Transition Support Program for Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders

May 8, 2017 updated by: Aparna Nadig, McGill University

A Service Delivery Model to Better Support Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Transition From School to the Community

This study investigates a service delivery model to better support young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the transition from school to the community. The effectiveness of the "McGill Transition Support Program", a small-group format intervention (meeting once a week for 2 hours over 10 weeks) focusing on communication, self-determination and working with others skills, is measured by multiple pre- and post-program-assessments in a "staggered enrollment trial", a variant of a randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The difficulties characterizing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often associated with childhood; however, ASD is a lifespan diagnosis that continues to impact opportunities in the community. There is currently a very significant gap in support services for young adults with ASDs that has grave consequences both for individuals and their families in terms of vocational success and social inclusion and for society as a whole in terms of the financial burden of long-term adult care.

Individuals on the higher end of the autism spectrum do not have intellectual disability and possess good language skills. Yet they often show significant difficulty with applying their skills during demanding social interactions, which is detrimental to their ability to form relationships and navigate interactions in the workplace. In the few studies of outcomes of adults with ASD it is reported that fewer than 5% of adults at the highest end of the spectrum were living independently and only 12% were employed viably. This underscores the tremendous need for targeted services for young adults with ASD without intellectual disability.

The McGill Transition Support Program was developed to target participants' self-expressed needs in communication, self-determination and working with others skills, which have been associated with better quality of life. Besides the intake, pre- and post-program measures sessions, the participants, aged 18 - 30 years, take part in ten 2-hour group meetings. The study design has been termed a "staggered enrollment trial", that is participants were randomly assigned to take part in the program in the next available cycle or to the waiting list for a subsequent cycle. Pre- and post-program assessment include social problem solving stories, quality of life and self-determination measures, a communication task and a needs and skills questionnaire.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

34

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

  • Canada
    • Quebec
      • Montreal, Quebec, Canada
        • McGill University

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

18 years to 30 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • proficient and able to communicate in English
  • between the ages of 18 and 30 years upon entering the study
  • ASD classification according to scores on either or both the Social Communication Questionnaire-Lifetime (SCQ) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2, Module 4 revised algorithm)
  • Either or both non-verbal IQ, assessed by Raven's Progressive Matrices, or verbal IQ assessed by Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence, verbal subtests, in the normal range

Exclusion Criteria:

  • current enrollment in another similar transition support service, that is, a group-format service that has the goals of improving the areas of social interaction and communication, self-determination and advocacy, and working with others skills

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
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Immediate intervention
Participant assigned to McGill Transition Support Program in next available session
Behavioral: McGill Transition Support Program

The McGill Transition Support Program is manual-based, including 15 modules of curriculum, five in each of the following domains of skills:

  • Social communication (e.g. listening, perspective taking)
  • Self-determination (e.g. problem-solving, self-advocacy)
  • Working with others (e.g. knowing your context, teamwork)

Nine out of the 15 modules are selected for each group according to the common needs endorsed by participants on a needs assessment questionnaire. Each group consists of 4 adults and two facilitators who were graduate students in Speech Language Pathology or Educational Psychology.

The intervention follows a Self-Determination Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) that considers the individual's strengths and needs in the development of personal goals and plans for one's future. A workbook is used to accompany each module with the aim of having the participants practice and generalize the main content messages.
No Intervention: Waiting List control
Participant assigned to waiting list for one session prior to receiving McGill Transition Support Program in following session

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change in Social problem-solving task (Channon & Crawford, 2010)
Time Frame: 4-6 weeks prior to session, 4-6 weeks after session
4-6 weeks prior to session, 4-6 weeks after session
Change in Arc's Self-Determination Scale (SDS; Wehmeyer & Kelchner, 1995)
Time Frame: 4-6 weeks prior to session, 4-6 weeks after session, and 12 month follow-up post-Program
4-6 weeks prior to session, 4-6 weeks after session, and 12 month follow-up post-Program
Change in Quality of Life Questionnaire (Shalock & Keith, 1993)
Time Frame: 4-6 weeks prior to session, abridged version: 4-6 weeks after session and 12 month follow-up post-Program
4-6 weeks prior to session, abridged version: 4-6 weeks after session and 12 month follow-up post-Program

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Curriculum-specific workbook questions
Time Frame: every week for 9 weeks at the end of group intervention meetings
every week for 9 weeks at the end of group intervention meetings
Participant Program Evaluation Survey (Flanagan & Nadig, 2012)
Time Frame: 4-6 weeks after Program and 12 month follow-up post-Program
Questionnaire composed of qualitative (open-ended) questions
4-6 weeks after Program and 12 month follow-up post-Program
Parent Program Evaluation Survey (Flanagan & Nadig, 2012)
Time Frame: 4-6 weeks after Program
(Questionnaire composed of quantitative (Likert-type) and qualitative (open-ended) questions)
4-6 weeks after Program
Questionnaire on vocational, educational and living situation outcomes
Time Frame: 12 month follow-up post-Program
12 month follow-up post-Program
Communication task (Nadig, Vivanti, & Ozonoff, 2009)
Time Frame: 4-6 weeks prior to session, 4-6 weeks after session
4-6 weeks prior to session, 4-6 weeks after session

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

McGill University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Aparna Nadig, Ph.D., School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University
  • Principal Investigator: Tara Flanagan, Ph.D., Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University

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

May 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 4, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 6, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

May 12, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 9, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 8, 2017

Last Verified

May 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Max Bell / McGill x-209094

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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