Social Cognitive Development in Young Children With Autism

Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc.61 enrolled

Overview

Through the development of a novel treatment targeting core Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) social deficits and studying the efficacy of this intervention, the investigators hope to provide a means for children with ASD to more effectively and efficiently process social information and enable them to more successfully engage in social interactions. Children between the ages of 24 and 36 months and their families may join.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

Social Enhancement InterventionBEHAVIORAL

The intervention will be conducted at our center and focuses on providing an invigorating learning environment in which emerging social skills/knowledge are the focus of intervention with the aim of bringing them to a higher level of maturity, integrated with existing abilities, and used functionally. Learning with and through peers, provides the opportunity to address abnormal peer relationships for developmental level. Providing an enriched environment with toys, structured learning, and opportunities for ongoing engagement we offer the children robust learning experiences. Parent training sessions will focus on strategies aimed at improving child social engagement and communication.

Parent EducationBEHAVIORAL

Parent education sessions will focus on topics related to autism, learning styles, interventions, and resources. The curriculum provides parents with information about child development and autism as well as instructional strategies (e.g., responsive teaching strategies, principles of applied behavior analysis) for use at home to enhance their children's communication, engagement, and play development. Concrete examples for home-based implementation are presented. Each week, homework will be given and parents will be encouraged to practice the strategies daily at home. No direct coaching to parents during interaction with their children or direct intervention with the child will be provided.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 24 MonthsMax age: 42 MonthsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Participants must be 24 to 42 months old * Children must meet criteria for ASD or autism on the ADOS (Lord et al., 2000) plus receive a clinical judgment of PDD-NOS or autism by the study team * Score ≥ 16 months on the Visual Receptive subtest and ≥ 9 months on the Receptive Language subtest on the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and/or the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales at the time of eligibility testing. * The parent (or other primary caregiver, such as grandparent) in the PE condition must agree to attend the training sessions each week for the 5-month period. * The parent must agree to bring their child in for testing at all testing points (pre-testing, post-testing, follow-up testing). * Parents must be between the ages of 18 and 65 years old * It is not required that English be their primary language, but they must be fluent in English (or if the child is nonverbal he/she must hear English most of the time at home) Exclusion Criteria: * \<34 weeks or \>42 weeks gestational age * \<2500 grams birth weight, severe birth trauma * Head or serious bodily injury sustained before or during the study * Illicit drug or excessive alcohol exposure (defined in our telephone screening interview) * Major hearing or visual impairment * Non-febrile seizures * Any known genetic syndrome * Mitochondrial disorders * Severe birth defects * No foster children may participate * The child must not be adopted * The child must not be participating in another intervention study simultaneously or be simultaneously enrolled in the CARD clinic's Achievements, Early Achievements, TIPS, Jump Start, or Play with Me programs. * Unable to provide baseline data on the eye tracking measure at time of pretesting (e.g., tracker unable to read eye movements) * Has a sibling participating in this study

Locations (1)

Kennedy Krieger Institute

Baltimore, Maryland, United States