45 children with autism spectrum disorder are recruited in Fatemi Hospital at Ardabil University of Medical Sciences. The patients will be randomized into 3 Intervention groups of 15 with tDCS stimulation, risperidone, and placebo medication as the interventions. The study will be a randomized double-blind controlled design. The experimenter and the patient are blinded and are not aware of the study. Intervention group 1: TDCS intervention protocol consists of 10 sessions of 20 minutes of 1.5 mA electrical stimulation on consecutive days. Anodal electrode will be placed over the F3 and cathodal electrode will be placed over the Fp2. They will also receive a placebo tablet (Galenus pharmaceutical company) in each stimulation session. Intervention group 2: Participants in this group will receive two daily Risperidone 1 mg tablets (Sobhan Pharmaceutical Company) for 10 consecutive days. Intervention group 3: Participants in this group undergo 10 daily sessions of sham tDCS concurrent with a placebo tablet (Galenus pharmaceutical company) for 10 consecutive days.
This project aims to comparing the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation with common pharmacological treatments on behavioral problems and cognitive deficits of children with autism spectrum disorder