View clinical trials related to Autistic Disorder.
Filter by:In this project, the investigator will test the effect of augmenting an evidence based joint attention intervention (JASPER) with a motor-sound system intervention (PROMPT) compared to JASPER only on speech and language outcomes. The investigator will model change over a year to determine the percentage of children who cross the hurdle from single words to word combinations by Kindergarten. The proposed research will foster the understanding of the mechanisms underlying speech heterogeneity in ASD, thereby ultimately contributing to the development of more personalized, efficacious interventions. Upon qualification to the study (after entry assessments), the child will be randomized to receive JASPER alone (play-based intervention) or JASPER plus PROMPT (both play-based and speech-based interventions). The active intervention will last for 12 weeks, 60 minute sessions twice a week. There are assessments scheduled at entry (6.5 hours), end of study (exit-2.5 hours), 3 month follow up (2 hours), and when the child turns 6 years of age (2 hours). The total time commitment per participant is 37 hours.
Existing findings suggest that challenges in working memory (WM) of children with autism are common (Habib, Pollick, Melville, & 2019). The WM malfunction can last across the lifespan and individuals with autism exhibit large WM impairments in both phonological and visuospatial domains (Habib, Harris, Pollick & Melville, 2019). Despite the well-documented effects of WM impairments, little research has been dedicated to strategies for improving the working memory of children with autism. Previous research found that individuals who verbally repeat a previously presented stimulus (i.e., rehearsal) tended to perform better than those who do not rehearse (Bebko, Rhee, Ncube, & Dahary, 2017; Joseph, Steele, Meyer, & Tager-Flusberg, 2005). In addition, among studies that investigated WM in children with autism, Baltruschat et al (2011a; 2011; 2012) conduct studies using positive reinforcement. Their results reveal that the positive reinforcement appeared to have produced better working memory. The present study intends to investigate if training children with autism to use rehearsal strategy would improve their working memory. In addition, the investigators are also interested to see if reinforcement is a critical component that may provide additive effects beyond the effects of rehearsal. The investigators intend to randomly assign children to four different conditions: control, rehearsal, reinforcement, and rehearsal + reinforcement conditions. The results of this study should provide empirical evidence for practitioners to improve WM in children with autism.
Although there are some studies investigating the physical activity levels of children with autism in the literature, no comprehensive study investigating the relationship between posture and physical fitness parameters, family anxiety level and quality of life of individuals with autism who have continued physical activity program has not been found. The aim of our study is to compare postural disorders and physical fitness parameters, family anxiety level and quality of life between individuals with autism and healthy individuals attending physical activity program.
The investigators are evaluating the implementation and the effectiveness of a medical student staffed support program (ASAP) for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder coming into Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital Emergency Department. The ASAP program involves training and assigning a medical student as an Ambassador to help advocate for the special needs of a child with ASD. This study is designed to compare patient satisfaction of children and families who are assigned an Ambassador to those who are not assigned an Ambassador during their time in the Emergency Department. The secondary objectives are to measure overall medical student satisfaction with the program, medical student career interests before and after participation, and medical student comfort level interacting with children with ASD before and after participation.
The investigators propose to investigate Microbiota Transfer Therapy (MTT) for treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and gastrointestinal problems (primarily constipation and/or diarrhea). MTT involves a combination of 10 days of oral vancomycin (an antibiotic to kill pathogenic bacteria), followed by a bowel cleanse, followed by 12 weeks of Fecal Microbiota (FM).
The purpose of this study is to find out about the potential benefits and safety of brexpiprazole in children and adolescent participants, aged 5 to 17, with irritability associated with autism spectrum disorder.
This is a randomized intervention study to develop and test the national curriculum of a parent intervention training targeting parent's ability for advocate for services to improve the transition to adulthood for their youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). UPDATE regarding COVID-19: Due to social distancing restrictions, the in-person intervention series that began in Winter 2020 was paused in Spring 2020 for Cohort 1 intervention groups (TN and IL). The series resumed in Summer 2020 via synchronous web-conferencing. In response to continued pandemic regulations, ASSIST was permanently moved to synchronous web-conferencing in Fall 2020, and this method was the mode of delivery for all remaining sessions and series at all sites (TN, IL, WI). The remaining baseline data was also moved to remote collection through online interview and questionnaires in Spring 2020. The data collection for all follow ups and check ins (6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 month) were completed through web conference and/or phone calls in addition to online surveys. The final data collection for experimental and control groups from all sites will be complete by Summer 2023.
