Active clinical trials for "Learning Disabilities"

The main purpose of this clinical trials is to explore short-term effects of coordinated intervention versus the business-as-usual school program on the primary endpoints of post-intervention word-reading fluency and arithmetic fluency. The study population is students who begin 1st grade with delays in word reading and calculations. Students who meet entry criteria are randomly assigned to coordinated intervention across reading and math, reading intervention, math intervention, and a business-as-usual control group (schools' typical program). The 3 researcher-delivered interventions last 15 weeks (3 sessions per week; 30 minutes per session). Students in all 4 conditions are tested before researcher-delivered intervention begins and after it ends.

The overall purpose of this study is to determine feasibility and preliminary efficacy of pet therapy, or human-animal interactions (HAI), for children (5-12 years of age) with or at risk for LD. Children among 4 reading groups will be randomly assigned to a HAI intervention or control group. The 2 HAI intervention reading groups will receive visits from a registered canine team during children's small group reading sessions twice a week over 12 weeks. The 2 control reading groups will receive care as usual and offered a 1-time visit from the dog at the end of the study (after T3 completed). Two weeks of initial work will focus on preliminary modifications to the protocol. Parents will complete electronic measures of psychological outcomes (child depression, anxiety, QOL) via REDCap at baseline (T1), 2 weeks post-baseline (T2), and 12 weeks post-baseline (T3). The investigators will obtain copies of reading assessments already conducted by the teachers at T1 and T3. Children's salivary cortisol will be obtained from participants in the intervention groups at T1, T2, and T3. Children and their parents will complete concluding interviews at study end (T3) to further inform what they liked and did not like about the intervention. Results of the proposed study will provide critical data for a future full-scale randomized clinical trial (R01) to examine the impact of HAI on psychological, physiological, and reading outcomes in children with or at risk for LD.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the real-time kinetics of handwriting regarding the design of the utensil and fine motor performances from biomechanical perspectives. It includes three parts. The first part is an observational study design and the specific aim of the first part of the study is to establish a novel kinetic assessment system incorporated with Force Acquisition Pens (FAPs) designed with different barrel sizes and shapes for handwriting. The thorough calibration, examination of reliability and validity will be presented in this study. The second part is also an observational study design and the specific aim of the second part of the study is to investigate the handwriting mechanisms using the kinetic assessment system incorporated with the motion capture system with children who have writing difficulties. The third part is an interventional study design and the aim of this final part is to integrate the kinetic assessment system and the intervention concept to establish a Biomechanical Assessment and Biofeedback-training System for Handwriting (BABSH). Comparison of the intervention effect of the BABSH and traditional training for the children with handwriting difficulties will also be carried out in this part.

Background and study aims: Constipation, which is difficulty going to the toilet to do a 'poo' is common in adults with learning disabilities (LD), but there is not a lot of knowledge (information) about the best way to help treat constipation experienced by adults with learning disabilities. Adults with learning disabilities who have constipation should be assessed and treated. There is knowledge to suggest that abdominal massage may help some people with constipation so that people with constipation can go to the toilet more easily. There is also knowledge to suggest that the use of a device to do the massage may be as beneficial as getting a carer to do it for the participant. This research wants to invite 40 adults with learning disabilities with constipation to take part. 30 will be offered the abdominal massage, either by a carer or the device, and 10 will not be offered the massage. However, the participants will be shown how to do it at the end of the study. This research wants to find out if people with LD are willing to take part in such a study and if the participants are more willing to let a carer do the massage, or would rather use the device. It is also important that the investigators know if the participants who are in the group not getting the massage are willing to continue in the research. Taking part for 6 weeks will provide the investigators with this important information before the investigators undertake a much larger study which the investigators need to do to find out if it helps with constipation.

Specific language and learning disorders (SLLD) affect around 5-10% of school-aged children, or 1-2 child(ren) per class. SLLDs correspond to the impairment of a specific cognitive function and are divided into 5 categories: dyslexia, dysphasia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (DSM-5). In recent years, real progress has been made in their clinical diagnosis and management, thanks to a better description of these disorders in the DSM-5 and the advent of rehabilitative treatments (neuropsychology, speech therapy, occupational therapy, orthoptics, etc.). SLLD can occur in a sporadic or familial context (sibling involvement, a symptomatic parent, other relatives who may mimic dominant inheritance with variable expressivity and incomplete penetrance). It has long been suspected that SLLD is secondary to multifactorial inheritance, with a combination of frequent genetic variations and environmental factors. In France, in the absence of an obvious syndromic diagnosis, the current strategy is to prescribe array CGH, combined in girls with a search for fragile X syndrome (in boys, this syndrome leads to systematic intellectual disability, which does not justify its study in SLLD). A few genes have been described as being specifically involved in a small proportion of SLLD, most often with de novo variations or inherited from a symptomatic parent. There are no distinctive clinical features to guide targeted sequencing of these genes. Moreover, our recent experience shows that genes implicated in intellectual disability may also be involved in SLLD. Very few studies have been published in the literature evaluating the value of exome sequencing in SLLD. Only two studies have been identified, involving 10 and 43 patients with specific SLLD. In view of the roll-out of the French Genomic Medicine Plan (PFMG 2025), it is important to set up a study aimed at assessing the value of genome-wide sequencing in the etiological work-up for SLLD. Participation in the study consists of: an inclusion visit, where an additional blood sample will be taken during the baseline work-up a results visit (4 months after the inclusion visit) Optional qualitative study: semi-structured interview 1 year after the inclusion visit proposed to 20 patients or families with a positive result and to 10 patients with a negative result.

