Social Relations Training for Children With ASD

NCT ID: NCT06278155

Last Updated: 2024-02-26

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

60 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-04-17

Study Completion Date

2025-04-28

Brief Summary

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The following protocol was developed with the intention of significantly improving social skills by focusing on increasing relationship skills among children with ASD. Divided into two distinct parts, "Basic Social Relationships" and "Intermediate Social Relationships," the protocol has 4 stages for the former and 5 stages for the latter. Each phase is preparatory to the next, and in addition, a teaching procedure is implemented that adopts three prompt levels (partial, moderate and total), gradually aiming to reduce the assistance provided to encourage independent response. This gradual approach is designed to stimulate greater independence in social interactions.

The training lasts between 6 and 12 months, with one or two weekly group meetings lasting forty-five minutes each. Before the start and at the end of the protocol, participants are assessed using the Vineland scale to evaluate their adaptive behaviors.

The primary goal is to enable children with autism to develop meaningful social skills, providing them with concrete tools to interact more effectively and independently with their peers, thus improving their quality of life and social involvement. The protocol involves two distinct groups, experimental and control group.

The experimental group involves the use of a social robot that acts as a mediator in the interactions among participants. The role of the social robot is to facilitate, reinforce and support the participants' responses during the activities. The therapist coordinates with the social robot, helping to guide, reinforce and support participants' interactions.

In the control group, the therapist takes on the role of mediating interactions, helping and facilitating participants' responses. There is no involvement of a social robot; therefore,the therapist self acts directly to guide, reinforce and support the participants' social interactions.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Autism Autism Spectrum Disorder

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Study Groups

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Experimental social relations group

In the experimental group, a social robot is expected to mediate the relationship among peers. Its task is to prompt, reinforce and support the participants' responses. In this case, it is the therapist who mediates the relationship by prompting, reinforcing and supporting the participants' responses.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Social relation training with social robot

Intervention Type OTHER

The protocol is divided in two sections: basic and advanced social relations.

The "basic social relations"section consists of 4 stages:

Stage 1 focuses on spontaneous eye contact between the child and the robot Strage 2 introduces the goal of spontaneously looking at a peer Stage 3 focuses on respecting the turn between children Stage 4 aims to encourage peer cooperation Nao social robot helps children to develop specific social skills.

The "advanced social relation" section consists of 5 stages:

Stage 1: The goal is to initiate physical interaction with a peer during a game Stage 2 is focused on mand (verbal requests) directed to peers Stage 3: The goal is to respond spontaneously to questions or statements from peers In the Stage 4 the child should to play with peers for at least 5 minutes Stage 5: the goal is to conduct at least 4 verbal exchanges on a given topic with peers At each stage, Nao provides verbal prompts to guide the child toward the appropriate response

Control social relations group

In the control group, the therapist is expected to act as a mediator of the relationship, prompting, reinforcing and supporting the participants' responses.

Group Type OTHER

Traditional social relations training

Intervention Type OTHER

Traditional social relations training is the same as the experimental one, however in this context the entire protocol is conducted without the aid of social robot NAO.

Interventions

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Social relation training with social robot

The protocol is divided in two sections: basic and advanced social relations.

The "basic social relations"section consists of 4 stages:

Stage 1 focuses on spontaneous eye contact between the child and the robot Strage 2 introduces the goal of spontaneously looking at a peer Stage 3 focuses on respecting the turn between children Stage 4 aims to encourage peer cooperation Nao social robot helps children to develop specific social skills.

The "advanced social relation" section consists of 5 stages:

Stage 1: The goal is to initiate physical interaction with a peer during a game Stage 2 is focused on mand (verbal requests) directed to peers Stage 3: The goal is to respond spontaneously to questions or statements from peers In the Stage 4 the child should to play with peers for at least 5 minutes Stage 5: the goal is to conduct at least 4 verbal exchanges on a given topic with peers At each stage, Nao provides verbal prompts to guide the child toward the appropriate response

Intervention Type OTHER

Traditional social relations training

Traditional social relations training is the same as the experimental one, however in this context the entire protocol is conducted without the aid of social robot NAO.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* language in sentences
* Griffiths: QS\>75

Exclusion Criteria

* presence of other medical disorders
Minimum Eligible Age

5 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

10 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Messina, Italy

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Flavia Marino

Head of Unit

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Flavia Marino

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB) - National Research Council (CNR)

Locations

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Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB) - National Research Council (CNR)

Messina, , Italy

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Italy

Central Contacts

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Germana Doria

Role: CONTACT

+393465142289

Maria Valeria Maiorana

Role: CONTACT

+393285856656

Facility Contacts

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Flavia Marino

Role: primary

+393395798263

Giovanni Pioggia

Role: backup

+393203390892

References

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Ntaountaki, Polyxeni & Lorentzou, Georgia & Lykothanasi, Andriana & Anagnostopoulou, Panagiota & Alexandropoulou, Vasiliki & Drigas, Athanasios. (2019). Robotics in Autism Intervention. 7. 4-17. 10.3991/ijes.v7i4.11448.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Chung, E.Yh. Robotic Intervention Program for Enhancement of Social Engagement among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Dev Phys Disabil 31, 419-434 (2019).

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Rakhymbayeva N, Amirova A, Sandygulova A. A Long-Term Engagement with a Social Robot for Autism Therapy. Front Robot AI. 2021 Jun 16;8:669972. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2021.669972. eCollection 2021.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 34222353 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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CNR-IRIB-PRO-2024-001

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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