Clinical trial NCT05509309: Promoting Inclusive Educational Environments for Children with Autism and Other Social-communication Challenges: Preschool Class and Primary School
Official title: Promoting Inclusive Educational Environments for Children with Autism and Other Social-communication Challenges: Preschool Class and Primary School
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Social Communication Challenges
Lead sponsor: Stockholm University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Karolinska Institutet
First posted: 2022-08-22
Enrollment: 24
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 6
Maximum age (years): 9
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: This study evaluates the effect of using the Autism Program Environment Rating Scale (APERS) as the foundation for providing feedback, in-service training and coaching to teachers, to improve program quality for autistic (ASD) students and students with related social-communication challenges (SCC) in Swedish primary school classrooms. In the current study half of the participating classrooms will receive the APERS-based model for program quality improvement, while the other half will receive services as usual.

It is hypothesized that the APERS-based model will improve primary school program quality for children with ASD and SCC, as well as improve functioning for students with ASD/SCC and self-perceived self-efficacy among participating teachers, compared to the study's comparison group.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* autism diagnosis
* socio-communicative challenges identified by parents and/or school staff
* attending a primary school classroom (i.e., from pre-school class to third grade)

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change from baseline in autism program quality assessed with the Autism Program Environment Rating Scale - Preschool and primary school (APERS-Fk/L-SE)
timeFrame: Baseline and about 9 months from baseline
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change from baseline in how children feel about their school assessed with How I Feel About My School (HIFAMS)
timeFrame: Baseline and approximately 9 months from baseline
measure: Change from baseline in parents ratings on their children's body functions, activities and participation and contextual factors assessed with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for Autism
timeFrame: Baseline and approximately 9 months from baseline
measure: Change from baseline in children's self-regulation and academic behavior assessed with children's self-regulation and academic behavior questionnaire
timeFrame: Baseline and approximately 9 months from baseline
measure: Change from baseline in teachers' global impression of the child in the classroom
timeFrame: Baseline and approximately 9 months from baseline
measure: Change in teachers' stress assessed with the Teachers' Stress Scale
timeFrame: Baseline and approximately 9 months from baseline
measure: Change in teachers' perceived self-efficacy for supporting students with autism using the Autism Self-Efficacy Scale for Teachers
timeFrame: Baseline and approximately 9 months from baseline
measure: Change in teachers' work satisfaction assessed with the Teacher Work Satisfaction Questionnaire
timeFrame: Baseline and approximately 9 months from baseline
Other outcomes:
measure: Social validity assessed with the Social Validity Scale
timeFrame: Follow-up approximately 9 months after onset of study
measure: Social responsiveness measured with the Social Responsiveness Scale 2 (SRS-2)
timeFrame: Baseline assessment
Locations:
city: Stockholm
country: Sweden
facility: Stockholm Municipality
Study officials:
affiliation: Stockholm University
name: Lise Pettersson Roll, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: