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Improving Social Interaction for Adolescents With Autism During the Transition to Adulthood

NCT ID: NCT03785327

Last Updated: 2022-12-23

Study Results

Results available

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

TERMINATED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

78 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2019-01-18

Study Completion Date

2021-09-22

Brief Summary

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This study compares the efficacy of two intervention strategies for improving social outcomes for autistic adolescents and young adults when interacting with unfamiliar non-autistic peers.

Detailed Description

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Intellectually-capable older adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often struggle to secure and maintain employment, succeed in college, or develop satisfying personal and professional relationships. Current psychosocial interventions for this population have produced limited effects on real-world functioning. These programs typically seek to improve social skill and understanding with the hope that these abilities will translate to better functioning and are often effective at increasing knowledge of social rules and norms,yet these improvements frequently do not translate to better social and life outcomes in the real world. One reason for their limited efficacy may be that the mechanisms involved in real-life social interaction continue to be poorly understood for this population. The current study is designed to specify the factors that predict more or less favorable social outcomes for autistic adolescents and young adults when interacting with an unfamiliar, non-autistic peer, and test a multifaceted intervention for improving these outcomes. The intervention will target both brain and behavior, not only in the individual with ASD but also in their typically-developing (TD) partners. For TD participants, the efficacy of a training program will be tested to determine if social experiences for older adolescents with ASD can be improved by increasing knowledge, acceptance, and understanding of autism among TD individuals. For the participants with ASD, this study will test the efficacy of an innovative, non-invasive neurostimulation session using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to target social brain regions involved in perspective-taking and social reciprocity. Social outcomes for each intervention will be compared to a "no intervention" control condition, and to each other, to provide a comprehensive examination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors contributing to social interaction quality for autistic adolescents and young adults.

Conditions

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Autism Spectrum Disorder Typical Development

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

CROSSOVER

Autistic participants were going to be recruited for an active or sham tDCS session. However, no participants were enrolled in these conditions due to COVID.

TD participants were assigned to receive or not receive a training session.
Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Study Groups

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Active anodal tDCS

Active anodal tDCS followed by behavioral testing Intervention: Device: active anodal tDCS

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

tDCS

Intervention Type DEVICE

Participants either complete active and sham tDCS sessions one week apart or an autism training program.

Sham tDCS

Sham tDCS followed by behavioral testing Intervention: Device: sham tDCS

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

tDCS

Intervention Type DEVICE

Participants either complete active and sham tDCS sessions one week apart or an autism training program.

Autism Training Program

Training program designed to increase autism understanding followed by behavioral testing Intervention:Training program

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Autism Training

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Autism Information Presentation developed by Dr. Grace Iarocci's Autism \& Developmental Disorders Lab at Simon Fraser University

Social interaction without intervention

Control condition: Behavioral testing without an intervention component

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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tDCS

Participants either complete active and sham tDCS sessions one week apart or an autism training program.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Autism Training

Autism Information Presentation developed by Dr. Grace Iarocci's Autism \& Developmental Disorders Lab at Simon Fraser University

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Age: 18-21
* DSM-IV-TR or DSM-5 diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder
* IQ\>70

Exclusion Criteria

* Presence or history intellectual impairment (defined as IQ \<70)
* Presence or history of medical, cardiac, or neurological disorders that may affect brain function (e.g., cardiac disease, endocrine disorders, renal disease, pulmonary disease, history of seizures or head trauma with unconsciousness for a period of 15 minutes or greater or CNS tumors)
* Presence of sensory limitation including visual (e.g., blindness, glaucoma, vision uncorrectable to 20/40) or hearing (e.g. hearing loss) impairments that interfere with assessment
* Not proficient in English
* Presence of substance abuse in the past one month
* Presence of substance dependence not in remission for the past six months
* Contraindications for tDCS (e.g., pregnancy or implanted devices such as pace maker)
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

21 Years

Eligible Sex

MALE

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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The University of Texas at Dallas

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Noah Sasson

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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The University of Texas at Dallas

Richardson, Texas, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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1806799

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id