Effect of Therapeutic Diet Along With Special Physiotherapy Program on Growth Motor Development and Cognitive Function in Autism Spectrum Children

Autism is a complex neurological and developmental disability that appears within early developmental stages of life. Autism affects the normal functioning of the brain, communication development as well as social skills of the child. Autism has been regarded as a life-long condition and it cannot be cured. However, severity may decrease through special diet and physiotherapy program.

In Saudi Arabia, the prevalence revealed that confirmed cases of ASD were 42,500, and many remained undiagnosed A target group of (60) children diagnosed with autism or ASD, attending the paediatric psychiatry outpatient clinic and autism centres will be enrolled in this clinical trial study, which will be conducted in Jazan City-Saudi Arabia.

The inclusion criteria will be as follows: (1) parental consent, (2) age 3-12 years, and (3) a diagnosis of autism or ASD. Exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) autism associated with a genetic syndrome, (2) patients with comorbidities (3) known food allergy leading to avoidance of certain foods, and (4) mother or primary caretaker not available to be adherent to the prescribed diet. Three groups will be designed: (1) autistic children with regular diet and physiotherapy program. (2) Autistic children on free gluten/casein diet and (3) Autistic children on free gluten/casein diet and subjected to specific physiotherapy program. The study will be continued for 3 months.