Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorder
Conditions
Keywords
autism, imitation, social communication, rhythm, music
Brief summary
The primary goal of this study is to examine rhythm sensitivity as a predictor of response to naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBIs) in autistic toddlers. Toddlers receive either Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT), an evidence-based NDBI that supports children's imitation and social communication skills, or a music-enhanced version of RIT. Throughout their participation in the intervention, toddlers will complete study procedures of viewing naturalistic videos of infant-directed singing and other social scenes while eye gaze data is collected.
Detailed description
Social communication makes use of predictable, rhythmic behaviors and children are sensitive to the rhythm of social interaction from infancy. The goal of the current study is to investigate if social rhythm sensitivity, measured via children' entrained eye-looking when viewing videos of infant-directed singing, predicts autistic toddlers' response to naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI). Following eligibility testing and baseline assessments, children are randomized to receive either 30 sessions of Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT), an NDBI that uses evidence-based strategies to support children's imitation and social communication development, or a music-enhanced version of RIT that embeds music and rhythm within the RIT platform (meRIT). Children's imitation skills are assessed before and after the intervention programs. Children's rhythm sensitivity is assessed via repeated eye-tracking sessions throughout baseline, intervention, and two-weeks after the intervention ends.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALReciprocal Imitation Training
As a naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI), Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) utilizes contingent imitation, linguistic mapping, modeling, prompting, and contingent reinforcement to train object and gesture imitation during play activities.
BEHAVIORALmusic-enhanced Reciprocal Imitation Training
Music-enhanced imitation training uses music and rhythm to enhance the predictability and salience of the strategies utilized within the Reciprocal Imitation Training platform (i.e., contingent imitation, linguistic mapping, modeling, prompting, and contingent reinforcement to train object and gesture imitation during play activities).
Sponsors
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Months to 36 Months
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* diagnosis of autism / autism spectrum disorder * 18-36 months of age
Exclusion criteria
* Major hearing or visual impairment (e.g., congenital nystagmus), seizure disorder, genetic syndromes, or gestational age \<=34 weeks.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in rhythmically entrained eye-looking (eye-tracking) | Change from baseline through 2-week follow-up post-intervention | Trajectories of rhythmically entrained eye-looking to predictable and unpredictable child-directed singing assessed via passive eye-tracking. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in overall fixation to eyes (eye-tracking) | Change from baseline through 2-week follow-up post-intervention | Trajectories of proportion of time spent fixating on the eyes while viewing predictable and unpredictable child-directed singing assessed via passive eye-tracking. |
| Change in child elicited motor imitation | Change from baseline to 2-weeks follow-up after intervention | Children's performance on the Motor Imitation Scale (score 0-32). Higher scores indicate greater performance. |
| Change in child spontaneous motor imitation | Change from baseline to 2-weeks follow-up after intervention | Children's performance on the Unstructured Imitation Assessments (score 0-20) |
Countries
United States
Contacts
CONTACTMiriam Lense
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORMiriam Lense
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORWarren Jones
Emory University
Outcome results
None listed