Massage therapy can prevent the risk of autism spectrum disorders in children

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of human beings with autism spectrum issues in some parts of the world tends to make bigger, in Indonesia alone, accurate and complete data and information from human beings with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are nonetheless missing, so it is feared that many children with risk symptoms of ASD do not get treatment early. AIM: This research aims to prevent the risk of ASD in children through making use of massage therapy remedies based on evaluation of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddler (modified Chat [M-Chat]) ratings. METHODS: This research is a quasi-experimental study with a time series design which was carried out from May 2019 to March 2020 at three health centers in the city of Jakarta. The analysis was carried out before and after the application of massage in a time series of four periods on ten children aged 18–36 months with M-Chat scores, and then analyzed by receiver operating characteristics to obtain a cutoff point to determine the risk status of ASD. RESULTS: The results showed that there was an effect of massage therapy on the M-Chat score of children with ASD risk p = 0.004 < 0.05 and changes in the M-Chat score of children with ASD 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 of autism spectrum issues in children based on the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddler (M-Chat).