Joint Attention Intervention and Young Children With Autism

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an intervention aimed to increase joint attention in 2-4 year old children with autism. The study will be conducted in mainstream preschools in Norway. The intervention will be implemented by preschool teachers and paraprofessionals supervised by trained counselors.

Detailed Description
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Young children with autism experience severe deficit in joint attention skills (e.g. pointing to objects, showing, following another person's gaze, responding to invitations to social interaction). Ability to initiate and respond to joint attention is linked to children's later language abilities. As a mean to improve language outcome in children with autism, it is important to target joint attention in early intervention programs. This study investigates the effectiveness of a joint attention intervention. Sixty 2-4 year old children with autism will be randomized to an intervention group or a control group. Children in both groups will continue their ordinary preschool program. However, the children in the intervention group will also participate in 80 joint attention intervention sessions. The sessions (20 minutes each) will be conducted twice a day for 8 weeks by preschool teachers or paraprofessionals working in the preschools. Before starting the intervention preschool teachers and paraprofessionals will be taught how to teach joint attention skills and how to initiate and maintain episodes of joint engagement. During the course of intervention they will be supervised by trained counselors. Outcome measures will include joint attention skills, language skills and joint engagement. Children will be assessed at baseline, after 10 weeks and at follow up 6 months and 1 year after the end of the intervention. The measures are based on direct testing of the children, video observations and questionnaires to parent and professionals.

Official Title
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Effectiveness of Joint Attention Intervention in Young Children With Autism - a Randomized Study

Conditions
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Autism

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Joint attention intervention


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: diagnosis of autism age 2-4 year old Exclusion Criteria: severe mental retardation severe clinical CNS disorders

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 24 Months
Maximum Age: 60 Months

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Intervention/Treatment |
| --- |
|Behavioral: Joint attention intervention|Eight weeks with two daily sessions (20 minutes) with joint attention intervention in the pre-school.|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| childrens score on measures of joint attention |  | pre, post, follow up 6 months and 1 year | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| score on measures of joint engagement -child and mother |  | pre, post, follow up 6 months and 1 year | 
| childrens score on measures of language |  | pre and follow up 1 year | 
| parents and service providers perception of the intervention |  | post, follow up 6 months and 1 year | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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autism, joint attention, intervention, joint engagement, language