Externalizing and oppositional behaviors and karate-do: the way of crime prevention. A pilot study.

Childhood disruptive behaviors can be precursors to later deviance. To verify the efficacy of karate, a complex psychomotor activity that enhances self-regulation and executive skills, as an intervention for externalizing behaviors, 16 children, ranging in age from 8 to 10 years, and meeting diagnostic criteria for oppositional defiant disorder were studied. Eight were randomly assigned to a 10-month Wa Do Ryu karate program, whereas 8 children received no intervention. The children were assigned to a larger karate class, composed of typically developing youngsters. Three domains of temperament--intensity, adaptability, and mood regulation--were measured at the beginning and the end of the training period in all 16 participants. A significant improvement in temperament scale scores was measured in the karate group for all tested items compared to controls. Karate, when properly taught, can be a useful adjunct in multimodal programs aimed at externalizing behavior reduction.

Auditory sensory processing in autism: a magnetoencephalographic study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with autism show clinical features suggestive of abnormal processing of auditory and other sensory information. We hypothesized that low-functioning autistic subjects present abnormalities in discriminating simple auditory stimuli at sensory system preconscious stages of cortical processing. METHODS: To verify our hypothesis, we used magnetoencephalographic measurements of mismatch field (MMF), which reflects the detection of a change in the physical characteristics of a repetitive sound. Fourteen patients (aged 8-32 years) who met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for autistic disorder participated in an auditory oddball experiment. Ten healthy participants matched for age and gender acted as control subjects. RESULTS: Significant differences in cerebral responses between patients and control subjects were recorded. Whereas control subjects showed a clearly identifiable MMF, with distinct generators in the M100 brain wave with regard to latency, position, and strength, no identifiable MMF was present in the autistic group. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that low-functioning autistic subjects present a dysfunction at preconscious stages of cortical auditory discrimination, playing a role in the abnormal processing of auditory sensory afferences. The attention independence of the MMF allows for exclusion of an effect related to impaired attention or task-related responses.