Tool for Evaluating the Effectiveness of the DENVER Protocol — FACECOM  

Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title: Tool for Evaluating the Effectiveness of the DENVER Protocol for Attention to Faces (Face) and the Development of Social Communication (Com) in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Status Not yet recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

Early remediation of the communicative and social difficulties of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is central. However, from the age of 6-8 months, children with ASD show a lack of attention to social stimuli such as faces: such early avoidance behavior could be at the root of later communicative difficulties (language, attention). The Denver program aims to stimulate social communication and attention to faces in children with ASD aged between 18 and 60 months. Although the Denver protocol is currently recommended by the French National Authority for Health (HAS), the Denver protocol has not yet been widely used or evaluated in France, mainly due to a lack of tools adapted to non-verbal populations. The goal of FaceCom is to help clinicians to evaluate the efficiency of the Denver Protocol.

Clinical Trial Description

Early remediation of the communicative and social difficulties of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is central. However, from the age of 6-8 months, children with ASD show a lack of attention to social stimuli such as faces: such early avoidance behavior could be at the root of later communicative difficulties (language, attention). The Denver program aims to stimulate social communication and attention to faces in children with ASD aged between 18 and 60 months. Although the Denver protocol is currently recommended by the French National Authority for Health (HAS), the Denver protocol has not yet been widely used or evaluated in France, mainly due to a lack of tools adapted to non-verbal populations. The goal of FaceCom is to help clinicians to evaluate the efficiency of the Denver Protocol.

For children with ASD benefiting from the Denver protocol, the investigators hypothesize that an improvement in attention to social stimuli (faces, language) should be observed thanks to the Denver protocol intervention. Before the protocol, language and attention to faces of children with ASD included in the Denver protocol should resemble that of children with ASD of the same age who had not benefited from the Denver program. At the end of the Denver protocol, performance from children with ASD included in the Denver protocol should tend towards that of typically developing children of the same developmental age. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Autism Spectrum Disorder

• NCT number: NCT06253793
• Study type: Observational
• Source: University Hospital, Grenoble
• Contact: Stéphanie BIOULAC-ROGIER, Pr, MD
• Email: sbioulacrogier@chu-grenoble.fr
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Start date: May 13, 2024
• Completion date: May 31, 2028