Dysfunctional frontal cortical areas associated with clinical features are observed in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study attempted to identify any potential therapeutic effects of bilateral anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the left and right prefrontal and motor areas on the clinical characteristics of children with ASD. Fifty children with confirmed ASD medical diagnoses were divided equally and randomly into a tDCS treatment group and a control group. The tDCS treatment group underwent 10 sessions (20‐min durations, five per week) of bilateral anodal tDCS stimulation applied simultaneously over the left and right prefrontal and motor areas, whereas the control group underwent the same procedures but with the use of sham tDCS stimulation. Total scores and sub‐scores of autism treatment evaluation checklist (ATEC) (language and communication; sociability; sensory awareness; and behavioral, health, and physical conditions) were measured before and after the tDCS treatment sessions of both groups. There were significant decreases in total ATEC scores (P = 0.014), sociability sub‐scores (P = 0.021), and behavioral, health, and physical condition sub‐scores (P = 0.011) in the tDCS treatment group. No significant changes were observed in total ATEC scores and sub‐scores in the control group. In conclusion, compared to the control group, bilateral anodal tDCS showed potential therapeutic effects on children with ASD in terms of improvements in sociability, behavior, health, and physical conditions with no reported side effects. Autism Res 2020, 13: 828–836. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

中文翻译：

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双边阳极经颅直流电刺激对自闭症谱系障碍儿童前额叶和运动皮层区域的治疗作用：一项初步研究。

在患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童中观察到与临床特征相关的功能异常的额叶皮层区域。这项研究试图确定在左侧和右侧前额叶和运动区应用双侧肛门经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）对ASD儿童的临床特征的任何潜在治疗作用。将50名经确诊为ASD医学诊断的儿童均等地随机分为tDCS治疗组和对照组。tDCS治疗组在左右前额叶和运动区同时进行了10次双侧肛门tDCS刺激（持续时间20分钟，每周5次），而对照组接受了相同的操作，但使用了假tDCS刺激。在两组的tDCS治疗会议前后，对自闭症治疗评估清单（ATEC）的总分和分数（语言和沟通能力，社交能力，感官意识以及行为，健康和身体状况）进行了测量。总ATEC分数明显下降（P = 0.014），社交评分（P = 0.021）以及行为，健康和身体状况评分（P = 0.011）。对照组的总ATEC得分和亚分未见明显变化。总之，与对照组相比，双侧阳极tDCS在改善社交能力，行为，健康和身体状况方面显示出对ASD儿童的潜在治疗效果，但未报告副作用。Autism Res 2020，13：828-836。©2020国际自闭症研究协会，Wiley Periodicals，Inc.。