Sensorimotor Affect Relationship-based Therapy (SMART) for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders Ages 2-12

Nationwide Children's Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Autistic Disorder; Autism Spectrum Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Sensorimotor Affect Relationship-based Therapy (SMART)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01977248

IRB13-00460

Details and patient eligibility

About

The SMART Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital is an interdisciplinary social skills group that teaches children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) ages 2-12 the fundamental social skills necessary to build and maintain relationships. The manualized curriculum addresses skills such as joint attention, eye contact, play, and peer engagement. Currently individual goals are set for each child who participates and this is documented in the daily treatment note. In order to research group outcomes, the investigators will use parent questionnaires (an addition to current clinical practices) to measure changes in behavior after each 12 week session for up to one year of treatment. The investigators hypothesize that maladaptive behaviors will decrease and adaptive behaviors will increase in children with ASD after participation in the SMART program.

Enrollment: 37 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 2 to 12 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Ages 2 to 12.5
• Diagnosis of ASD OR who meet a minimum ASD cutoff score on a screening questionnaire (SCQ or ASQ:SE, depending on age)

Exclusion criteria

• Non-English speaking
• Uncorrected vision disorder
• Moderate to severe hearing loss
• Non-ambulatory
• Previous participation in a SMART group
• Accompaniment by aide
• Extreme behavioral disorder

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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37 participants in 1 patient group

SMART therapy

Experimental group

Description:

The Sensorimotor Affect Relationship-based Therapy (SMART) program is an interdisciplinary program that teaches children ages 2-12.5 the fundamental skills necessary to build and maintain relationships. Sessions last for 12 weeks at a time and address skills such as: tolerance for sitting and structure, joint attention, eye contact, transitions between activities, participation in group activities, communication skills, and play skills.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Sensorimotor Affect Relationship-based Therapy (SMART)