Active clinical trials for "Autism Spectrum Disorder"

This study will attempt to study the effect of memantine, on memory, and motor praxis/expressive language skills in children with autism. The investigators will recruit children ages 6-12 years who are verbal and meet criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder. The children will be assessed for memory function, expressive language output and motor skills/praxis. They will then be randomized to memantine or placebo for 6 months. The effects of this medication and its safety in this population will be studied over the 6 month period.

We aimed to use Tongue Acupuncture (TAC) to assess for any change in brain function.

Thirty two children age 2-6 years are recruited into the study and the randomization will be stratified for chronological age and symptom severity into 2 main groups, intervention and control. The intervention group will receive an additional target treatment of DIR/Floortime parent training intervention, while the control group will continue on their routine care for 3 months. Hypothesis: Children in the intervention group show much improvement in climbing the developmental "ladder" and declining in the autistic behaviors.

In this study, the investigators will randomize 20 families per site (across 4 sites) to be in the BBB Transition Passport Only Group or BBB Intervention Group. Both groups will receive the BBB Transition Passport, which include the Transition Checklist, Student Snapshot, Parent/Caregiver Guide, and Student Guide. In addition to receiving the Transition Passport, the BBB Intervention Group will also receive coaching support to implement these resources. This coaching will include a member of the research team assigned as a coach for each family. This coach will introduce the resources to the family, briefly teach them fundamental information about the transition process, provide brief coaching phone calls, and guide parents in using the tools and requesting help from the child's provider(s). The investigators will be testing the differences between these two groups in terms of: 1) quality of the transition as reported by the parent and teacher, 2) self-efficacy of the parent during the transition process, 3) child school engagement and behavior during the transition as rated by the teacher and parent, and 4) the quality of the child's team to communicate about information important to the child's transition.

The overall goal of the project is to develop a feasible, effective and sustainable school-based program to manage anxiety in elementary and middle school students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other special learning needs. There are two phases to this Department of Health and Human Services/Health Resources and Services Administration-funded research. In the first phase, there will be engagement of community partners in the process of developing the adapted intervention for implementation in schools. The first phase is ongoing until approximately fall of 2018. This project is the second phase of this program of research and is focused on piloting and implementing the school-based intervention within 3 local school districts in a systematic and sustainable way - through a "train-the-trainer" model. Primary aims are: to prepare cross-disciplinary teams of School - Based Trainers to conduct three pilot student groups of Facing Your Fears - School Based (FYF-SB) within their own district, with the goal of later training others in their districts to deliver FYF-SB. at the start of the following academic year (2019-2020), within each of the three participating districts, 10 schools will be randomized to one of two conditions for the fall semester: a) FYF-SB or b) Usual Care; and assess implementation and treatment outcomes.

The group of patients diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is increasing and so is the need for new and effective treatment methods. ASD is characterized, among other things, by difficulties in social interaction and communication. These difficulties often affects their quality of life and causes a risk of developing social anxiety or other forms of mental illness, which often leads to isolation and may cause difficulties in participating in regular face- to- face psychological treatment. Although research shows that group therapy is favorable for this group of patients, many with ASD refrain from group-treatment due to social anxiety or difficulties with public transport. In order to increase the availability of evidence based psychological treatment for these patients, it seems important to be able to offer a web-based treatment option, with the ability to participate in online group sessions. The aim of the study is to investigate whether Internet-based CBT is an effective method of improving the quality of life and sense of coherence and decreasing symtoms of anxiety and depression among adults with ASD. A randomized controlled study design will be used. Assessment will be conducted through video interviews, recruiting 84 patients with ASD and normal intellectual abilities. Symptoms of depression and other forms of psychopathology will be assessed through MINI-7 interviews. Primary outcome measures are quality of life. Participants in the intervention group receives a 18 week blended treatment combining individual ICBT delivered through a treatment platform called Stöd och Behandling (SOB) with the opportunity to participate in regular group discussions delivered through a discussion forum online. Participants in the control groups are offered self-studies through psycho educative books about ASD. Data will be collected at baseline, mid-treatment, post-treatment and after six and 12 months.

To compare the efficacy of one-on-one versus group-based aquatic therapy on the social interactions, behaviors and physical activities of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

The goal of the Novel Language Intervention for minimally verbal children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is to test the efficacy of one experimental treatment (AMMT) compared to baseline assessments and compare the AMMT efficacy to a control intervention (SRT), both treatments were designed to facilitate speech output in minimally verbal 5.5 to 12.0 year olds. This study aims to compare the two interventions (one intonation-based; the other non-intonation-based) in a single-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) that includes a comprehensive baseline assessment battery, 25 intensive 1-on-1 treatment sessions conducted 5 days/week, and a series of probe assessments administered at multiple timepoints pre-, during, and post-therapy. Despite the complex needs of minimally verbal children with ASD and the wide variety of treatments available to address many of those needs, there is still a great need for effective methods that promote the development of speech sounds and facilitate the production of those sounds in this growing population. While the primary aim of this RCT is to investigate the effects of AMMTversus a control intervention (SRT) on minimally verbal children with ASD and compare the two interventions to determine whether one is more effective than the other, this study also aims to examine whether baseline cognitive skills, speech praxis, joint attention abilities and/or neural architecture can predict the effects of treatment with AMMT or SRT in minimally verbal children with ASD.

This study is an 8-week pilot trial with oxytocin nasal spray (Syntocinon) as a treatment for social impairment in children and adults with high functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The investigators hypothesize that oxytocin will be safe, tolerable, and effective in improving social deficits in individuals with ASD.

The purpose of this study is to determine if a program can help children with autism who are overweight. Specifically, this study will look to see if changes in a child's eating habits and exercise can help with weight loss. Investigators also want to see how parents feel about the program and if they will complete the entire program. Twenty children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are also overweight will participate in this study at the Marcus Autism Center. All children who enroll will receive the The Changing Health in Autism through Nutrition, Getting fit and Expanding variety (CHANGE) program. This involves 16 sessions over six months. After the six months, participants will come back every month for three months for a follow up visit. Therefore the study will last a total of nine months.