Doose syndrome is a rare epileptic syndrome that can lead to learning difficulties and a poor quality of life. The goal of this study is to evaluate the evolution of epilepsy and its consequences on cognitive development and learning issues in children with Doose syndrome.

Over 20% of adolescents living in the United States have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder. However, most adolescents who need mental health services do not receive them due to many reasons, including low resources in families and communities, stigma, lack of mental health providers, and other barriers to mental health care access. Alabama currently ranks 50th in access to mental healthcare and 51st (LAST) in mental healthcare provider availability with only one mental healthcare provider for every 920 persons in need. Most adolescents attend school, so delivering mental health services in the school setting eliminates many barriers to mental health care access. From the point of prevention, participation in universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs within the school setting improves social and emotional skills, behaviors, attitudes, and academic performance. Mindfulness-based instruction is a promising approach to SEL for improving psychological functioning that is evidence-based, widely available, and scalable to various populations and settings. This project aims to investigate whether a SEL program that incorporates mindfulness-based instruction (MindUP) leads to improvements in not only self-reported well-being (i.e., anxiety, mindful attention, perceived stress, and positive and negative affect), but also objectively measured executive functioning, academic achievement, and regulation of stress physiology. The investigators will partner with schools that serve historically underserved students to test the effectiveness of the MindUP program in 5th and 6th graders. This study has the potential to benefit underserved students and their teachers who will receive training on sustainable implementation of the MindUP curriculum.

The aim of this study is to evaluate a novel tablet game-based neurodevelopmental assessment tool for young children aged 3 to 8 years old. The study's main aims are: (1) to determine whether the novel tablet-game based assessment tool can accurately differentiate children's neurodevelopmental status based on their performance on the game and (2) assess the validity of the game-based neurodevelopment assessment tool. The study aims to recruit 590 children who are 'typically' developing and/or have a diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Specific Learning Disorder, or a Communication Disorder. All participants will complete the tablet game-based assessment which aims to assess a range of neuropsychological functions including attention, memory, language, motor, executive functions and social-emotional skills. Parents/carers of participants will also complete a demographic questionnaire and the Adaptive Behaviour System - Third Edition (ABAS-3), which is a questionnaire that assesses a child's development. Some participants will be re-tested on the tablet game-based assessment approximately 2 weeks after the first tablet game-based assessment to ensure the game's validity.

Benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is the most common pediatric epilepsy syndrome. Affected children typically have a mild seizure disorder, but yet have moderate difficulties with language, learning and attention that impact quality of life more than the seizures. Separate from the seizures, these children have very frequent abnormal activity in their brain known as interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs, or spikes), which physicians currently do not treat. These IEDs arise near the motor cortex, a region in the brain that controls movement. In this study, the investigators will use a form of non-invasive brain stimulation called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to determine the impact of IEDs on brain regions important for language to investigate: (1) if treatment of IEDs could improve language; and (2) if brain stimulation may be a treatment option for children with epilepsy. Participating children will wear electroencephalogram (EEG) caps to measure brain activity. The investigators will use TMS to stimulate the brain region where the IEDs originate to measure how this region is connected to other brain regions. Children will then receive a special form of TMS called repetitive TMS (rTMS) that briefly reduces brain excitability. The study will measure if IEDs decrease and if brain connectivity changes after rTMS is applied. The investigators hypothesize that the IEDs cause language problems by increasing connectivity between the motor cortex and language regions. The investigators further hypothesize that rTMS will reduce the frequency of IEDs and also reduce connectivity between the motor and language region

A pilot randomized controlled trial will be adopted. A total of forty adolescents with intellectual and physical disabilities will be randomly allocated into either intervention group receiving a 4-week laughter yoga programme (8 sessions) or control group receiving routine care in a 1:1 ratio based on computer-generated random schedule. The aim of this pilot study is to preliminarily evaluate the effects of a 4-week laughter yoga programme (8 sessions) on the mood, anxiety and loneliness among adolescents with intellectual and physical disabilities in a special school in Hong Kong. Hypotheses for primary outcomes of this study are as follows: H.1 Participants receiving the 4-week laughter yoga programme (8 sessions) (intervention group) will have a greater improvement on mood level than the participants receiving routine care provided by the special school as usual (control group). H.2 Participants receiving the 4-week laughter yoga programme (8 sessions) (intervention group) will have a greater reduction on anxiety than the participants receiving routine care provided by the special school as usual (control group). H.3 Participants receiving the 4-week laughter yoga programme (8 sessions) (intervention group) will have a greater reduction on loneliness than the participants receiving routine care provided by the special school as usual (control group).