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Cognitive Training in Children With ASD

NCT02813564 · Status: UNKNOWN · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 50

Last updated 2018-08-21

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Plasticity refers to susceptibility of an organism to change. Cognitive training is an intervention approach based on the notion of plasticity. It entails the repeated exercise of a set of higher-order cognitive abilities over several weeks after which performance gains are expected on the trained as well as untrained tasks. Cognitive training has produced successful results in various clinical groups, but its benefits have not been explored in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The present study will develop a software-based training program tailored to the cognitive deficits in ASD. The investigators will also examine possible training-induced functional changes within the brain using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Fifty children with ASD 3-7 years will be recruited and randomly assigned to the control (n=25) or the training group (n=25). A subgroup of these samples will carry out the response inhibition and set-shifting tasks in the fMRI scanner. The study will consist of a pre-post design and a four-month follow up. Repeated measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) will be carried out with group (training, control) as the between subjects factor and Time (pre- post-training, follow-up) as the within subjects factor to identify training induced cognitive improvements. To determine training-induced biological changes within the brain, activity maps associated with response inhibition and set-shifting at pre-training and post-training sessions will be entered into a group ANOVA and contrasted for differences within- and between groups.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Assessment & Video-game INtervention Solutions (CAVINS)

This is a computerized "video-game" like intervention. The participants will exercise/strengthen the cognitive (mental) deficits that may be responsible for symptom profiles such as socialization impairments, academic disabilities, and repetitive behaviour for several weeks. This program will stimulate communication between brain regions that make up an information processing neural network in order to promote proper network development.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Principal Investigators

  • Geoffrey Hall, PhD · McMaster University

  • Terry Bennett, MD · McMaster University

  • Stelios Georgiades, PhD · McMaster University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
3 Years
Max Age
7 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2018-03-02
Primary Completion
2019-03-01
Completion
2020-03-01

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases
Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT02813564 on ClinicalTrials.gov