Joint Attention Intervention and Young Children With Autism

February 21, 2011 updated by: Ullevaal University Hospital

Effectiveness of Joint Attention Intervention in Young Children With Autism - a Randomized Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an intervention aimed to increase joint attention in 2-4 year old children with autism. The study will be conducted in mainstream preschools in Norway. The intervention will be implemented by preschool teachers and paraprofessionals supervised by trained counselors.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Young children with autism experience severe deficit in joint attention skills (e.g. pointing to objects, showing, following another person's gaze, responding to invitations to social interaction). Ability to initiate and respond to joint attention is linked to children's later language abilities. As a mean to improve language outcome in children with autism, it is important to target joint attention in early intervention programs.

This study investigates the effectiveness of a joint attention intervention. Sixty 2-4 year old children with autism will be randomized to an intervention group or a control group. Children in both groups will continue their ordinary preschool program. However, the children in the intervention group will also participate in 80 joint attention intervention sessions. The sessions (20 minutes each) will be conducted twice a day for 8 weeks by preschool teachers or paraprofessionals working in the preschools. Before starting the intervention preschool teachers and paraprofessionals will be taught how to teach joint attention skills and how to initiate and maintain episodes of joint engagement. During the course of intervention they will be supervised by trained counselors.

Outcome measures will include joint attention skills, language skills and joint engagement. Children will be assessed at baseline, after 10 weeks and at follow up 6 months and 1 year after the end of the intervention. The measures are based on direct testing of the children, video observations and questionnaires to parent and professionals.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

61

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

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

  • Norway
      • Oslo, Norway, 0319
        • Ullevaal University Hospital

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

Ages Eligible for Study

2 years to 5 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • diagnosis of autism
  • age 2-4 year old

Exclusion Criteria:

  • severe mental retardation
  • severe clinical CNS disorders

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: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
childrens score on measures of joint attention
Time Frame: pre, post, follow up 6 months and 1 year
pre, post, follow up 6 months and 1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
score on measures of joint engagement -child and mother
Time Frame: pre, post, follow up 6 months and 1 year
pre, post, follow up 6 months and 1 year
childrens score on measures of language
Time Frame: pre and follow up 1 year
pre and follow up 1 year
parents and service providers perception of the intervention
Time Frame: post, follow up 6 months and 1 year
post, follow up 6 months and 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Ullevaal University Hospital

Collaborators

Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Eili Sponheim, PhD, Ullevaal University Hospital
  • Study Chair: Lars Smith, PhD, University of Oslo (UiO)
  • Study Chair: Berit Grøholt, PhD, University of Oslo (UiO)
  • Principal Investigator: Anett Kaale, PhD student, Ullevaal University Hospital and Centre for Child and Adolecent Mental Health (R-BUP)

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

September 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 18, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 18, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

September 19, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

February 23, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 21, 2011

Last Verified

February 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UUS 29560105

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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