A Multisite RCT of a Daily Living Skills Intervention for Autistic Adolescents Prior to the Transition to Adulthood
Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
Summary
The current study seeks to compare outcomes of a telehealth intervention targeting daily living skills (Surviving and Thriving in the Real World - Telehealth, or STRW-T) intervention to a control group telehealth intervention targeting social skills (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills- Telehealth, or PEERS-T). The key endpoint will be change in daily living skills on primary and secondary outcome measures at the end of treatment.
Description
Individuals with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are not developing the skills necessary to successfully transition from adolescence to college, employment, and independent living. Daily living skills (DLS) have been linked to positive adult outcome in individuals with ASD. Despite the importance of daily living skills to adult outcome, adolescents with high functioning ASD have impaired daily living skills. A complex set of environmental, individual, and family factors likely affect the ability of adolescents with high functioning ASD to acquire critical daily living skills…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 15–21 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * in the last 2 years of high school, or deferring graduation * diagnosis of ASD based on clinical judgement and/or meeting the cut-off score on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition * full scale IQ of 70 or above as measured by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, 2nd Edition * deficient Daily Living Skills as assessed by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 3rd Edition - at least 1 of the 3 Daily Living Skills subdomains is at least 15 points below their full scale IQ Exclusion Criteria: * significant aggressive behaviors or mental health…
Interventions
- BehavioralSTRW-T
The STRW-T intervention consists of 15 weekly caregiver group sessions and caregiver-teen dyad sessions delivered via Zoom. The targeted daily living skills (DLS) have been identified and refined through our prior studies and include: Morning routine, laundry, kitchen/cooking, grocery shopping, and money management. Evidence-based strategies are utilized to facilitate acquisition, mastery, and generalization of specific DLS at home and in the community. During dyad sessions, teens will work on DLS in their home environment and will receive coaching and instruction from both their caregiver and the therapist. During caregiver group sessions, the therapist will discuss the content of dyad sessions and engage in problem solving with each caregiver (e.g., using and fading rewards, implementing strategies to increase success, teen motivation/buy-in).
- BehavioralPEERS-T
PEERS-T is a 15-week intervention with concurrent caregiver and teen group telehealth sessions that target social skills (e.g., building friendships, conversing, dealing with bullying). PEERS-T was chosen as the control because it is one of the few evidence-based interventions for autistic adolescents and does not address daily living skills. PEERS-T is also matched to STRW-T on duration and is clinically meaningful to families.
Locations (2)
- University of North Carolina - Chapel HillCarrboro, North Carolina
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterCincinnati, Ohio