Social Motivation Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Improving Peer Initiation

Stanford University44 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a social initiation motivation intervention (SIMI) focused on training children with ASD to initiate to peers during structured play activities will result in more frequent initiations to typically developing peers during free play. The SIMI approach under investigation uses behavioral strategies based in Applied Behavior Analysis and Pivotal Response Treatment to motivate children with ASD to initiate to peers. Children with ASD will be randomly assigned to either the SIMI or a waiting list. Treatment will be provided for 8 weeks in the context of a weekly social skills group.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

The SIMI approach under investigation uses behavioral strategies based in Applied Behavior Analysis and Pivotal Response Treatment to motivate children with ASD to initiate to peers. The adult arranges the play environment in order to promote cooperation and facilitates frequent prompting and reinforcement from peers, thereby enhancing the reward value of peer interactions.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 4 YearsMax age: 6 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: 1. age 4.0 to 6.11 years; 2. diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder 3. without intellectual disability 4. stable community treatments four weeks before and throughout the trial. Exclusion criteria: 1. diagnosed severe psychiatric or genetic disorder or medical problem; 2. severe disruptive behavior that would interfere with peer interactions

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Initiation Frequency (observational rating of the frequency of child initiations to peers measured from video recording during free play sessions)

The primary measure is an observational rating of the frequency of child initiations to peers measured from video recording during free play sessions at baseline and post-treatment.

Time frame: 8 weeks