Enhancing Attention and Executive Function in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a 12-Week Multimodal Art Intervention

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of multimodal art interventions on attention and executive function in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), thereby adding more evidence-based support to the field of art intervention research. Method: Forty-two children with ASD were recruited from a local autism association and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 21) and a control group (n = 21). The experimental group received a 12-week multimodal art intervention consisting of three 90-min sessions per week. The control group continued routine physical activities and cognitive therapy without pharmacotherapy or art-related training during the study. Attention and executive function were assessed before and after the intervention. Results: Between-group comparisons of pre-to-post change favored the experimental group for all eight attention and executive-function outcomes (FDR p ≤ 0.01). Within-group analyses showed improved attention and executive-function performance in the experimental group (all p ≤ 0.01). No significant changes were observed in the control group except for poorer performance on the More-Odd Shifting Task (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Multimodal art intervention shows potential for improving attention and executive function in ASD children during early developmental stages. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, and future research is needed to explore its efficacy across mild, moderate, and severe ASD severity levels.