Active clinical trials for "Autism Spectrum Disorder"

This research is being done to determine whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can improve certain mental abilities, such as speech, language and other efforts at communication in individuals with autism. In this research, battery powered device is used to deliver very weak electrical current to the surface of the scalp while participants are involved in tasks aimed at training or measuring communicative efforts, speech, language or related cognitive functions. Our aim is to find out whether tDCS will improve these mental abilities.

The study examines actigraphic, observational, psychometric and associated repeated measurements obtained prior to and during psychopharmacological treatment.

The overarching aim of the study is to characterize children and adults with ASDs, and compare them with age-matched controls in relation to their functioning in family, academic, employment, and social spheres. Subjects will be comprehensively assessed in multiple non-overlapping domains of functioning, using psychiatric, cognitive, and psychosocial instruments.

Autism is defined as a lifelong pervasive developmental disability, as such, symptom recovery is considered rare. Reports by Lovaas and McEachin, Smith & Lovaas and more recently by Cohen, Amerine-Dickens, & Smith, Smith Groen et al. and Sutera Pandey et al suggest that intensive behavioral intervention programs during preschool years may result in improvement to the point where some children no longer meet criteria for autism by the time they reach school age. Similarly, there are a large number of anecdotal reports of children with autism who, following intensive biomedical intervention (e.g., gluten/casein free diets, vitamin supplements, chelation), are indistinguishable from their typically developing peers. The goal of the current research is to characterize the behavioral and biological profiles of children with autism who show significant symptom reduction such that they no longer meet criteria for autism (Remitted Autism [REM-AUT]) and to contrast them with a group of children who continue to meet criteria for autism (AUT) and to typically developing (TD) group of children. Examining whether neurobiological and neurobehavioral symptoms commonly reported in autism are as frequent and severe in children who have responded to treatment is an important first step in determining what factors may contribute to symptom remission in autism. In addition, understanding how children with remitted autism compare to typically developing children will help us better understand whether symptom improvement is through remediation (normalization of function) or compensation (achieving the same behavioral/adaptive outcome but through an alternative process).

The primary aim of this study is to compare the diagnostic accuracy of an iPad application (Play.Care assessment) with the current clinical "gold standard" diagnosis for diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children. Recent evidence has suggested that movement abnormalities are one of the early markers of ASD. However, current clinical diagnostic assessments fail to take this into account. Further, the current "gold standard" clinical tests take a number of hours to administer, require extensive clinical training and are subject to a certain level of subjectivity. Alternatively, by assessing a child's interaction with an iPad screen as they play, an objective measurement of movement can be obtained, which can aid in the diagnostic process. This study aims to recruit a total of 760 children (Typically Developing (TD), Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders (OND) and ASD groups) to assess the diagnostic accuracy of tablet game play in ASD. Children who have been diagnosed with ASD will perform the Play.Care assessment to assess if the tablet result matches their clinical diagnosis. Results from the clinical assessment and Play.Care assessment will then be compared to assess the sensitivity (the proportion of participants with ASD who test positive for ASD as a result of the Play.Care assessment) and specificity (the proportion of participants without ASD who test negatively for ASD as a result of the Play.Care assessment assessment) of the Play.Care assessment.

This study aims to find out the incidence of a reduced light adapted electroretinogram (ERG) b-wave amplitude in children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

This study aims to evaluate the relevance of a new computerized test for pragmatic inferences (TIPi) in children aged 8 to 12 YO, presenting a typical development, autism spectrum disorders or another neurodevelopmental condition.

This is a multicenter longitudinal follow-up study to the main study of an a registered already (NCT# ). The Follow-up Study (T4) will assess the Main Study cohort for an additional longitudinal time point approximately 2-5 years after the initial study. Children participating in the Follow-up Study will be approximately 8-16 years old. The aims of the main study is to identify, develop and validate a set of measures that can be used as stratification biomarkers and/or sensitive and reliable objective measures of social impairment in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that could serve as markers of long term clinical outcome.

The primary aims of this study are to assess: The inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the MINI-KID The validity of the standard MINI-KID interview in relation to the parent rated pencil/paper version (MINI-KID-P) and th longer clinician rated "Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Aged Children-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) and "expert opinion" (when available). Secondary aims will include evaluating the concordance between: The Children's Global Assessment Scale (a required part of the K-SADS) with the clinician-rated Sheehan Disability Scale (to be administered with the MINI-KID) as a measure of illness severity.

This project aims: to study behavioral and cerebral activity specificity (latency and amplitude of evoked potentials, time frequency maps and cerebral connectivity) in predictive process (top-down regulation) during visual recognition of static and dynamic stimuli in adults participants with autism spectrum conditions compared to typically developed participants. to study the relation between predictive process and autonomous response (heart activity and electrodermal activity) to explore potential sex differences between autistic males and females