Active clinical trials for "Intellectual Disability"

People with IDD (intellectual and developmental disability) have very high rates of obesity and die prematurely from cardiometabolic disease. While antipsychotics contribute to this problem, their use is necessary and appropriate in a significant subgroup of individuals with IDD. Exercise and diet interventions have limitations and may not be sufficient, requiring effective adjunctive pharmacological approaches to target obesity and related comorbidities in IDD. However, persons with IDD treated with antipsychotics are systematically excluded from clinical trials hindering development of evidence to help guide safe and effective treatment of these comorbidities. Moreover, evidence from other disorders cannot be extrapolated to IDD given inherent biological differences between disorders. This trial will address the identified gaps, which extend beyond cardiovascular morbidity and negatively impact psychosocial outcomes, in a hugely underserviced population.This is the the first RCT (randomized control trial) to examine the efficacy of metformin in overweight or obese adults with IDD who have experienced antipsychotic-induced weight gain. By generating efficacy data for a very accessible and scalable intervention, allows for guideline and implementation strategies to address a recalcitrant health problem.

The goal of this observational study is to determine the effectiveness of a specialisation of multisystemic therapy (MST) for adolescents with severe behavioural problems from families with an intellectual disability (ID; MST-ID). To achieve this goal, a mixed method study design is used. To this end, a quantitative and a qualitatively primary research question are formulated: Is MST-ID superior, when compared to standard MST, in reducing rule-breaking behaviour of adolescents (quantitative)? What are the experiences of adolescents and/or parents receiving MST-ID treatment (qualitative)? Participants will be asked to complete two screeners (questionnaires delivered as a verbal interview) with a total duration of approximately 30 minutes. Other data will be collected through Routine Outcome Monitoring questionnaires that are part of standard MST procedures. To this end, five 'time points' have been identified: T0 (start of MST[-ID] treatment), T1 (end of MST[-ID] treatment), T2 (follow-up 6 month after MST[-ID] treatment), T3 (follow-up 12 month after MST[-ID] treatment), and T4 (follow-up 18 month after MST[-ID] treatment). The qualitative method used to gain insight into families' experiences is determined in consultation with the families. To assess the effectiveness of MST-ID, its treatment outcomes will be compared to standard MST treatment outcomes of families with ID.

Simons Searchlight is an observational, online, international research program for families with rare genetic variants that cause neurodevelopmental disorders and may be associated with autism. Simons Searchlight collects medical, behavioral, learning, and developmental information from people who have these rare genetic changes. The goal of this study is to improve the clinical care and treatment for these people. Simons Searchlight partners with families to collect data and distribute it to qualified researchers.

Background Self-determination is regarded as an adult outcome for people with intellectual disability (ID). Students with ID in western countries learn self-determination knowledge and skills through the systematic curriculum in schools. However, the curriculum for adults with ID is still underdeveloped in the West. In Hong Kong, the self-determination curriculum is rarely available in any setting. Objective The proposed study aims to develop a culturally-tailored self-determination enhancement group intervention for adults with ID and to evaluate its effectiveness. Method The proposed study will consist of two phases. Phase one will develop the protocol for the self-determination enhancement intervention and establish its implementation fidelity through a panel review and pilot study. This phase will last eight months. Phase two will adopt a randomised controlled trial with pre-test, post-test and three-month follow-up. A total of 120 participants will be randomly assigned to three conditions: Self-determination enhancement group, Self-determination enhancement PLUS group (+ parents' involvement) and leisure activity group as a control condition. Five groups will be organised for each of the three conditions over 18 months. There will be 10 sessions per group covering the self-determination core components such as self-understanding, goal-setting and attaining, self-regulating and plan adjusting. Components for parents include understanding self-determination and skills in supporting people with ID to exercise self-determination through positive interaction. Validated instruments in Chinese will be filled in by participants. Statistical analyses will be conducted to examine if the effectiveness of this group intervention can be found and sustained over a three-month period, and the magnitude of change in self-determination competencies and quality of life. Implications The proposed study is the first evidence-based local study aimed at examining a culturally-tailored self-determination enhancement intervention for people with ID. If the intervention demonstrated as effective, it will be used or modified for use with Chinese-speaking people with ID in different parts of the world.

Autism spectrum condition (ASC) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized fundamentally by social deficits. Emotional competence - the ability to express, recognize, understand, and regulate emotions - is a key aspect of social communication. Evidence suggests that the developmental trajectories of autistic children differ from that of neuro-typical children regarding their ability to process and recognize emotions from paralinguistic emotional facial, body language, and voice tone cues. They also have difficulty integrating these cues in context and lack in emotional language. Numerous approaches to teaching people with autism how to recognize and understand emotions have been tried, with recent increased interest in computer-based interventions (CBI). However, most of the research focused only on facial expressions, were limited to autistic children with no intellectual disabilities (ID); and showed limited generalization to real social settings. EmotiPlay, a computer-based intervention program, designed to enhance emotion recognition (ER) by addressing multiple modalities of emotional cues (facial expressions, tone of voice, body language), has shown good outcome when used at home by autistic children and no ID . However, the examination of generalization was partial and depended only on parental reports. The present study main goals are to: (1) Examine the adaptation and the integration of EmotiPlay into special education classrooms in regular schools. (2) Assess EmotiPlay's effect on emotional competence among autistic children at different functioning levels.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine differences between persons with repetitive behavior disorders and matched controls on measures of motor control relevant to basal ganglia pathophysiology. II. Determine the efficacy of bromocriptine, a dopamine agonist, in the treatment of stereotyped behavior and related behavior disorders. III. Determine the efficacy of sertraline hydrochloride, a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor, in the treatment of repetitive behavior disorders. IV. Identify behavioral, environmental, and biological variables with differential drug treatment response.

Chromosomal aberrations are major causes of developmental disorders (Intellectual disability (ID), multiple congenital anomalies (MCA), autism spectrum disorders (ASD)) as well as reproductive disorders (RD) in particular gametogenesis defects and recurrent miscarriages. Current first tier genetic investigations for chromosome analysis in clinical settings include karyotyping in case of RD (5 ~ 10% diagnosis rate) and chromosomal microarrays (CMA) in case of ID/MM (10 ~ 20% diagnosis rate). However, both assays show significant drawbacks, e.g. low resolution for karyotyping and inability to detect balanced structural rearrangement for CMA. Optical genome mapping and long read genome sequencing are emerging technologies that offer new opportunities to overcome these limitations and allow for a higher resolution chromosome analysis. This project aims at assessing the performance of optical mapping and long read whole genome sequencing compared to current gold standard cytogenetics methods in a prospective study. The investigator will evaluate their ability to become the all-in-one methodology for genomic analysis that could replace both karyotype and CMA and their added-value compared to these latter by uncovering new diagnoses.

The goal of this observational study is to learn about the impact of the diabetes drug glibenclamide (glyburide) on neurodevelopment in individuals with iDEND (developmental delay, epilepsy and neonatal diabetes) due to the V59M mutation in the KCNJ11 gene. The main question it aims to answer is whether initiating sulphonylurea (SU) therapy in the first 6 months of life results in better neurodevelopmental outcomes in affected individuals, in comparison to starting therapy later than 6 months of age. Participants will undergo a neurodevelopmental assessment comprising parental and teacher completion of standardised questionnaires, and where possible face to face neuropsychological testing. Researchers will compare the outcomes of these standardised tests in the individuals who started SU therapy <6 months of age in comparison to those who started >6 months of age.

The purpose of this research use only (RUO) study is to detect genomic structural variants (SVs) in human DNA by Optical Genome Mapping (OGM) using the Bionano Genomics Saphyr system. SVs are a type of genetic alternation that includes deletions, duplications, and both balanced and unbalanced rearrangements (ex: inversions or translocations), as well as specific repeat expansions and contractions. The results of OGM analysis will be compared to prior clinical genetic test results to determine how OGM compares to current standard of care (SOC) clinical test methods such as chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA), karyotyping, Southern blot analysis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and/or next generation sequencing (NGS), etc.

Some persons with intellectual disability or comprehensive cerebral palsy cannot communicate unequivocally how they are, how they react to situations and people, whether they are in pain or experience discomfort, anger or fear. Their modes of communication (sounds, grimacing etc) may be unintelligible or ambiguous to their caregivers. With the use of heart and/or respiration monitors the investigators aim to give these persons a means to communicate their immediate reactions or responses. The respiration monitor is meant to register sleep at night, so that the participants can communicate whether they have slept well or not the previous night.