With the development of autism therapy

acupuncture

an alternative therapy

is becoming popular for autism children.There have been many papers found about the treatment of autism by acupuncture therapy so far.In the present review

the authors briefly introduce the theoretical basis of autism in traditional Chinese medicine and the application history

and sum up the acupoint prescriptions

effectiveness as well as the assessment tools of acupuncture therapy for autism.It is suggested that acu-puncture therapy is a relatively effective therapy for autism children.It has positive roles in improving autistic syndromes without any side-effects

especially in improving language development

daily-life self-care

and social communications.The underlying mechanism of this therapy may be explained by acupuncture intervention induced favorable changes of neurochemistry

cerebral blood flow

and cerebral functional activities.Although there are lots of questions to be answered about acupuncture treatment of autism

we hold a positive opinion that this therapy might be a green effective therapy for autistic children in the future.