Given the method of measuring the results I'm not sure we can know anything about how strong the results are without a control group. It seems there is a deal of subjectivity in interpreting the results, and when this is the case crazy stuff can and does happen, regularly.
The study evaluated the severity of autism symptoms (using subjective questionnaires) before and after the treatment, but didn't compare those results to a control group of people who weren't treated the same way.
It's like finding a couple dozen people with the flu, feeding them chicken soup, and then reporting that a month later they feel healthier, so the soup must have helped. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't, but you didn't measure that so you don't know.
I asked as an aside to the matter of control group - what is considered "given" about "the method of measurement" ?
According to this professional medical trial, the recorded ASD scores are "based on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) rated by a professional evaluator"
You should have specific knowledge of that evaluation in order to criticize it as relying on "subjective questionnaires" and shouldn't introduce doubt by simply stating something as "given".
