Study of Peer Relationships at School (HRSAII)

August 14, 2012 updated by: Connie Kasari, Ph.D., Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

Autism Intervention Research Network on Behavior Health (AIR-B): Study of Peer Relationships at School

The goal of this study is to compare the effects of two separate, manualized group interventions designed to improve social outcomes for young children with autism. The first type of group intervention utilizes a social skill curriculum delivered to a small group of children with autism at their school. This type of group will be referred to as the Skills group (SKILLS intervention). The other intervention delivers a social engagement curriculum at the children's school site and includes children with autism and typically developing peers, from the same school. This type of group will be referred to as the School Engagement Group (ENGAGE intervention).

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Once families have decided to join the study, and have completed the informed consent process using the "Social Skills Club - Parent Consent", and once we obtain letters of agreement from participating elementary schools, children with ASD will be randomly assigned to one of two intervention conditions, SKILLS or ENGAGE, led by two trained doctoral students. Since children will be randomized to either the SKILLS or the ENGAGE group, we are hoping to determine the active ingredients for successfully integrating children with autism. For both the SKILLS and the ENGAGE groups, all interventions and observations of children will take place in the target child's school. Thus, upon admission to the project, research personnel will attend the participant's classroom at school, and distribute consent forms titled "Peer Relationships at School - Classroom Parent Consent" to all children in the class. The consenting process should be no more than ten minutes. For those children that return informed consent from their parents, as well as offer assent on the "Children's Classroom Assent" to join to the project, social network measures (including brief demographic information), as well as friendship surveys (Friendships Qualities Scale; FQS), and an emotion measure (loneliness questionnaire) will be distributed at pre-intervention (baseline), post-intervention, and follow-up time points. These measures will take approximately 30-40 minutes per each time point. Graduate students will administer the measures and will make every effort to do so at a convenient time for the teacher and for the classroom to avoid utilizing instructional time. In addition, the efficacy of the treatment interventions will be assessed with ongoing direct behavioral observations at entry, twice during treatment, at exit, and at the 2-month follow-up.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
200

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States
        • University of California, Los Angeles
    • Florida
      • Tallahassee, Florida, United States
        • Florida State University
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore, Maryland, United States
        • Kennedy Krieger Institute
    • Michigan
      • Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
        • University of Michigan
    • Washington
      • Seattle, Washington, United States
        • University of Washington

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

7 years to 12 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Children are between the ages of 7 and 12 years in grades 2-5.
  • Children have a clinical diagnosis of autism or PDD-NOS, and/or meet criteria on the ADOS for ASD or autism.
  • Children have an IQ of 70 or above
  • Children are fully included in a typical classroom for 80% or more of the school day
  • Children are expected to stay in the school or the classroom for the duration of the study.
  • Families with low SES and/or from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children must not have additional diagnoses or sensory or motor impairments.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Active Comparator: SKILLS group
The SKILLS intervention targets a specific set of social skills over 8 bi-weekly sessions. The intervention is delivered to a small group of children with autism at school during lunchtime. The content delivered to the group of young children with autism including lessons developed from a manual by Seattle Children's Hospital Research Foundation. Children are given weekly homework assignments to reinforce the topics discussed in the group sessions.
Behavioral: SKILLS vs ENGAGE
The investigators plan to contrast 2 different models for social skills groups. Each model involves 16 45-minute bi-weekly sessions, twice a week with a small group of children with ASD. Details of the 2 intervention models are described below.
Experimental: ENGAGE group
The ENGAGE intervention targets two social domains, and two learning contexts. The two social domains are peer acceptance and social engagement with peers. The social group will be small and include children with ASD as well as their typical peers. There will be a greater number of typical peers included to model social behaviors and foster friendships. The typical peers will be selected based on results from the friendship survey and teacher nominations. The two learning contexts are direct instruction in a group social skills format during lunchtime and individualized embedded generalization activities in the school day.
Behavioral: SKILLS vs ENGAGE
The investigators plan to contrast 2 different models for social skills groups. Each model involves 16 45-minute bi-weekly sessions, twice a week with a small group of children with ASD. Details of the 2 intervention models are described below.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Time Frame
The Friendship Survey
Time Frame: Before treatment, after treatment, and 2 months after treatment
Before treatment, after treatment, and 2 months after treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Friendship Qualities Scale
Time Frame: Before treatment, after treatment, and 2 months after treatment
Before treatment, after treatment, and 2 months after treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Johns Hopkins University
University of Michigan
University of Washington
Florida State University

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Connie Kasari, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
June 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
August 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
November 10, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 10, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
November 11, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
August 16, 2012

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 14, 2012

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
August 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • G09-04-021-01A
  • UA3MC11055 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Health Resources and Services Administration)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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