Parent Language Intervention for Autism

NCT02632773 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: 1R01DC014709-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 108
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Improving social communication outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has important public health implications. The proposed research is a randomized controlled trial of 108 children with ASD that examines how specific parent characteristics influence outcomes of two different parent-mediated language interventions. Evaluating effective language intervention strategies for children with ASD supports NIDCD's mission of behavioral research aimed to remediate the disordered process of language development in children with ASD.

Conditions

Autism

Keywords

Language Intervention; Parent-Mediated Intervention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Parent Use of Language Support Strategies (Mother-child interaction)

  Mother use of intervention strategies will be measured by transcribing and coding mother behaviors during parent-child interactions.

  Two months after the start of the study

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Expressive vocabulary of the child as measured by transcribing and coding a 20 minute video of a therapist-child interaction in the clinic with a standard set of age-appropriate toys.

  Two months after the start of the study

• MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI) (Child)

  Two months after the start of the study

Study Arms (4)

Parent Learning Style 1

EXPERIMENTAL

Mothers with Learning Style 2 will be randomly assigned to either the responsive intervention or directive intervention group.

Behavioral: Responsive Intervention

Parent Learning Style 2

EXPERIMENTAL

Mothers with Learning Style 2 will be randomly assigned to either the responsive intervention or directive intervention group.

Behavioral: Responsive Intervention

Learning Style 1 (Parent)

OTHER

Mothers with Learning Style 2 will be randomly assigned to either the responsive intervention or directive intervention group.

Behavioral: Directive Intervention

Learning Style 2 (Parent)

OTHER

Mothers with Learning Style 2 will be randomly assigned to either the responsive intervention or directive intervention group.

Behavioral: Directive Intervention

Interventions

Responsive Intervention BEHAVIORAL

Mothers assigned to the responsive experimental condition will learn how to talk about what is in their child's focus of attention and to respond to all child communicative attempts by either: (a) assigning a presumed meaning to preverbal communication or vocalizations or (b) by repeating the child's verbal communication and adding words.

Parent Learning Style 1; Parent Learning Style 2

Directive Intervention BEHAVIORAL

Mothers assigned to the directive experimental condition will learn how to: (a) set up a prompting trial through management of toys or by responding to a child request, (b) recruit the child's attention, (c) provide a discriminative stimulus (cue), (d) wait for the child's response for 5 seconds, (e) reinforce the child for correct production of the target or provide additional prompts after incorrect productions. Parents will perform one prompting trial per minute for a total of 20 trials per parent session.

Learning Style 1 (Parent); Learning Style 2 (Parent)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Months - 48 Months
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• diagnosis of ASD based on ADOS
• chronological age of less than 48 months
• a parent who is willing to learn intervention strategies
• English as the primary language spoken in the home
• \- Mother

You may not qualify if:

• Children or parents with additional impairments (e.g., blindness, deafness, genetic syndromes) will be excluded from the study.
• Fathers or caregivers other than the child's Mother will be excluded from the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Northwestern University: lead
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois, 60208, United States

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Roberts MY, Kaiser AP. Early intervention for toddlers with language delays: a randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics. 2015 Apr;135(4):686-93. doi: 10.1542/peds.2014-2134. Epub 2015 Mar 2.

  PMID: 25733749 BACKGROUND

• Fipp-Rosenfield HL, Levy RS, Grauzer JM, Kaat A, Roberts MY. Autistic Children's Irritability During Social Communication Assessments. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2024 Jan 3;33(1):369-377. doi: 10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00216. Epub 2023 Nov 27.

  PMID: 38010261 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Autistic Disorder

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Autism Spectrum Disorder; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Megan Y Roberts, PhD

  Northwestern University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Jane Steiner Hoffman and Michael Hoffman Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 8, 2015
• First Posted: December 17, 2015
• Study Start: August 1, 2015
• Primary Completion: March 1, 2020
• Study Completion: March 1, 2020
• Last Updated: July 16, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share

Locations

US (1)