Social Relations Training for Children With ASD

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autism
• Interventions: Other: Social relation training with social robot; Other: Traditional social relations training

• Registration Number: NCT06278155
• Lead Sponsor: Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica

Brief Summary

The following protocol was developed with the intention of significantly improving social skills by focusing on increasing relationship skills among children with ASD. Divided into two distinct parts, "Basic Social Relationships" and "Intermediate Social Relationships," the protocol has 4 stages for the former and 5 stages for the latter. Each phase is preparatory to the next, and in addition, a teaching procedure is implemented that adopts three prompt levels (partial, moderate and total), gradually aiming to reduce the assistance provided to encourage independent response. This gradual approach is designed to stimulate greater independence in social interactions.

The training lasts between 6 and 12 months, with one or two weekly group meetings lasting forty-five minutes each. Before the start and at the end of the protocol, participants are assessed using the Vineland scale to evaluate their adaptive behaviors.

The primary goal is to enable children with autism to develop meaningful social skills, providing them with concrete tools to interact more effectively and independently with their peers, thus improving their quality of life and social involvement. The protocol involves two distinct groups, experimental and control group.

The experimental group involves the use of a social robot that acts as a mediator in the interactions among participants. The role of the social robot is to facilitate, reinforce and support the participants' responses during the activities. The therapist coordinates with the social robot, helping to guide, reinforce and support participants' interactions.

In the control group, the therapist takes on the role of mediating interactions, helping and facilitating participants' responses. There is no involvement of a social robot; therefore,the therapist self acts directly to guide, reinforce and support the participants' social interactions.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2023-04-17
• Status Verified: 2024-02
• Study First Submitted: 2024-02-19
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-02-19
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-02-19
• Study First Posted: 2024-02-26
• Last Update Posted: 2024-02-26
• Primary Completion: 2025-01-15
• Study Completion: 2025-04-28

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 60

Inclusion Criteria

• language in sentences
• Griffiths: QS>75

Exclusion Criteria

• presence of other medical disorders

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Experimental social relations group	Social relation training with social robot	In the experimental group, a social robot is expected to mediate the relationship among peers. Its task is to prompt, reinforce and support the participants' responses. In this case, it is the therapist who mediates the relationship by prompting, reinforcing and supporting the participants' responses.
Control social relations group	Traditional social relations training	In the control group, the therapist is expected to act as a mediator of the relationship, prompting, reinforcing and supporting the participants' responses.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Vineland-II (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-II - Survey Intervention Form)	The administration of the Vineland-II takes approximately 20-60 minutes.	The Vineland-II, a revision of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Vineland ABS), assess adaptive behavior (AC), i.e., the activities that the individual habitually performs to meet the expectations of personal autonomy and social responsibility characteristic of people of the same age and cultural background.; Specifically, they aim to measure CA in the domains Communication, Skills of Daily Living, Socialization (in individuals from 0 to 90 years of age) and Motor Skills (in individuals from 0 to 7 years of age and 56 to 90 years of age). Assessment of CA is necessary for diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder and, in accordance with DSM-5, for assessment of the level of severity of the disorder.; The Vineland-IIs consist of 4 scales divided into 11 subscales. They also provide an overall CA index.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB) - National Research Council (CNR); 🇮🇹 Messina, Italy