Social Cognition and Interaction Training for Autism

Summary

Purpose: To collect outcome measures such as eye tracking and questionnaire data prior to and following a group based clinical therapy program to determine the effectiveness of the therapy approach. The therapy program is aimed at improving social cognitions and skills of individuals who find social situations difficult, stressful and/or uncomfortable and with a desire to enhance skills required for social interactions.

Participants: Cohorts of individuals aged 10-69 years old with symptoms of a neurodevelopment disorder, who have general difficulty with social interactions.

Procedures: Participants enrolled in a clinical therapy program for improvement of social cognitions and skills will complete eye tracking tasks, several questionnaires and rating scales, and a diagnostic interview prior to and following the 8 week therapy program. The post treatment assessments will be conducted within a week of the therapy completion and then again approximately 2 months after the last therapy session. The entire study duration is expected to be approximately 17 weeks. These outcome measures will measure the effectiveness of the treatment.

Conditions

• Autism
• Social Behavior

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Social Cognition and Interaction Training for Autism (SCIT-A)

The group therapy program is aimed at improving social cognitions and skills of individuals who find social situations difficult, stressful and/or uncomfortable and with a desire to enhance skills required for social interactions.

OTHER

Treatment as Usual (TAU)

Participants in the treatment as usual (TAU) group will continue to receive other interventions (e.g., individual therapy, job skills coaching) during the Social Skills Clinic. No participants in either group will participate in other group-based interventions concurrently with their participation in this study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Gabriel Dichter, MA, PhD · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

10 Years

Max Age

69 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-01-31

Primary Completion

2017-01-31

Completion

2017-01-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations