A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF VESTIBULAR STIMULATION IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
*Anis Choudhery and Tasmi Ansari
ABSTRACT
People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and especially the minimally verbal, often fail to learn basic perceptual and motor skills. This deficit has been demonstrated in several studies, but the findings could have been due to the non-optimal adaptation of the paradigms. Responses to vestibular stimulation can, under well-controlled experimental conditions, provide a measure of brainstem function. Autistic children had significantly longer time constants during the primary nystagmus response and significantly fewer beats during the secondary response than normal children when stimulated with constant angular acceleration in complete darkness. These findings could not be attributed to gross differences in arousal, to developmental retardation, to associated clinical conditions, or to either the influence of vision or habituation. Rather, they are suggestive of a neurophysiologic dysfunction, perhaps involving the brain stem, and may be an expression of the process that underlies those autistic behaviors that suggest faulty modulation of sensory input and motor output. Brain-stem centers moduate both general sensory input and motor excitation and may play a role in the elaboration of the more complex adaptive and motivated behaviors that are also disturbed in autism. In this review, we have generally focused on the Autism Spectrum Disorder and their treatment by using a different techniques and therapies.
Keywords: Vestibular stimulation, autism, neuro-sensory disorders, neurophysiology.
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