Background: Autism is a complex pervasive developmental disorder that involves the functioning of the brain. It is emerging as the fastest growing serious developmental disability among the children. The restricted diets of the autistics produce a cascade of biochemical abnormalities which necessitates dietary intervention at the earliest to prevent long term repercussions. Nutritional therapy and dietary restrictions may be a helpful complementary treatment. Objective: The study was undertaken to assess the impact of dietary intervention on the functional skills of the autistic children (5-16 yrs). Methods: A group of 60 autistic children were selected from two centers based on the consent obtained from the parents and teachers. They were divided into 3 groups of 20 children each. Children in the experimental group I were administered daily specially developed biscuits (50g), experimental group II received the biscuits (50g) with added probiotic. Experimental group I, II and the control group received nutrition education. All the children were trained through IAP as a routine school programme, in addition to this. The impact of intervention was evaluated after a period of 6 months in terms of skill development that included 18 functional domains, namely gross motor, fine motor, eating, dressing, grooming, toileting, receptive and expressive language, social interactions, reading, writing, numeric skill, time, money, domestic behaviour, community orientation, recreation and leisure time activities and vocational orientation. Results: A significant improvement (p<0.01) was observed in all the functional skills in both the experimental groups at the end of the intervention. The children receiving probiotic biscuits were slightly better than those in the experimental group I who receive only biscuits in certain observations. Both the experimental groups showed a greater improvement than that of the control. Conclusion: The results of this study stress the need for dietary intervention and nutrition education to autistic children for improving their standard of living.
