NCT06733584 · The University of Texas at Dallas
Meeting the Needs of Young Hispanic Autistic Children
What this study is about
Purpose of the Study: The goal of this clinical trial is to find out if a technique called the "mutual gaze procedure" used in a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive adaptation of Pathways Early Intervention (CLR-Pathways) is the key to improving social communication, language, and everyday skills in young (18-42 months) Hispanic autistic children experiencing low income.
View original scientific description
Purpose of the Study: The goal of this clinical trial is to find out if a technique called the "mutual gaze procedure" used in a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive adaptation of Pathways Early Intervention (CLR-Pathways) is the key to improving social communication, language, and everyday skills in young (18-42 months) Hispanic autistic children experiencing low income. What Will Happen: Researchers will compare two versions of CLR-Pathways. * Version 1: Includes mutual gaze strategies. * Version 2: Does not include mutual gaze strategies. What to Expect: Participants will: * Attend 16 sessions (or 18 weeks if there are cancellations) of Pathways Intervention, each lasting 1.5 hours. * Come to the clinic for a developmental check-up three times: before starting Pathways, right after completing Pathways, and three months after finishing Pathways.
Interventions
BEHAVIORAL
Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Pathways Parent-Mediated Intervention without Mutual Gaze
Pathways-trained bilingual research clinicians will conduct 90-minute weekly coaching sessions with caregivers in the family's home or other convenient location. Caregivers will receive a written and audio version of the program manual which has been adapted to be culturally and linguistically responsive to the Hispanic community. Sessions will review information about social communication, social sensory routines, and using naturalistic developmental behavioral strategies. Interventionists will demonstrate intervention strategies and provide caregivers with feedback and self-reflection.
BEHAVIORAL
Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Pathways Parent-Mediated Intervention
Pathways-trained bilingual research clinicians will conduct 90-minute weekly coaching sessions with caregivers in the family's home or other convenient location. Caregivers will receive a written and audio version of the program manual which has been adapted to be culturally and linguistically responsive to the Hispanic community. Sessions will review information about social communication, infusing mutual gaze in social sensory routines, and using naturalistic developmental behavioral strategies. Interventionists will demonstrate intervention strategies and provide caregivers with feedback and self-reflection.
Primary outcome measures
Change in Respeto
Time frame: At baseline (i.e., within two weeks prior to the start of intervention); Post-intervention (i.e., within two weeks after completing the intervention); At three-month follow-up
Two dyadic measures of respeto will be coded using two items from the Joint Engagement Rating Inventory (JERI; Adamson et al., 2020). The Parent Calm Authority (PCA) subscale will measure the extent to which a parent influences the interaction using an assertive and confident yet gentle approach. The Child Affiliative Obedience (CAO) subscale will capture the child's affiliation, deference, and amenability to the parent's direction. These are scored using 7-point Likert scales (where 1 indicates no PCA or CAO, respectively). These measures will be derived from 12-minute naturalistic parent-child interaction video recordings. The interactions will be video-recorded from a wide-angle view as well as from hidden camera eyeglasses worn by the adult to capture the location and direction of the child's the location and direction of the child's eye gaze. The two streams of digitized videos will be time-linked and subsequently coded for measures of respeto.
Change in Social Communication Skills
Time frame: At baseline (i.e., within two weeks prior to the start of intervention); Post-intervention (i.e., within two weeks after completing the intervention); At three-month follow-up
Change in the raw scores obtained on the Social, Speech and Symbolic composites of The Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales- Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP; Wetherby \& Prizant, 2002) will be measured. Raw scores for the Social, Speech and Symbolic composites range from 0-64, 0-54 and 0-53 respectively (0 being the worst score). The CSBS-DP is a direct assessment of early social communication designed for children with a functional communication age between 6 months and 2 years.
Change in Adaptive Functioning
Time frame: At baseline (i.e., within two weeks prior to the start of intervention); Post-intervention (i.e., within two weeks after completing the intervention); At three-month follow-up
Change in the raw scores obtained on the Communication, Daily Living, Socialization, and Motor Development domains of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition (VABS-II; Sparrow et al., 2005) will be measured. Raw scores for these domains range from 0-252, 0-286, 0-224, 0-154 respectively (lower scores being worse outcomes). The VABS-II is a standardized parent report measure of adaptive functioning designed for individuals from birth to age 90.
