Reacción a "A type of transcranial magnetic stimulation could improve social communication in children with autism, according to a clinical trial"

This trial provides evidence of statistically significant – but, importantly, rather modest and decidedly short-term improvements in social communication, with small effect sizes and a follow-up limited to one month. Any interpretation of the effects here is further constrained by the authors’ reliance on SRS-2 and the potential for expectancy effects in their study. In addition, while adverse events were mild, their higher frequency in the intervention group suggests tolerability should be interpreted cautiously, and, from my own experience, the choice of stimulation target – the motor cortex - also raises questions about mechanistic specificity. These findings are best interpreted as preliminary evidence of modest short-term effects, rather than support for clinical implementation at this stage. Finally, I am concerned about the use of brain stimulation in such a young population as we are still uncertain about its effect on the developing brain.