Autism Spectrum Disorder
Conditions
Keywords
Intervention, Autism, Treatment sensitivity, School aged, Cognitive behavioral therapy
Brief summary
The study is a randomized controlled trial to examine the efficacy of individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) relative to a standard community treatment, in youngsters with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The individual CBT program has been tailored over the last five years to the clinical needs of high-functioning youth with ASD.
Detailed description
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is among the most common childhood developmental disorders. A key goal in the field is the discovery of methods that reduce core autism symptoms. Core autism symptoms include social-cognitive impairments, pragmatic language deficits, and repetitive and rigid behaviors. The core symptoms tend to be stable and resistant to intervention. Most treatments involve group-based social skills training (SST), with limited effects. No treatment for core autism symptoms in school-aged children with ASD meets American Psychological Association guidelines for possible efficacy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) offers a novel approach for addressing core autism symptoms in higher functioning school-age youngsters. Initial results suggest that individual CBT may also be promising for reducing core autism symptoms (Wood et al., 2009b; Drahota, Wood et al., 2011). The treatment is based on a contemporary model of memory retrieval competition, employing strategies for enhancing the retention of adaptive conceptual and behavioral responses and the suppression of idiosyncratic beliefs and behaviors in daily social contexts, emphasizing the use of deep semantic processing to enhance memory retrieval. We are proposing a randomized controlled trial to examine the efficacy of individual CBT relative to a standard community treatment in youngsters with ASD.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALIndividual Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Therapists will work with families for 32 weekly sessions, each lasting 90 minutes (45 minutes with the child and 45 minutes with the family/parents), implementing the CBT manual for children with ASD (Wood et al., 2007).
BEHAVIORALStandard Community Treatment
In this condition, the child meets with a therapist for 32 weekly sessions, each 90 minutes. Therapists use an established manual to administer a standard community treatment.
Sponsors
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
University of California, Los Angeles
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
9 Years to 13 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Meets research criteria for a diagnosis of autism, based on child scores on the ADI-R and ADOS tests. * If taking medication, have maintained a stable dose for 1 month prior to baseline assessment. * Between the ages of 9-13 years. * The child's teacher consents to participate in the study to play a modest role in helping implement the intervention and facilitate the school observation assessment.
Exclusion criteria
* IQ less than 85. * The child starts taking new medication(s) or current medication dose changes either (a) less than 1 month prior to the diagnostic evaluation, or (b) during the study period. * The child is participating in an intensive early intervention program for autism such as applied behavior analysis or floortime. * For any reason the child or parents appear unable to participate in the treatment program.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Playground Observation of Peer Engagement scale | Post-Treatment (week 32) | An independent evaluator-rated school playground observational measure of joint engagement, which is a valid measure of core autism symptoms with established treatment sensitivity |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed