Objective:The therapeutic approach of traditional chinese Medicine (TCM) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a functional one.To study the efficacy,safety and functional brain change from the use of tongue acupuncture (TAC) on ASD children.Methods:21 autistic boys (3-16 years old) were randomly assigned to TAC group (TAC:n =12;receiving daily TAC for 8 weeks) or control (C:n =9;no acupuncture).Primary outcome mea-sures included Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC),Reynell Language Develop-mental Scale,Symbolic Play Test (SPT),Functional Independence Measure for Children(WeeFIM),Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Scale and Cerebral FDG Metabolism by PET.Results:There were significant improvement in speech domain of ATEC (p =0.030),Self-care domain of WeeFIM (p =0.021),cognition domain of WeeFIM (p =0.001) and Total score domain of WeeFIM (p =0.001) in TAC group compared to the C group.There were significant difference in positive clinical response between C and TAC group in language (p =0.0211),functional (p =0.0011),parental Impression criteria (p =0.0003) and overall cerebral glucose metabolism (p =0.0451) using ROC criteria.No significant association of PET Glucose Meta-bolism with Clinical response was found.None of the children developed any side-effects.Conclusion:A short course of TAC can improve specific functions in children with autism spec-trum disorder,especially speech and cognition function.No statistical significant association of PET Glucose Metabolism with Clinical response.Larger scale with more sample size trial should be done for further investigation.

Child ; Dystonia Musculorum Deformans ; diagnostic imaging ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Chaperones ; genetics ; Mutation ; Pedigree ; Positron-Emission Tomography