Change in Social Attention
Time frame: At baseline (i.e., within two weeks prior to the start of intervention); Post-intervention (i.e., within two weeks after completing the intervention); At three-month follow-up
The amount of time the child initiates eye gaze to the adult's eyes paired with positive affect will be measured (see Rollins et al., 2021 for a detailed description of this measure). This measure will be derived from 12-minute adult-child interaction video recordings wherein the child interacts with an unfamiliar adult during a semi-naturalistic play session. These interactions will be video-recorded from a wide-angle view as well as from hidden camera eyeglasses worn by the adult to capture the location and direction of the child's eye gaze. The two streams of digitized videos will be time-linked and subsequently coded for social orienting.
Change in Intentional Communication
Time frame: At baseline (i.e., within two weeks prior to the start of intervention); Post-intervention (i.e., within two weeks after completing the intervention); At three-month follow-up
Intentional communication will be measured using the Early Communication Indicator (EC Indicator; Greenwood et al., 2006). The EC Indicator yields a total weighted communication score weighting gestures and vocalizations as 1, single words as 2 and multiple words as 3. Each utterance will also be coded for the child's attentional focus when communicating (attention to object, attention to adult, coordinated attention to object and adult). This measure will be derived from 12-minute adult-child interaction video recordings wherein the child interacts with an unfamiliar adult during a semi-naturalistic play session. These interactions will be video-recorded from a wide-angle view as well as from hidden camera eyeglasses worn by the adult to capture the location and direction of the child's eye gaze. The two streams of digitized videos will be time-linked, orthographically transcribed at the level of the utterance, and subsequently coded for intentional communication.
Change in Expressive Language
Time frame: At baseline (i.e., within two weeks prior to the start of intervention); Post-intervention (i.e., within two weeks after completing the intervention); At three-month follow-up
Expressive language will be measured via the Moving Average Number of Different Words (MANDW) and Mean Length of Utterance in words (MLUw) calculated using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT; Miller \& Iglesias, 2020) software. MANDW measures expressive vocabulary using a moving window to estimate the number of different words, controlling for variability in length across language samples. MLUw measures combinatorial language by calculating the ratio of main body words to the number of utterances produced. This measure will be derived from 12-minute adult-child interaction video recordings wherein the child interacts with an unfamiliar adult during a semi-naturalistic play session. These interactions will be video-recorded from a wide-angle view as well as from hidden camera eyeglasses worn by the adult to capture the location and direction of the child's eye gaze. The two streams of digitized videos will be time-linked and orthographically transcribed.
Who can participate
This study lists these criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov. A study coordinator reviews eligibility during screening — this page does not determine whether you qualify.
Inclusion criteria
- Children must be from a Hispanic family experiencing low income, defined as having an income-to-needs ratio of \< 320% of the federal poverty level, determined by their household size
- Children must be between 18-42 months old at the start of the study
- Children must have no other known neurological or genetic concerns or disorders determined by parent report
- Children must receive a Calibrated Severity Score (CSS) of 4 or higher on the Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule-2 (ADOS-2) administered by a qualified bilingual assessment associate
- Families must have a primary home language of English and/or Spanish
Exclusion criteria
- Children who are from a family that is not Hispanic and/or does not have an income-to-needs ratio of \< 320% of the federal poverty level, determined by their household size
- Children younger than 18 months or older than 42 months at the start of the study
- Children whose parents report they have any other known neurological or genetic concerns or disorders
- Children who receive a Calibrated Severity Score (CSS) lower than 4 on the ADOS-2
- Families who do not have English or Spanish as a primary home language
Where
- Lawrence, Kansas
- Dallas, Texas
- Richardson, Texas
Collaborators
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, Catholic Charities, University of Kansas
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Data: ClinicalTrials.gov · synced Jun 5, 2026 · Source of record for eligibility and locations