Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing Study

Emory University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Stimulus-stimulus pairing; Other: Vocal recorder

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02464527

IRB00073588

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the current study is to deliver the SSP procedure to children diagnosed with autism that do not have vocal language. The study will also aim to gather data in the natural environment using a voice recorder.

Full description

The purpose of this study is to teach children with autism who do not produce sounds or words to vocalize sounds or words by using the stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) procedure. The investigators will use SSP, an intervention based in behavior analysis, to try to help the child vocalize sounds. A vocal recorder will also be sent home so that the caregiver can record the child's vocalization at home. The caregiver will then be asked to return this so that the investigators can listen to it. By doing this, the investigators hope to learn if the treatment helps increase the child's vocalizations at home. Some children in the study will receive treatment immediately. Some children may enroll in the study now but not receive intervention until a later date. All children in the study will receive treatment within one year of enrolling in the study.

Enrollment: 16 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 24 to 47 months old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Diagnosis of autism
2. Currently do not emit vocalizations or minimally verbal
3. Willingness of the participant's parent/guardian to bring their child to the Marcus Autism Center for one-hour appointments, five days a week, for six weeks.

Exclusion criteria

1. Children with significant problem behavior that interferes with structured intervention

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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16 participants in 2 patient groups

Stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP)

Experimental group

Description:

Minimally verbal children between 2.0 and 3.9 years with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and who do not emit vocalizations, will be randomly assigned to the treatment group and will begin the stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) procedure. Subjects will be recorded by a vocal recorder at home by the parent/guardian at home or in the community setting.

Treatment:

Other: Vocal recorder

Behavioral: Stimulus-stimulus pairing

Waitlist Control (Delayed Treatment)

Active Comparator group

Description:

Minimally verbal children between 2.0 and 3.9 years with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and who do not emit vocalizations will be randomly assigned to the Waitlist Control group. During the waitlist control subject's assigned session block of six weeks, s/he will not receive any treatment. The subjects will receive the stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure (delayed procedure) after the completion of the assigned 6-week block as a waitlist control participant. Subjects will be recorded by a vocal recorder at home by the parent/guardian at home or in the community setting.

Treatment:

Other: Vocal recorder

Behavioral: Stimulus-stimulus pairing