Clinical trial NCT03606343: Teaching Academic Success Skills to Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders in Clinical Setting
Official title: Teaching Academic Success Skills to Middle School Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) With Executive Functioning Deficits - in Clinical Setting
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Lead sponsor: Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
First posted: 2018-07-30
Enrollment: 21
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 11
Maximum age (years): 14
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Intervention model description: Open trial
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The goal of the study is to develop an academic EF intervention, Teaching Academic Skills to Kids (TASK), for high functioning (i.e., IQ score ≥80) middle-school youth with ASD and EF deficits.

Aim 1: Use focus group methodology and advice from expert consultants to develop the TASK intervention targeting academic EF skills for middle school youth with ASD that is tailored to the unique needs of these individuals (e.g., content specific to ASD EF deficits, incorporate evidence-based teaching principles and methods for ASD).

Aim 2: Examine the feasibility and acceptability of TASK in 3 open trials to assess initial feasibility and efficacy.

Detailed description: The goal of the study is to develop an academic EF intervention, Teaching Academic Skills to Kids (TASK), for high functioning (i.e., IQ score ≥80) middle-school youth with ASD and EF deficits.

Aim 1: Develop the TASK intervention targeting academic EF skills for middle school youth with ASD that is tailored to the unique needs of these individuals (e.g., content specific to ASD EF deficits, incorporate evidence-based teaching principles and methods for ASD). A methodologically rigorous, well-integrated iterative and collaborative design process with input from multiple stakeholders, including school mental health professionals, teachers, parents, and youth with ASD, will be utilized.

Aim 2: Examine the feasibility and acceptability of TASK in 3 open trials including the feasibility of: 1) implementing the measurement protocol, 2) operationalizing intervention delivery, 3) assessing both trained and untrained areas of functioning, 4) assessing whether improvements in academic EF skills (proposed mechanism of treatment) are related to functional educational outcomes (e.g., homework behaviors, grades), and 5) exploring the data for potential treatment moderators (e.g., gender, severity). It is hypothesized that TASK will be feasible, acceptable (attendance, satisfaction), and will result in improved academic EF skills associated with reduced academic impairment and homework problems.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder
* IQ \>80
* 7th grade at time of intervention
* mainstreamed classroom
* executive functioning problems identified on parent or teacher BRIEF-2

Exclusion Criteria:

* danger to self or others

Primary outcomes:
measure: Children's Organizational Skills Scale
timeFrame: baseline, 3 months
measure: Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Second Edition
timeFrame: baseline, 3 months
measure: Homework Problem Checklist
timeFrame: baseline, 3 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement - Third Edition Basic Writing Subtest
timeFrame: baseline, 3 months
measure: Classroom Performance Survey
timeFrame: baseline, 3 months
measure: Academic Performance Rating System
timeFrame: baseline, 3 months
measure: Parenting Relationship Questionnaire - Communication Subscale
timeFrame: baseline, 3 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Cincinnati
country: United States
facility: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
state: Ohio
Study officials:
References: