Treatment of Autism Symptoms in Children (TASC): Initial RCT With Active Control

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is among the most common childhood developmental disorders. A key goal in the field is the discovery of methods that reduce core autism symptoms. Core autism symptoms include social-cognitive impairments, pragmatic language deficits, and repetitive and rigid behaviors. The core symptoms tend to be stable and resistant to intervention. Most treatments involve group-based social skills training (SST), with limited effects. No treatment for core autism symptoms in school-aged children with ASD meets American Psychological Association guidelines for possible efficacy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) offers a novel approach for addressing core autism symptoms in higher functioning school-age youngsters. Initial results suggest that individual CBT may also be promising for reducing core autism symptoms (Wood et al., 2009b; Drahota, Wood et al., 2011). The treatment is based on a contemporary model of memory retrieval competition, employing strategies for enhancing the retention of adaptive conceptual and behavioral responses and the suppression of idiosyncratic beliefs and behaviors in daily social contexts, emphasizing the use of deep semantic processing to enhance memory retrieval. We are proposing a randomized controlled trial to examine the efficacy of individual CBT relative to a standard community treatment in youngsters with ASD.