Chinese Calligraphic Handwriting (CCH): Treatment of Clinical Symptoms of Children with Autism

Background: Chinese calligraphy handwriting (CCH) enhances one's cognitive, emotional and physiological functions and mental health conditions. Its applications have resulted in behavioral change, mental relaxation as well as improvements in the clinical conditions of the children with, Autism, ADHD and PTSD, showing positive and significant results Kao [1]. Objectives: We tested the treatment effects of CCH training on reducing autistic children's behavioural changes and clinical symptoms exhibited in schools and at home. Method: The experiment included 30 autistic children whose behaviour activities and clinical symptoms were measured by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Infant Behavioral Summarized Evaluation (IBSE). The CCH writing task involved 40 minutes a day, five days a week, for a total of 4 consecutive weeks. The assessment took place five times: once before the experiment, and once per week during the four week's training period. Results: There were post-CCH training improvement in the four dimensions of Socialization, Communication, Living Environment and Attention/Consciousness, and the Total Score at the 0.01 level of significance of the IBSE assessment. Similarly, we found post-CCH training improvements for the Total Score and the 3 behavior dimensions of Interpersonal Relations, Verbal Communication and Strange Movements, and Rituals of the CARS subscales also all at 0.01 level of significance.