View clinical trials related to Autistic Disorder.
Filter by:Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopment disorder characterized by impairment in social interaction, communication, and behavior, as well as sensory challenges. In addition, secondary symptoms can appear, such as gastrointestinal disorders. Gut microbiota has an important role in the harvest of nutrients and energy from our diet. It influences a wide range of metabolic, developmental, and physiological processes such as the maintenance of the gut epithelial layer, immune system development, protection against pathogens, detoxification and xenobiotics degradation. The ecosystem of a healthy human gastrointestinal (GI) tract is mainly populated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla, to a lesser extent by Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, in this case the microbiota is in an eubiosis condition. Whether a disturbance of the microbial ecosystem occurs, gut microbiota is in a dysbiosis condition and it could lead different metabolic disorders. The two-way communication between gut microbiota and central nervous system (CNS) affects stress response, pain perception, neurochemistry and several disorders. The gut microbiota in ASD patients revealed some peculiarities such as the high percentage of Propionibacter and Clostridium, well known for their production of pro inflammatory metabolites, or an increment of Sutterella spp. and Ruminococcus torques, which are negatively associated with the health of the gut. Recent studies suggest that also the oral microbiota may be involved in ASD symptoms assuming the existence of a "microbiota-oral-brain axis". ASD patients are often suffering of several oral cavity disorders like caries, gingivitis and periodontitis, probably due to the poor oral hygiene. These disorders are linked to a dysbiosis of the oral microbiota: the characterization of the ASD subjects oral microbiota showed a lower biodiversity of bacteria species and different levels of specific bacteria, comparing to the controls. Several studies suggest that some bacteria species invade the blood-brain barriers as well as their metabolites, triggering inflammatory response and an alteration of the metabolic activity in the CNS. It has been demonstrated that ASD patients have a high level of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the cerebrospinal fluid and an upregulation of the microglia. The oral microbiota could also affect the lower GI tract and have a significant role within the ASD-associated GI disorders and CNS inflammation
This project plans to establish sensory phenotypes of a Taiwanese ASD cohort across lifespan, including variety of sensory modalities, sensory domains, and clinical correlates. Also, we will clarify the relationship between sensory phenotypes and social impairment by two specific sensory-social paradigms targeting eye gaze avoidance and social touch anxiety, as well as the atypical neural representation of ASD during eye gaze and viewing social touch by fMRI and EEG.
The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a post-diagnostic psychoeducational intervention in increasing the sense of self-efficacy of adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder-Without associated Intellectual Disability
This study has two purposes: Aim 1: To develop a Telehealth Early Intervention Program (TEIP) for children with ASD that will be carried out by parents at home when interact with their children; and to train parents in delivering developmental and behavioral techniques to their children. The participating families will be randomized in parallel to treatment and comparison groups for teaching the knowledge and techniques: (1) Treatment group: providing the training of TEIP for parents via telehealth modalities as they learn critical skills with their child with the goal of increasing multidimensional child developments. Intervention provider will provide the training for parent-child dyad interaction to work with parents to implement these strategies at home environment; and (2) Comparison group: provide general care consultation of child development for parents. Aim 2: To evaluate this program's effectiveness by measuring changes in a child's developments and behaviors. Investigator will evaluate child outcomes on the symptoms of ASD and multidimensional developmental functioning. Furthermore, investigator will measure the changes in the parent's knowledge and behaviors of parent-child interaction. Moreover, investigator will determine if parental participation in the intervention is associated with an improvement in parenting competences and decreased levels of stress.
The goal of this clinical study is to learn about the utility and performance of the EarliPoint System (™): Evaluation for Autism Spectrum Disorder to diagnose and assess autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children ages 31-84 month (2.5 - 7 years chronological age). The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. To determine the sensitivity and specificity of the EarliPoint device (test) compared to Expert Clinician Diagnosis (ECD) using gold-standard clinical reference assessments in the target age-expanded population. 2. To determine the association between the EarliPoint Verbal Ability Index score and the clinical measures of verbal ability as measured by the Differential Ability Scales (DAS-II). 3. To determine the association between the EarliPoint Nonverbal Ability Index score and the clinical measures of non-verbal abilities as measured by the Differential Ability Scales (DAS-II). 4. To determine the association between the EarliPoint Social Disability Index score and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, second edition (ADOS-II) Overall Total Score. 5. To determine the association between the EarliPoint Expressive Language Ability Index score and the clinical measures of verbal ability as measured by the Differential Ability Scales (DAS-II). 6. To determine the association between the EarliPoint Receptive Language Ability Index score and the clinical measures of verbal ability as measured by the Differential Ability Scales (DAS-II). 7. To estimate the incidence of adverse device effects associated with the use of the EarliPoint device.
