iPad Application to Treat Prosodic Deficits in Students With Communication Disorders

June 13, 2016 updated by: Yale University

Handheld Technology for Speech Development in Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of a specialized iPad application designed to treat difficulties with intonation (e.g., melody in voice) in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other communication disorders.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

200

Phase

  • 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
    • Connecticut
      • New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06510
        • Yale Child Study Center

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

4 years to 18 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • SLPs, in Connecticut Public Schools, who provide intervention to students with autism spectrum disorders and related disorders
  • Students, ages 4-18, who attend school in Connecticut and demonstrate prosodic difficulties secondary to a diagnosis of ASD, apraxia of speech, or other communication disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Students with concomitant genetic 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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: iPad Application
Student participants will use specialized iPad software under the supervision of a speech-language pathologist over the course of 12 months, approximately one session per week, one hour per session.
Behavioral: iPad Application
A specialized iPad application, entitled SpeechPrompts, has been developed to treat prosodic difficulties commonly seen in ASDs. SpeechPrompts provides the SLPs that work with students with ASDs an additional tool to treat prosody. The SpeechPrompts software offers visual support and biofeedback to change prosody. These two tools are not typically available for school-based SLPs.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Effectiveness of software
Time Frame: 12 months

The effectiveness of the software will be measured in two ways.

  1. Perceptual ratings of prosody. Pre- and post-treatment speech samples will be collected from each student participant. These samples will be rated by a member of the research staff on the following prosodic characteristics: rate, rhythm, stress, volume.
  2. Questionnaires. Questionnaires will be completed pre- and post-treatment by the students' classroom teacher and speech-language pathologist. These questionnaires will measure the students' use and generalization of skills taught during the intervention.
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Usability of software
Time Frame: 12 months
Usability of software will be measured through questionnaires completed by the speech-language pathologists. Questionnaires will measure ease of software use, utility of software functions, and student engagement during intervention sessions.
12 months
Student engagement in treatment
Time Frame: 12 months
Student engagement will be evaluated indirectly by rating scales completed by the speech-language pathologist. Likert scales will be used to quantify student engagement on the following parameters: time engaged in on-task behavior, time engaged in off-task behavior, perceived enjoyment of software.
12 months
Improvement in peer acceptance
Time Frame: 12 months

Changes in peer acceptance will be evaluated using two different methodologies.

  1. Classroom teacher questionnaire. Each student's classroom teacher will complete a questionnaire pre- and post-treatment measuring the student's interaction with classroom peers.
  2. Semi-structured observation. A member of the research staff will observe each student pre- and post-treatment and complete frequency tallies on the number of peer interactions initiated during a 15-minute semi-structured activity.
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Yale University

Collaborators

Handhold Adaptive

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Frederick Shic, Ph.D, Yale 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

July 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 5, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 5, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

August 7, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 14, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 13, 2016

Last Verified

June 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1306012259
  • ED-IES-13-R-0005 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Department of Education)

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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