The TOBY playpad intervention study in rural Western Australia: Examining its effectiveness as a complementary therapy for 2-6 year olds recently diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Status

Not yet recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12614000745640

Enrollment

Registered

2014-07-14

Start date

2014-10-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Living with a child who has Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is challenging for all families. Despite growing evidence on the effectiveness of educational and behavioural treatment strategies in addressing the core features of ASD, access to and availability of therapy services in rural communities is sparse. The overall aim of this research project is to test the effectiveness of the Therapy Outcomes By You (TOBY) playpad application as an early intervention complementary therapy, for 2-6 year olds living in rural WA, who have received an ASD diagnosis within the past 12 months The outcomes of the research will provide evidence on the effectiveness of the TOBY playpad application as a complement to existing therapy for recently diagnosed 2-6 year old children with ASD, living in rural communities.

Interventions

TOBY Playpad is a unique, therapist-and-parent designed Early Intervention application for children with Autism. TOBY’s iPad tasks co-ordinate with off-iPad tasks to help your child learn skills in the real world. TOBY stands for Therapy Outcomes By You, because it aims to empower parents to commence early intervention to maximize your child’s development. Children will be provided with an i-Pad with the TOBY Playpad App installed. Parents will be required to attend an interactive parent information session providing training on the effective use of the TOBY App. For the length of the trial, the parent and child will be asked to complete at least 20 minutes of therapy from the TOBY App each day for 6-months. This will be in addition to any other therapy the child is already undergoing outside of this study. The Playpad software will monitor adherence to the intervention. At the conclusion of the trial (at 6 months), the parent will be asked to return the iPad to the research team at Curtin University.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Other

Primary purpose

Treatment

Masking

Open (masking not used)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

2 Years to 6 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Families with a child aged between 2-6 years who has recently been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); and residing in the rural regions of the South West, Greater Southern, Wheatbelt, and Goldfieds-Esperance.

Exclusion criteria

Children without an ASD diagnosis, and greater than 6 years in age at the time of entry into the study Families residing in metropolitan Perth

Outcome results