This proposal will evaluate a series of peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) for preschool children (3 to 6 years) with ASD and limited or no spoken language, using an innovative Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) design. Available evidence supports the beneficial effects of PMIs for improving social communication in children with ASD. Peer-related social competence is vital to a wide range of child outcomes, such as improved communication and fewer behavioral problems. Unfortunately, approximately 30% of children with ASD remain minimally-verbal in kindergarten, restricting participation in inclusive activities. Recent studies report improved communication after a speech-generating device (SGD) is included in treatment. Effective interventions that can be modified is necessary to ensure optimal communication outcomes when children do not make anticipated progress. A strength of the study is that these interventions can be adopted by community-based, early service providers. All participants will receive an adapted Stay-Play-Talk (SPT) peer-mediated intervention that varies in active ingredients. With SMART designs, it is possible to test and identify alternative combinations of PMI approaches, such as the addition of a SGD. In this study, 132 preschoolers with ASD (and N=264 peers without disabilities) will be initially randomized to SPT and SGD with spoken peer input only (SPT Basic; peers taught to model language) or SPT and SGD with augmented peer input (SPT Plus; peers taught to use verbal language models concurrently with the SGD). Each child's response to treatment after 5 weeks will determine that child's next phase in the SMART design. Children showing a positive response will continue in their originally assigned group; slow responders will be randomly assigned to receive added treatment components to improve communication (either SPT Plus or SPT Advanced). SPT Advanced adds direct instruction strategies (i.e., adult prompts, reinforcers, and teaching trials) to increase child vocalizations in SGD interventions. The use of a SMART design extends our prior work by testing the systematic addition of selected peer-mediated strategies in combination with an SGD that allows for flexible application of interventions based on child response. The investigators have assembled an outstanding team of highly qualified investigators with complementary skills in preschool assessment, language intervention, clinical trials, and statistics.
Early identification and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is necessary to promote access to early treatment. Despite the high incidence, in Italy it is estimated that 1 in 77 children (age 7-9 years) (Narzisi et al., 2018), the diagnosis and the choice of rehabilitation treatment for patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are still based on clinical observation. In the absence of targeted pharmacological therapies, early surveillance and evaluation aimed at timely intervention represent the only successful strategy to reduce the severity of symptoms (Palomo R et al., 2006) and improve the quality of life of children affected by ASD and their families, thus also leading to a reduction in costs for the National Health Service (Ganz ML. 2007). However, compared to the great advances in neuroscience, the clinical management of autistic individuals is seriously lagging behind, and the disorder is often diagnosed after 3-4 years of age despite the presence of deficits starting from the very first months of life (Zwaigenbaum L et al. al., 2013). The aim of this project is to bridge the gap between research and clinic, thanks to the convergence of multiple biological and clinical data.
This study aims to accurately characterise the gut microbiota composition of faeces of children with ASD and compare it with the gut microbiota composition of their neurotypical siblings. In addition it aims to also characterise the metagenome and metabolome of the faeces of both ASD and neurotypical siblings.
The investigators currently provide the NEAR method (neuropsychological educational approach to cognitive remediation) for people with neurocognitive difficulties, without distinguishing between ASD and schizophrenia. However, the NEAR method does not address social cognition in the stimulated functions. The aim of this study is to add social scenarios to this neurocognitive method in order to improve not only neurocognitive functions, but also social cognition. Thus, NEAR would be in this adapted form a method that could be completely adapted to autism spectrum disorders in preadolescents and adults. The study will include participants aged 13-40 years, with a diagnosis of ASD. The NEAR TSA method will include 32 sessions: - one session (90-120 min, with one or two breaks) per week for 32 weeks (8 months), for minor participants. - two sessions (90 minutes each, with no breaks) per week for 16 weeks (4 months), for adult participants. The method includes 30 minutes of computerized exercises, 15 minutes of discussion on the exercises performed and the strategies applied, and the rest of the time for "bridging groups". Three evaluation are proposed: - an initial clinical and functional evaluation (T1), before the beginning of the program, - a second clinical, functional and neuropsychological evaluation (T2), within one month since the end of the program - a third clinical, functional and neuropsychologica evaluationl (T3), three months after the end of the program.
Research on the involvement of the cerebellum in social understanding behavior and the mentalizing brain system has just begun. Knowledge about the neurobiology of social understanding is important for understanding the ways to manipulate these processes. Like cerebral tDCS, cerebellar tDCS could then be used to enhance more complex processes, such as mentalizing, in healthy individuals. It can eventually also be examined as a therapeutic tool for patients with mentalizing difficulties such as patients with ASD. In this study, it is examined whether anodal tDCS at the right posterior cerebellum influences social understanding and which cerebro-cerebellar networks play a role in this process.