Active clinical trials for "Autism Spectrum Disorder"

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled 16-week trial investigators administered daily doses of either youths with autism spectrum disorders.ARA and DHA supplementation significantly improved communication as well as social withdrawal symptoms. This pilot study provides the first evidence that supplementation with larger ARA doses added to DHA improve impaired social interaction in youths with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial comparing a telephone based intervention (TCM) to usual care (UC). TCM will feature a registered nurse providing a series of phone calls to assist caregivers in learning and modifying behavioral strategies that may help young children with autism to sleep better. Objective (activity monitors) and subjective (rating scales) data will be collected by an independent research assistant at the end of the project. The investigators hypothesize that TCM improves sleep duration and decreases sleep problems relative to a usual care control condition (UC).

Complex diseases such as schizophrenia and autism are heterogeneous in clinical presentation and etiology. This high heterogeneity constitutes the challenges for the clinical diagnosis and etiological research, resulting in that the majority of research findings cannot be replicated in the independent samples. For the high comorbid rate between the diagnoses of schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and the shared neurocognitive deficits, genetic risks, and biological markers between the two disorders, a heterogeneity approach may probably be more promising than to arbitrarily split the two diagnostic categories apart or lump them together for etiological research. In schizophrenia, patients with a very early onset of disease and with preceding neurodevelopmental conditions may imply a different underlying etiology from those with typical onset and without neurodevelopmental conditions. Echoing the evidence that in early onset Parkinson's disease, PARK2 (encoding parkin protein) mutations are successfully reported to be as frequent as 49% with an autosomal-recessive mode of inheritance , representing a specific disease entity of Parkinson's disease. Therefore, it is critical to characterize the clinical phenotypes for this subpopulation of very early onset patients, including their clinical manifestation, disease course, and treatment response, as well as early developmental history and morphological characteristics. These may establish an important base for investigating the etiology and providing adequate clinical care for the heterogeneous syndrome of schizophrenia

The objective of the ELENA French Cohort is to study the developmental trajectories of children and adolescents with ASD and their risk or protective associated factors. This is an open, prospective and multicenter cohort study, including children and adolescents under 16 years of age with ASD recruited from services specialized in the assessment of developmental disorders.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a social initiation motivation intervention (SIMI) focused on training children with ASD to initiate to peers during structured play activities will result in more frequent initiations to typically developing peers during free play. The SIMI approach under investigation uses behavioral strategies based in Applied Behavior Analysis and Pivotal Response Treatment to motivate children with ASD to initiate to peers. Children with ASD will be randomly assigned to either the SIMI or a waiting list. Treatment will be provided for 8 weeks in the context of a weekly social skills group.

Young people between age 15 and 25 with ADHD and/or autism spectrum disorders are offered internet-based support and coaching during eight weeks (chat and e-mail). Data is collected before and after the intervention and six months after end of treatment using self-report questionnaires pertaining to sense of coherence, self-esteem, quality of life, depressive and anxiety symptoms and socioeconomic status. Parents complete an assessment scale for the next of kin. After treatment the young people are interviewed regarding the quality of the intervention. A comparison group matched for age, gender and neuropsychiatric diagnosis is offered treatment as usual and is assessed at the same time points as the intervention group. The individuals are not randomized due to difficulties to recruit if the individuals do not know group assignment in advance.

The purpose of this study aims to investigate the utility of Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT), a behaviorally derived intervention, to improve the quality and frequency of communication and social engagement of toddlers with siblings who have an autism spectrum disorder (SIBS - ASD) and who demonstrate developmental delays and impairments in social interaction between 12 and 15 months of age.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, more prevalent than previously thought and heterogeneous in expression, though uniformly characterized by severe social disability. The social disability that defines ASD pervades other areas of adaptive behavior, is predictive of secondary mental health problems, and adversely affects long-term outcome. Although ASD is a chronic condition, there has been little research on interventions for adults with ASD. This study proposes to first establish the neural plasticity of specific brain mechanisms underlying difficulties with facial emotion recognition, a core deficit believed to be pivotal in the behavioral expression of ASD-social disability. The investigators will then develop a novel, computer-based intervention using real-time feedback, to the user, to ameliorate emotion recognition deficits.

An examination of changes in urinary metabolites with use of folinic acid in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Investigators will also measure behavioral measures and academic measures monthly at school with teachers and parents report.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the application of a modified version of PRT designed specifically as a parent-training model via telemedicine, with the goal of increasing access to empirically validated care. The project will feature an 18-week trial of parent training PRT via telemedicine in 12 cognitively able 3- to 6-year-old children with ASD. Intervention will focus on enhancing the following developmental skills: expressive and receptive language, play, and social interaction. Outcome measures will address changes in the aforementioned domains during structured observation and standardized assessment.