Promoting Resilience in Teens With ASD

Promoting Resilience in Teens With ASD

Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are almost uniformly costly and time-intensive, blunting dissemination of intervention and stymying opportunities to make scalable impact. This study offers the first pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of whether a single session intervention, shown to reduce internalizing problems in typically-developing youth, may improve core and co-occuring symptoms of ASD.

Interventions for core and co-occurring symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are almost uniformly costly and time-intensive, blunting dissemination of intervention and stymying opportunities to make scalable, population-level impact. One promising solution to this problem is a new class of evidence-based treatments, single-session interventions (SSIs), which have shown remarkable efficacy in treating a range of other developmental psychopathologies. No study to date has examined SSIs in youth with ASD, which, if even marginally effective, could dramatically reduce the cost and expand the public health impact of accessible intervention options for ASD. This study offers the first pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of whether an SSI shown to reduce internalizing problems in typically-developing youth may improve core and co-occurring symptoms of ASD.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Youth between the ages of 11-16 (inclusive) at the time of study participation;
• Youth with one parent or legal guardian willing to participate in the study (i.e. to be present for the lab visit and to complete questionnaires throughout the study period);
• Youth speaks English well enough to complete online or virtual based intervention activities;
• Youth with IQ ≥ 70;
• Parent or legal guardian speaks English well enough to complete online questionnaires;
• Youth with SCQ >10;
• Youth who meet criteria for autism or ASD on the ADOS-2.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Failure to meet the above inclusion criteria;
• Intellectual disability (IQ<70), as this may undermine comprehension of intervention materials;
• Adolescent is non-English speaking;
• The presence of a known developmental disability aside from ASD that would interfere with study participation;
• The presence of a significant medical disability or disorder that would interfere with study participation.