Teaching Academic Success Skills to Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders in Clinical Setting (TASK-R21)

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Status: Completed

Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Teaching Academic Skills to Kids

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03606343

R21HD090334-01A1

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of the study is to develop an academic EF intervention, Teaching Academic Skills to Kids (TASK), for high functioning (i.e., IQ score ≥80) middle-school youth with ASD and EF deficits.

Aim 1: Use focus group methodology and advice from expert consultants to develop the TASK intervention targeting academic EF skills for middle school youth with ASD that is tailored to the unique needs of these individuals (e.g., content specific to ASD EF deficits, incorporate evidence-based teaching principles and methods for ASD).

Aim 2: Examine the feasibility and acceptability of TASK in 3 open trials to assess initial feasibility and efficacy.

Full description

The goal of the study is to develop an academic EF intervention, Teaching Academic Skills to Kids (TASK), for high functioning (i.e., IQ score ≥80) middle-school youth with ASD and EF deficits.

Aim 1: Develop the TASK intervention targeting academic EF skills for middle school youth with ASD that is tailored to the unique needs of these individuals (e.g., content specific to ASD EF deficits, incorporate evidence-based teaching principles and methods for ASD). A methodologically rigorous, well-integrated iterative and collaborative design process with input from multiple stakeholders, including school mental health professionals, teachers, parents, and youth with ASD, will be utilized.

Aim 2: Examine the feasibility and acceptability of TASK in 3 open trials including the feasibility of: 1) implementing the measurement protocol, 2) operationalizing intervention delivery, 3) assessing both trained and untrained areas of functioning, 4) assessing whether improvements in academic EF skills (proposed mechanism of treatment) are related to functional educational outcomes (e.g., homework behaviors, grades), and 5) exploring the data for potential treatment moderators (e.g., gender, severity). It is hypothesized that TASK will be feasible, acceptable (attendance, satisfaction), and will result in improved academic EF skills associated with reduced academic impairment and homework problems.

Enrollment: 21 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 11 to 14 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder
• IQ >80
• 7th grade at time of intervention
• mainstreamed classroom
• executive functioning problems identified on parent or teacher BRIEF-2

Exclusion criteria

• danger to self or others

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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21 participants in 1 patient group

Open Trial

Experimental group

Description:

Group based treatment targeting academic executive functioning skills such as organization, planning, and study skills. Likely to be 7 90-minute sessions attended weekly by parents and teens

Treatment:

Behavioral: Teaching Academic Skills to Kids