Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016:2016:2734915.
doi: 10.1155/2016/2734915. Epub 2016 Sep 18.

Environmental Enrichment Therapy for Autism: Outcomes with Increased Access

Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Environmental Enrichment Therapy for Autism: Outcomes with Increased Access

Eyal Aronoff et al. Neural Plast. 2016.

Abstract

We have previously shown in two randomized clinical trials that environmental enrichment is capable of ameliorating symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and in the present study, we determined whether this therapy could be effective under real-world circumstances. 1,002 children were given daily Sensory Enrichment Therapy, by their parents, using personalized therapy instructions given over the Internet. Parents were asked to assess the symptoms of their child every 2 weeks for up to 7 months. An intention-to-treat analysis showed significant overall gains for a wide range of symptoms in these children, including learning, memory, anxiety, attention span, motor skills, eating, sleeping, sensory processing, self-awareness, communication, social skills, and mood/autism behaviors. The children of compliant caregivers were more likely to experience a significant improvement in their symptoms. The treatment was effective across a wide age range and there was equal progress reported for males and females, for USA and international subjects, for those who paid and those who did not pay for the therapy, and for individuals at all levels of initial symptom severity. Environmental enrichment, delivered via an online system, therefore appears to be an effective, low-cost means of treating the symptoms of ASD.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Eyal Aronoff is a founder and the majority shareholder of Mendability, LLC, which funded this project, and Robert Hillyer is an employee of Mendability, LLC. Michael Leon is an independent researcher with no financial ties to Mendability.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean change in symptom severity score as a function of therapy duration in months (R 2 = 0.14). Symptom severity score was the change on a 0–5 scale for all answered questions for each subject.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean change in symptom severity, as determined by all answered questions on a 0–5 scale from the initial to the final assessment as a function of the number of worksheets received, which served as a reflection of parental engagement with the therapy (R 2 = 0.26).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean composite assessment score (scale 0–5) over time for subjects whose parents downloaded different numbers of exercise worksheets.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean composite assessment score (scale 0–5) over time for subjects of different ages.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mean change in symptom severity score as a function of initial age (R 2 = 0.002). Symptom severity score was the change on a 0–5 scale for all answered questions for each subject.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Mean change in symptom severity, determined by all answered questions on a 0–5 scale as a function of initial symptom severity (R 2 = 0.005).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Mean composite assessment score (scale 0–5) over time for male and female subjects.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Mean composite assessment score (scale 0–5) over time for subjects with different reported diagnoses.

References

    1. Zablotsky B., Black L. I., Maenner M. J., Schieve L. A., Blumberg S. J. Estimated prevalence of autism and other developmental disabilities following questionnaire; Changes in the 2014 National Health Interview Survey. National Health Statistics Report. 2015;87:1–20. - PubMed
    1. Colvert E., Tick B., McEwen F., et al. Heritability of autism spectrum disorder in a UK population-based twin sample. JAMA Psychiatry. 2015;72(5):415–423. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.3028. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sandin S., Lichtenstein P., Kuja-Halkola R., Larsson H., Hultman C. M., Reichenberg A. The familial risk of autism. The Journal of the American Medical Association. 2014;311(17):1770–1777. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.4144. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tick B., Bolton P., Happé F., Rutter M., Rijsdijk F. Heritability of autism spectrum disorders: a meta-analysis of twin studies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2015;57(5):585–595. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12499. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lavelle T. A., Weinstein M. C., Newhouse J. P., Munir K., Kuhlthau K. A., Prosser L. A. Economic burden of childhood autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics. 2014;133(3):e520–e529. doi: 10.1542/peds.2013-0763. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types