Participation in structured activities and physical activity (PA) have been linked to several indicators of positive development such as self-esteem and psychological health as well as greater academic outcomes and lower school drop-out rates. Despite this, 77% of boys and 80% of girls aged 5-15 in the UK also fall below the national physical activity guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day. Children with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) may be at particular risk for inactivity as they are more likely to experience barriers to participation in these types of activities and motor skills impairments, common in people with ASC, can further limit participation in PA. Studies that have attempted to increase PA in young people with autism have shown reduction in problem behaviours such as inattention and aggression and increase in positive behaviours such as sleep, improvements in quality of life, academic performance and physical competence, and reductions in stress. The primary research aim is to investigate whether participation in a 10-week group based activity programme affects social skills and problem behaviours in CYP with ASC. It is hypothesised that children and young people (CYP) participating in the 10-week group based activity programme will show greater improvements in social skills and a greater reduction in problem behaviours than CYP not participating in the 10-week activity programme (control condition). Participants will be assigned to either the experimental condition (10-week activity programme) or waitlist control group. Participants in the 10-week activity programme will participate in group based activities including; 'pick up and play' sessions, swimming sessions and sport specific sessions coached by local sports teams. The 10-week activity programme consists of 1, 50 minute session per week for 10-weeks. Questionnaire data will be collected pre and post intervention to see if there are any differences in social skills and problem behaviour scores between the experimental and control group for CYP with ASC.
There is increasing awareness in the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research field about the deficit of knowledge with regard to the neurobiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes that occur in adults with ASD across the later portion of the lifespan. Decline in motor skills and cognitive function in typical aging can have devastating impacts on an individual's ability to organize and maintain activities of daily living. While there is an overall lack of research on how these processes unfold across aging specifically in ASD, previous research findings of motor and cognitive deficits in young adults with ASD, localization of these functions to the anterior cerebral cortices, and trajectories of decline in typical aging indicate that motor skills and executive function are particularly at risk in the disorder in later life. In vivo myeloarchitectonic mapping based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) provides a unique view of gray matter structure and has the potential to elucidate abnormalities of local cortical connectivity. It has shown promise for the identification of biomarkers of disease pathogenesis in clinical studies, and it provides unique information beyond the cortical thickness measurements that have been employed in previous studies of ASD and typical aging. Myelin mapping may also be a more reliable index of neurobiological aging, given some questions about the accuracy of cortical thickness measurements. Given these properties, it may be a particularly informative measure in the context of potential accelerated decline in ASD. Intracortical myelin development and remodeling are protracted across the typical lifespan, with evidence of abnormal cortical myelination in other neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as in age-related mild cognitive impairment and dementia. In young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) myelin content is reduced in white matter and presumably in cortical gray matter as well. However, patterns of intracortical myelination have not yet been examined in ASD at any age leaving an important gap in the current knowledge base. With the added risk of demyelination associated with aging, older adults with ASD may be the most important population to examine as they may be doubly at risk of deficits in cortical myelination. Importantly, this could have knock-on effects on cognitive and motor functions in light of myelin's role in synaptic plasticity and maintenance of intracortical circuits. The proposed fellowship project aims to bridge this gap in knowledge by investigating the age-related trajectory of intracortical myelin in middle aged to older adults with ASD and clarifying the spatial distribution of any abnormalities. Known heterogeneity in the clinical presentation and neurobiological phenotype across the autism spectrum poses a significant challenge in this research field. The proposed project includes innovative statistical approaches to help parse this heterogeneity. Intracortical myelin will be analyzed cross-sectionally using both group-wise and subject-specific approaches and with any findings confirmed with follow-up longitudinal data. This multifaceted approach will allow for a comprehensive characterization of myeloarchitectonics in adults with ASD, and also holds the potential to elucidate important links between brain structure and behavior in the disorder. Specific Aims Aim 1: Determine if intracortical myelin content and rates of age-related change differ between individuals with ASD and age-matched control participants aged 40-65 years. Hypothesis 1: Group-wise analysis will reveal decreased intracortical myelin content in ASD in association cortices of the frontal and parietal lobes. Hypothesis 2: Subject-specific analyses may reveal spatial variability across individuals in the precise brain regions demonstrating abnormalities of intracortical myelination, but with frontal and parietal regions more frequently or more heavily affected. Hypothesis 3: Both cross-sectional approaches will reveal a pattern of accelerated cortical demyelination with greater age in ASD. Aim 2: Relate local myelin content measures to cognitive and behavioral abilities that are at-risk of decline during aging, including motor skills and executive functions. Hypothesis 4: Age-related decline in domain-specific behavioral abilities will correlate with atypical patterns of intracortical myelination from Aim 1.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have significantly higher levels of unemployment and underemployment compared to their typically developing peers and all other groups with neurodevelopmental disorders, even though major companies that have employed and trained young people with ASD acclaim their significant innovations in their companies. The investigators hope to examine the effects of specialized employment support programs, over current traditional vocational rehabilitation approaches, for adults with ASD on their ability to maintain steady employment and overall benefit to the organizations at which they will be employed. The investigators predict that Stanford University's Neurodiversity at Work (NaW) Program will improve employment outcomes and positively impact the overall quality of life of individuals with ASD in this program. The investigators hope that the findings of the study will lead to the advancement of programs aimed to support individuals with ASD.