Thinking in Speech for Children With Autism

University of Pittsburgh

Status: Completed

Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Speech

Treatments: Behavioral: Thinking in Speech

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05256095

STUDY20060157

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study examines a cognitive therapy for autistic children, Thinking in Speech. Thinking in Speech helps children with autism independently cope with everyday events that cause stress, by developing their ability to use "inner speech".

Full description

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Thinking in Speech (TiS) in teaching children to identify when they are experiencing a problem and learn to ask for help appropriately.

Participants. Participants will be 20 verbal children, aged 7-11, who have been diagnosed with autism or related neurocognitive disorders. Therapists will be experienced and certified speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who will be trained to use TiS For this grant, investigators will develop a standardized training program that can be administered to community SLPs. Training will consist of background reading and discussions, analysis of past therapy sessions, and practice sessions with individualized feedback provided by a trainer. Training will focus on developing the child's ability to ask for help. Asking for help requires a complex combinations of executive functions and being able to adopt the perspective of another person. Training sessions will be recorded for use in further training development and enhancements. A five-week training program is anticipated.

Procedure: Both training and therapy will be delivered remotely. The therapists will plan to conduct sixteen 30-minute remote therapy sessions over 8 weeks - the actual time frame will depend on the health and scheduling demands of the therapists and children. All TiS sessions will be video-recorded. Children will be randomly assigned to either receive therapy immediately or to be placed on a 10-week wait-list after which they will receive therapy.

Enrollment: 22 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 7 to 11 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Verbal language ability as reported by the caregiver
• Ages 7-11
• Prior autism or related neurocognitive diagnosis
• Child proficient in English
• Caregiver proficient in English
• Residing in Pennsylvania
• Access to internet at home

Exclusion criteria

• History of major child mental illness (e.g., bipolar, schizophrenia, psychosis)
• Child visual and/or hearing impairment that interferes with his/her ability to participate in therapy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Sequential Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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22 participants in 2 patient groups

Immediate Assignment to Intervention Group

Experimental group

Description:

This group will begin to receive the intervention immediately upon entering the study. Thinking in Speech is a novel cognitive therapy that helps children with autism independently cope with everyday events that cause stress, by developing their ability to use inner speech. Participants will complete two sessions per week for eight week, for a total of sixteen sessions. Sessions will be conducted by speech-language pathologists who are trained in Thinking in Speech. Sessions will be conducted via a secure Zoom platform.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Thinking in Speech

Waitlist Assignment to Intervention Group

Experimental group

Description:

The Waitlist group will begin to receive the intervention 10 weeks after entering the study. Thinking in Speech is a novel cognitive therapy that helps children with autism independently cope with everyday events that cause stress, by developing their ability to use inner speech. Participants will complete two sessions per week for eight week, for a total of sixteen sessions. Sessions will be conducted by speech-language pathologists who are trained in Thinking in Speech. Sessions will be conducted via a secure Zoom platform.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Thinking in Speech