The study will include 100 children with HFASD aged 8 to 12 years old. During 8 one-hour weekly group meetings children are trained on precursors of Theory of Mind (perception, imitation, emotion recognition, pretence), elementary Theory of Mind…
ID
Source
Brief title
Condition
- Other condition
Synonym
Health condition
psychiatrie
Research involving
Sponsors and support
Intervention
Outcome measures
Primary outcome
Conceptual Skills:
1. Emotion understanding (LEAS-C);
2. Theory of Mind (ToM advanced test and TOM-test).
Practical skills:
1. Social Skills (SSQ-P);
2. Social Skills (SSQ-T);
3. Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS);
4. Direct social behavior.
Secondary outcome
1. Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS);
2. Wing Subtypes Questionnaire;
3. Vragenlijst voor Gedragsproblemen bij Kinderen (VvGK);
4. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-III-NL).
Background summary
At some point in their lives, more than half of all children with autism are
treated with a social skills training program. In most cases, these treatments
include the training of empathic skills, or Theory of Mind. Despite the
multitude of children that are participating in these forms of treatment, few
studies have shown evidence for their effectiveness. The current study will use
a randomized controlled design to test the effectiveness of a 8-week Theory of
Mind treatment in 8 to 12 year old children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and
normal IQs (n = 100).
Study objective
The study will include 100 children with HFASD aged 8 to 12 years old. During 8
one-hour weekly group meetings children are trained on precursors of Theory of
Mind (perception, imitation, emotion recognition, pretence), elementary Theory
of Mind understanding (belief and false belief understanding) and advanced
Theory of Mind understanding (second order reasoning and the use of irony and
humour). Parents are provided with two psycho educative sessions, and they are
actively involved in the training. We specifically aim to examine the effect of
the current training with measures of different levels of complexity. This
enables us to more closely delineate at what specific levels the training is
effective. Both mental state and emotion understanding are therefore measured
at elementary and advanced levels. Furthermore, we assess self-reported
empathy, and we ask parents to judge the social skills of their children before
and after the treatment.
It is hypothesised that the treatment group will increase their Theory of Mind
skills in comparison the waitlist control group on all domains. Furthermore, it
is expected that the conceptual skills, as measured with the mental state and
emotion understanding tasks, will improve at a higher rate than the practical
skills, as measured by the parent reports. Finally, it is expected that
children with PDDNOS will benefit more from the treatment than children with
Autism or Asperger*s syndrome.
Study design
randomized waitlist controlled trial
Study burden and risks
reponding to questionnaires and interviews, twice for about 1,5 hours
van der Boechorststraat 1
1081 BT Amsterdam
NL
van der Boechorststraat 1
1081 BT Amsterdam
NL
Listed location countries
Age
Inclusion criteria
ASD diagnosis, 8-12 years old, normal IQ
Exclusion criteria
Mental retardation
Design
Recruitment
Followed up by the following (possibly more current) registration
No registrations found.
Other (possibly less up-to-date) registrations in this register
No registrations found.
In other registers
| Register | ID |
|---|---|
| CCMO | NL32742.029.10 |