Overview
- Researchers in China ran a multicentre randomized trial with 200 children aged 4 to 10, about half with intellectual disability, comparing active accelerated continuous theta burst stimulation (a‑cTBS) with a sham treatment.
- The five‑day protocol delivered 10 brief sessions per day to the left primary motor cortex, a brain area involved in movement, language, and social cognition.
- Children who received a‑cTBS showed larger improvements on the Social Responsiveness Scale right after treatment and at one month, with mean differences of −6.25 and −6.17 versus sham, and they showed small gains on language tests.
- Adverse events were more common with a‑cTBS at 54.5% versus 29.3% for sham, most often restlessness or scalp discomfort, and all reported effects were mild to moderate and resolved on their own.
- Authors frame a‑cTBS as a potential add‑on to behavioral care, while outside experts point to the one‑month follow‑up, parent‑reported measures, a male‑heavy sample, and possible expectancy bias as reasons to seek replication before clinical use.