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[Auricular acupoint pressing combined with visual cognitive training for children with Chinese developmental
Dandan Luo1, Min Shen2, Sujuan Wang3
1School of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai University of TCM, Shanghai 201203, China; Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai 201102.
Objective:
To observe the therapeutic effect of auricular acupoint pressing combined with visual cognitive training in children with Chinese developmental dyslexia (DD).
Methods:
A total of 50 children with Chinese DD were randomly divided into an observation group (25 cases, 2 cases dropped out) and a control group (25 cases, 2 cases dropped out). The control group received visual cognitive training for 40 min, once a week. The observation group received auricular acupoint pressing treatment in addition to the same visual cognitive training. The selected auricular acupoints included Shenmen (TF4), subcortex (AT4), Kidney (CO10), Heart (CO15), Liver (CO12), and Spleen (CO13), applied alternately to both ears, once a week. Parents of both groups were instructed to provide 15-minute daily home-based reinforcement training according to the day's session. The treatment lasted for 3 months. Before and after treatment, the motor-free visual perception test-4 (MVPT-4), visual-motor integration (VMI), and the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) scores in the two groups were assessed.
Results:
Compared with before treatment, the observation group showed significant increases in MVPT-4 sub-scores of visual discrimination, visual memory, spatial relations, visual closure, and total score after treatment (P<0.05), while the control group showed significant improvement in MVPT-4 sub-score of visual memory and total score (P<0.05). Both groups had increased VMI scores and SDQ scores of prosocial behavior (P<0.05). In the observation group, SDQ score for hyperactivity/inattention was significantly decreased (P<0.05). After treatment, the observation group had higher MVPT-4 visual discrimination and total scores, and higher VMI score (P<0.05) and lower SDQ emotional symptom score compared with the control group (P<0.05).
Conclusion:
Auricular acupoint pressing combined with visual cognitive training can improve visual perception and visual-motor integration in children with Chinese DD, reduce hyperactivity/inattention behaviors, and enhance prosocial behavior.
