Active clinical trials for "Autism Spectrum Disorder"

ADNP, also known as Activity Dependent Neuroprotective Protein, is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations encompassing the ADNP gene on chromosome 20. Clinically, ADNP syndrome is characterized by intellectual disability and global developmental delay. This study seeks to characterize ADNP-related neurodevelopmental disorders using a number of genetic, medical and neuropsychological measures.

The main objective of this exploratory 8-week pilot study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of buspirone for the treatment of anxiety in youth (ages 6-17 years) with autism spectrum disorders. The study results will be used to generate hypotheses for a larger randomized-controlled trial with explicit hypotheses and sufficient statistical power.

This study will consist of a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial at SUNY Upstate Medical University with 40 autistic children evaluating the effects of transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) on multiple clinically validated scales.

This study will investigate the visual function in individuals with ASD, with a particular focus on the ocular surface condition and visual function assessment.

There is long-standing recognition that people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty imitating others' actions; some investigators have highlighted impaired imitation as being a core contributor to the development of autism. What is yet unknown is precisely how imitation in children with ASD differs from that of typically developing peers.The investigators have identified a task parameter that separates preserved from impaired gesture imitation in ASD: children with ASD have difficulty imitating when the task requires two separate movement elements be coordinated simultaneously. By contrast, imitation is relatively preserved when movement elements are performed serially. The coordination of simultaneous movements is a hallmark of actions performed in the real world. With an eye to optimizing common therapies that depend heavily on imitation, the next step is to tease apart where, in the chain from perception to action, the capacity limitation in simultaneous processing lies. This study will be conducted in about two days and will involve imitating gestures that are presented via video. In addition, an EEG will record the brain's electrical activity during certain tasks to assess how the brain responds when the imitation task is more or less difficult. Several other clinical and behavioral measures will also be used.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) commonly experience variances in tactile behaviors, such as hypersensitivity to light touch stimuli, altered texture discrimination, and hyporesponsivity to pain. Researchers aim to investigate the somatosensory sensitivity and sensorimotor integration utilizing novel, objective behavioral assays and TMS. The main purpose is to study brain plasticity (the changes that occur in the brain through experience) in individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

This is an open-label clinical trial to evaluate the benefits of familial fecal microbiota transplant following a 6-week treatment with Vancomycin in minor and adult subjects with ASD for treatment of social deficits and language delays.

The purpose of the research is to determine whether parent-mediated behavior therapy for challenging behavior commonly displayed by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be as effective when delivered via telehealth as when delivered in-person.

According to World Health Organization, worldwide one in 160 children has an ASD. About around 25% to 30% of children are unable to use verbal language to communicate (non-verbal ASD) or are minimally verbal, i.e., use fewer than 10 words (mv-ASD). The ability to communicate is a crucial life skill, and difficulties with communication can have a range of negative consequences such as poorer quality of life and behavioural difficulties. Communication interventions generally aim to improve children's ability to communicate either through speech or by supplementing speech with other means (e.g., sign language, pictures, or AAC - Advanced Augmented Communication tools). Individuals with non- verbal ASD or mv-ASD often communicate with people through vocalizations that in some cases have a self-consistent phonetic association to concepts (e.g., "ba" to mean "bathroom") or are onomatopoeic expressions (e.g., "woof" to refer to a dog). In most cases vocalizations sound arbitrary; even if they vary in tone, pitch, and duration depending it is extremely difficult to interpret the intended message or the individual's emotional or physical state they would convey, creating a barrier between the persons with ASD and the rest of the world that originate stress and frustration. Only caregivers who have long term acquaintance with the subjects are able to decode such wordless sounds and assign them to unique meanings. This project aims at defining algorithms, methods, and technologies to identify the communicative intent of vocal expressions generated by children with mv-ASD, and to create tools that help people who are not familiar with the subjects to understand these individuals during spontaneous conversations.

Neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity, autism spectrum disorder, language and social communication disorder, motor coordination disorder, learning disorder (dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysorthography), intellectual development disorder are frequent and long-lasting developmental difficulties that can be observed in children in various domains. They are often associated and have a significant impact on daily functioning at school and at home. The rate of people affected by neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorder have increased significantly over the past 20 years. Improved screening only partly explains this evolution. A genetic predisposition plays an important role in the occurrence of these disorders, however, current scientific data suggest a multifactorial origin. Exposures such as those related to the use of pesticides, air pollution or the presence of endocrine disruptors in our diet could be involved in the genesis of neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly during intrauterine life, a period of great vulnerability. The current diagnostic pathways for autism rarely enable the early identification of babies at risk. Without early detection and timely targeted intervention, these children have a poor health outcome and do not reach their full potential. The general objective of the MARIANNE cohort is to constitute a French research infrastructure dedicated to research on the biological and environmental determinants of neurodevelopmental disorders including autism. This cohort is based on the follow-up of 1200 families with already a child affected by an autism spectrum disorder, which implies a high risk of neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorder for the siblings, and of 500 families from the general population with no excess risk of neurodevelopmental disorders. The total number of subjects to be included (mother, father, unborn child and ASD sibling for the HR group) is thus 6300. The inclusion of these families will be at the beginning of a new pregnancy and the follow-up will be carried out from the second trimester of pregnancy until the children are 6 years old, the age at which the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders is possible. Biological, clinical, social and environmental data will be collected at different stages of the follow-up and will be included into a large database.