Social communication skills may improve with a-cTBS

Researchers in China and the United Kingdom report that a non-invasive neurostimulation technique called accelerated continuous theta burst stimulation (a-cTBS) may enhance social communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Hangyu Tan and colleagues randomized 200 children with ASD to receive 10 daily sessions of either a-cTBS or a sham treatment over a five-day course. Of the group, 193 children completed all sessions. The intervention targeted the brain’s left primary motor cortex, which plays roles in language processing, movement, and social-emotional functions.

The researchers found that at the end of the intervention and at a one-month follow-up, children in the a-cTBS group showed significantly greater improvements in social communication compared to controls. In addition, they exhibited greater improvements in language at the one-month follow-up. Adverse reactions, including scalp irritation and restlessness, were more common in the a-cTBS group, but these were mild to moderate and resolved spontaneously.

The researchers note that while traditional repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) appears to benefit many individuals with ASD, it is generally practical only for adults with ASD who are able to tolerate long sessions that require sustained positioning. In contrast, they say, a-cTBS sessions last only 40 seconds, making them practical for use with children with ASD or other developmental disabilities. In addition, they say, “The condensed five-day course further reduces the conventional treatment duration from weeks or months to just five days without compromising therapeutic efficacy.”

They conclude that their approach “provides a feasible, effective, and scalable therapeutic option for children with ASD, including those with intellectual disability.”

Citations

“Accelerated continuous theta burst stimulation targeting left primary motor cortex for children with autism spectrum disorder: multicentre randomised sham controlled trial,” Hangyu Tan, Tai Ren, Aihua Cao, Shuanfeng Fang, Lin Deng, Bo Hu, Mei Wang, Ye Cheng, Xi Zhang, Yawen Li, Yixia Zhang, Lingli Zhang, Luan Chen, Wei Zhou, Qianlong Zhang, Jiong Li, Xin Zhou, Christelle Langley, Qiang Luo, Jun Zhang, Barbara J Sahakian, Ti-Fei Yuan, and Fei Li, British Medical Journal, April 29, 2026. Address: Fei Li, [email protected].

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“New autism therapy may improve children’s social communication in just five days,” news release, British Medical Journal, April 29, 2026.