Massage Therapy Can Prevent the Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Children

Abstract

Abstract Background: The prevalence of people with autism spectrum disorders in some parts of the world tends to increase, in Indonesia alone, accurate and complete data and information from people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are still lacking, so it is feared that many children with risk symptoms of autism spectrum disorders do not get treatment early. Aim: This study aims to prevent the risk of autism spectrum disorders in children by applying massage therapy based on analysis of the Modified Check List for Autism in Toddler (M-Chat) scores. Methods: The study was conducted from May 2019 to March 2020 at three public health centers in the city of Jakarta. An analysis was carried out before and after the application of massage in a time series of four periods on 10 children aged 18-36 months with M-Chat scores, then analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) to obtain a cut off point to determine the risk status of autism spectrum disorders. Results: The results showed that there was an effect of massage therapy on the M-Chat score of children with autism spectrum disorder risk p=0.004 <0.05 and changes in the M-Chat score of children with autism spectrum disorder risk experienced significant changes after massage in the third and fourth therapy periods. with p = 0.005 and p = 0.007 < 0.05. Conclusion: The results show that massage therapy can prevent the risk of autism spectrum disorders in children based on the Modified Check List for Autism in Toddler (M-Chat). Keywords: Massage therapy, babies, autism spectrum disorders, modified checklist for autism in toddler