A Digital Health Parent-Training Intervention for Children With Social Communication Delays

April 20, 2026 updated by: Florida International University
Early intervention, during a time of optimal brain plasticity, is critical for autistic children to develop functional skills such as communication and daily living abilities. However, many families face barriers to accessing timely autism-specific services due to delays in autism diagnosis (which is often a prerequisite to autism-specific intervention), long waitlists, high costs, and the necessity to travel far distances to service providers. Self-directed parent-mediated digital health interventions (i.e., programs that parents complete online without provider coaching or feedback) offer a scalable solution to reduce challenges accessing intervention by providing evidence-based strategies that parents can implement without relying on traditional service pathways. The proposed pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) will test a revised self-directed parent-training program, that teaches parents naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI) strategies, which have proven effective for young children with autism. The study will include young children who have already been diagnosed with autism and those who screen positive on an autism screener but have not yet been evaluated, enabling earlier intervention before a formal diagnosis. The study will also explore parents' willingness to engage in the intervention. The specific research aims are: (1) test the preliminary efficacy of the parent-training program vs. treatment as usual (TAU) for 50 children with autism traits and their parents; (2) examine parent engagement in the intervention; and (3) explore predictors of engagement.

Study Overview

Status

Status

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

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.

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 (Estimated)

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.
100

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 Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.
  • Name: Yael Dai Dr. Yael Dai, PhD
  • Phone Number: 305-348-1034
  • Email: ydai@fiu.edu

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Florida
      • Miami, Florida, United States, 33199
        • Recruiting
        • Florida International University
        • Contact:
          • Yael Dr. Yael Dai, PhD
          • Phone Number: 917-596-4459
          • Email: ydai@fiu.edu
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Dr. Yael Dai, PhD

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Children:
  • aged 14 - 48 months
  • screen positive on the M-CHAT-R/F or already have a diagnosis of autism
  • Parents:
  • Fluent in English
  • Agree to complete both study visits and review OPT-In-Early if randomized to the intervention group
  • At least 18 years old
  • Have access to an internet-connected device

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children:
  • Have a neurological condition that would preclude engagement in the intervention or testing

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: Single

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.
No Intervention: Treatment as Usual (TAU)
This arm will complete treatment as usual during the 4 months of the study. Specifically, if the family is receiving any intervention, they will continue to receive it. Once the post-treatment study visit is completed, they will be granted access to the intervention being studied (OPT-In-Early)
Experimental: Treatment (OPT-In-Early) group
The intervention group will receive access to OPT-In-Early. OPT-In-Early is an online 14-module self-directed parent-training program that uses simple text, narration, and interspersed videos to teach parents how to increase their children's social engagement, communication, adaptive behaviors, and reduce challenging behaviors.
Behavioral: Online Parent Training in Early Behavioral Intervention (OPT-In-Early)
OPT-In-Early is an online 14-module self-directed naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI) that uses simple text, narration, and interspersed videos to teach parents how to increase their children's social engagement, communication, adaptive behaviors, and reduce challenging behaviors.

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
Motor Imitation Scale
Time Frame: Baseline and 4 months
We will administer a revised Motor Imitation Scale (MIS), a standardized, structured observational measure that assesses a child's ability to imitate familiar and novel motor actions. Children will see 5 actions modeled and then will be prompted to imitate the action using a matching toy. Children are given up to three opportunities to imitate each action. MIS scores range from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating greater imitation.
Baseline and 4 months
Vineland Scales of Adaptive Behavior-3
Time Frame: Baseline and 4 months
The Vineland Scales of Adaptive Behavior-3 (Vineland-3) is a standardized parent interview measuring adaptive functioning. It will be administered to all participants at pre- and post-treatment to evaluate change occurring in adaptive behavior across groups. Previous research has documented that this measure has robust psychometric properties, is sensitive to change in response to early intervention, and captures dimensions that are highly valued by stakeholders. Higher scores in the Vineland indicate more advanced adaptive skills.
Baseline and 4 months
MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MCDI)
Time Frame: Baseline and 4 months
The MacArthur Bates Communication Development Inventory (MCDI) is a parent-report measure that assesses nonverbal communication (gestures) and verbal communication (words). The Words and Gestures form will be used. The MCDI is widely used, standardized, and validated. It is particularly well-suited for large-scale research due to ease of administration, strong psychometric properties, and sensitivity to individual differences in early language development. Higher scores indicate greater communication.
Baseline and 4 months

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
Measure Description
Time Frame
Goal Attainment Scaling
Time Frame: Baseline and 4 months
The Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is used to evaluate a participant's progress toward a specific, individualized goal. It follows standardized procedures that allow outcomes to be measured on a common metric, making it possible to compare intervention-related change across participants with different goals. Scores ranger from -2 to +2, with higher scores indicating better functioning.
Baseline and 4 months
OPT-In-Early Quiz
Time Frame: Baseline and 4 months
Parent gains in knowledge of OPT-In-Early strategies will be assessed with the OPT-In-Early Quiz, a 30-item multiple-choice quiz that assesses knowledge of NDBI content covered in the OPT-In-Early program. Scores will be based on the percentage of questions that parents answer correctly, with higher scores indicating greater knowledge of intervention content.
Baseline and 4 months
Treatment Evaluation Inventory Short-Form
Time Frame: 4 months
The Treatment Evaluation Inventory Short-Form is a 9-item questionnaire, in which parents rate their acceptability of an intervention on a 5-point Likert scale. Scores are averaged and higher scores represent greater acceptability of the intervention. Parents randomized to the intervention condition will complete this measure at post-treatment.
4 months

Other Outcome Measures

Other Outcome Measures

For clinical trials, a planned measurement described in the protocol that is used to determine the effect of an intervention/treatment on participants. For observational studies, a measurement or observation that is used to describe patterns of diseases or traits, or associations with exposures, risk factors, or treatment. Types of outcome measures include primary outcome measure and secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Ecological momentary assessment of intervention use and implementation
Time Frame: Ongoing during the 4 months
Parents randomized to the intervention group will complete time-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA). EMA will be used to obtain parent report about whether they (a) reviewed a module (yes/no); (b) practiced learned skill with their child (yes/no); and (c) the duration spent practicing skills with their child (minutes)
Ongoing during the 4 months
Revised Yatchmenoff Client Engagement Scale
Time Frame: Baseline
With the author's permission, we are using a revised version of the Yatchmenoff Client Engagement Scale. Specifically, questions will be included to yield a total receptivity scale score and buy-in scale score. Higher scores will indicate greater parent attitudinal receptiveness and engagement with the intervention. Parents randomized to the intervention group will complete this measure at baseline.
Baseline
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2)
Time Frame: Baseline
The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) is a structured, standardized assessment used to evaluate social communication, interaction, play, and restricted or repetitive behaviors associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder. It is widely considered a gold-standard observational measure in both clinical and research settings. We. will administer the ADOS-2 to all children during their baseline visit to assess for autism.
Baseline

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.
Florida International University

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.
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

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 (Actual)

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.
April 11, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

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, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

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, 2027

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).
April 20, 2026

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.
April 20, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

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.
April 27, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

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 27, 2026

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 20, 2026

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, 2026

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.
  • IRB-25-0140

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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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