Speech-language therapy for child social communication disorder

A new speech and language therapy intervention for children who have Social Communication Disorder: feasibility and acceptability to service users and practitioners

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN48030419

Enrollment

140

Registered

2017-01-10

Start date

2017-01-12

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2020-10-12

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

Conditions

Specialty: Children, Primary sub-specialty: General Paediatrics

Interventions

All pariticpants take part in the Social Communication Intervention Programme, a manualised intervention for children with pragmatic language difficulties. The programme involves 20 sessions of indivi

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Age 6 -10 years 2. Parents/carers able to participate in intervention 3. Social communication problems as observed by the SLT - a minimum of two out of five behaviours from a brief social communication screening checklist 4. Non-verbal reasoning within normal limits (Percentile rank = 5) as measured on the Ravens Coloured Progressive Matrices 5. Score in the communication impaired range (<58) on the Children’s Communication Checklist -2 General Communication Composite (CCC) and in the SCD range on the CCC- 2 Social Interaction Deviance Composite

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Children unable to participate in intensive intervention as judged by speech and language therapist 2. Diagnosis of core autism according to Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule ADOS-2 3. Significant hearing loss 4. Severe speech disorder 5. Severe physical disability

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Goal attainment is measured using Goal Attainment Scaling to review individualised functional goals set at baseline, post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks)	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Parent/carer reported pragmatic ability is measured using the Children's Communication Checklist -2 (CCC-2) at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 2. Social language interpretation and peer verbal interactions are measured using the Social Language Development Test - Elementary at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 3. Conversational ability is measured using Targeted Observation of Pragmatics in Children’s’ Conversation (TOPICC) at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 4. Parent’s perception of changes in language skills, social interaction, social skills and peer interactions is measured using the Parent Functional Communication Checklist (PFCQ) at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 5. Functional narrative skills are measured using a dynamic Narrative Measure at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 6. Children’s perceptions of their own communication skills and of SCIP intervention are measured using Child Perception Measures post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks)	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Parent/carer reported pragmatic ability is measured using the Children's Communication Checklist -2 (CCC-2) at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 2. Social language interpretation and peer verbal interactions are measured using the Social Language Development Test - Elementary at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 3. Conversational ability is measured using Targeted Observation of Pragmatics in Children’s’ Conversation (TOPICC) at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 4. Parent’s perception of changes in language skills, social interaction, social skills and peer interactions is measured using the Parent Functional Communication Checklist (PFCQ) at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 5. Functional narrative skills are measured using a dynamic Narrative Measure at baseline and post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks) 6. Children’s perceptions of their own communication skills and of SCIP intervention are measured using Child Perception Measures post-intervention (10 or 20 weeks)

—

Countries

United Kingdom

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 25, 2026