Reasoning Skills in Theory of Mind and Linguistic Tests in the Autistic Population

April 4, 2016 updated by: Irina Polyanskaya, Roskilde University
The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation and the causality direction between mastering linguistic tests and second-order reasoning tasks in the autistic population. Linguistic tests include two types of tasks: 1. Mastery of multiple embeddings or recursion and 2. Mastery of dialogue particles. Second-order tests include standard false-belief tasks.

Study Overview

Status

Status

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

Conditions

Conditions

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Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

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Detailed Description

The following research questions are to be investigated:

  1. Do particular developments in syntax such as recursion comprehension affect particular kinds of thinking such as second-order Theory of Mind reasoning in autistic children? More concretely: Does children's ability to comprehend the linguistic structure involving or consisting of recursive structures predict performance on second-order false-belief tests, beyond development in general language abilities?
  2. Does knowledge of dialogue particles predict performance on second-order false-belief tests, beyond development in language abilities and working memory? In order to investigate these questions, a between-subjects empirical design includes data collection and data analysis in two steps: one measuring the strength of correlations between variables, the other establishing causality effect via training.

The study is divided into four stages: pilot, pre-testing, intervention, post-testing.

  1. The central goal of the pilot testing is to ensure reliability of tasks in Danish: vocabulary familiarity and how children understand what they are asked about. Second-order false-belief tasks and recursion tasks will be given to children in the pilot stage.

  2. Pre-testing stage is the stage where all the variables are measured (dependent, independent and confounding). Selection of pretests reflects considerations about confounding variables and inclusion criteria.

    Confounding variables include: verbal comprehension (from Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children IV), working memory (from Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children IV), comprehension of grammar and syntactic structures (from Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4), pragmatic profile (from Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4).

    Independent variables include above-mentioned linguistic tests. Dependent variable is second-order false-belief tests.

  3. At the intervention stage training of recursion comprehension for a randomized half of sample size will be provided as four individual sessions,15 minutes each. Training of recursion comprehension will include cooperative dialogue and feedback on the sentences and small dialogues analogous to the tasks in the pretests.
  4. After the training is completed, all the sample subjects will be given second-order false-belief and recursion tasks again at the post-testing stage.

The goal is to recruit 60 subjects in total. For the training part 30 subjects will be assigned by randomization to the intervention group and 30 subjects- to the control group. The recruiting process and participation will not require disclosure of any personal data. Parental informed, written consent for their children to take part in the study is a prerequisite for every child's participation. Parents will also receive debriefing information in written form upon the completion of the empirical part of the study.

Participants are ensured of full anonymity. All data will be anonymized by using subject's identification, and not names. All personal record of any kind, including video and tape recordings of testing, will be kept according to the Danish Privacy Law regulations.

Every child will be tested individually by a trained psychologist in a quiet comfortable room away from the classroom. In case testing procedure will be in any way unpleasant or excessively demanding for some participants, the session will be cancelled, finished earlier or the number of tasks will be revised.

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 (Anticipated)

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.
60

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

  • Denmark
      • Koege, Denmark
        • School Ellebaekskolen

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 15 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Autism Spectrum Disorder is already established and confirmed. Participants will be recruited by contacting special schools directly, where the established diagnosis is the admission criteria.
  2. Monolinguals, Danish native speakers.
  3. Absence of significant impairments in language development.
  4. Intelligence quotient (IQ): more than 85 (i.e. within the normal range).

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Medical treatment affecting performance (antidepressants, antipsychotic and stimulants).
  2. Subjects that have been tested with Wechsler Intelligence Scale test during the last 1.5 year.
  3. Comorbidity (difficult with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but other psychiatric conditions and brain damage condition of any sort should be excluded).

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

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.
Experimental: Training
This arm, which is a half of the sample size, will be receiving training of linguistic recursion
Other: Training of linguistic recursion
Training of recursion comprehension will include cooperative dialogue and feedback on the sentences and small dialogues. The training conditions will be further divided into marking the change of the truth-value.
Other Names:
  • Intervention group
No Intervention: No training
The no intervention group, which is a half of the sample size, will not be recieving training in linguistic recursion.

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
Measure Description
Time Frame
Performance on second-order false-belief tasks
Time Frame: The period between the beginning of testing and final testing should not exceed two weeks. Six children will be tested and trained at the same time. The overall period is thus assessed up to 20 weeks.
Performance will be measured in points, given for the correct answers to the test questions.
The period between the beginning of testing and final testing should not exceed two weeks. Six children will be tested and trained at the same time. The overall period is thus assessed up to 20 weeks.

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.
Roskilde University

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, 2015

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

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.
May 1, 2017

Study Completion (Anticipated)

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.
May 1, 2017

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).
June 1, 2015

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.
June 3, 2015

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.
June 8, 2015

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.
April 6, 2016

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.
April 4, 2016

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.
April 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

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.
  • Protocol-01/2015

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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