.10±2.29, 36.10±2.45) in parent-child and peer sandplay group were significantly different from those((19.43±3.22), (22.77±2.24), (19.87±3.60), (108.23±7.59), (37.80±2.92)) in individual sandplay group ( P<0.05). There were significant differences in the efficacy of imitation (76.67%, 80.00%), social interaction (83.33%, 86.67%) and emotional expression (80.00%, 83.36%) between parent-child and peer sandplay group and individual sandplay group ( P<0.05). The scores of social cognition(16.07±3.20, 17.07±2.26), social communication(31.43±3.84, 33.20±3.64), autism behavior(23.90±3.60, 25.93±4.57)and SRS(101.97±9.81, 107.57±8.20)in parent-child and peer sandplay group were significantly different from those((18.17±3.05), (36.53±4.03), (27.90±5.22), (117.07±10.09))in individual sandplay group ( P<0.05). There were significant differences in the number of eye contact((2.26±0.78)times/unit, (2.33±0.80))times/unit) and physical contact((2.27±0.78))times/unit, (2.33±0.80))times/unit) between parent-child and peer sandplay group and the number((1.70±0.79))times/unit, (1.83±0.77))times/unit) of individual sandplay group( P<0.05). Conclusions:Group sandplay can significantly improve the social interaction of Zhuang children with autism spectrum disorder than individual sandplay.However, peer group sandplay has the same effect on language and social motivation, and parent-child group sandplay has the same effect on sensory ability and social perception as individual sandplay.