ABC-CT: Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials
Help us understand how to better measure social skills in school-age autistic children
Brief description
The Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials (ABC-CT) was a research study to understand how to better measure social skills in school-age autistic children. The goal was to create a set of measures that can be used in studies to determine which clinical supports are best for which children and who will benefit from a particular clinical strategy.
Participation details
This study is no longer recruiting participants. For more information, please contact ABC-CT@childrens.harvard.edu.
Project updates
The ABC-CT study has identified and tested several promising biomarkers related to social ability. As the largest federally-funded study of its kind in autism, the ABC-CT has also provided a roadmap for other scientists who are developing and testing interventions to improve care and support for autistic children. The ABC-CT team is grateful to the 850 children and families who participated across the consortium!
Anxiety Pilot Study
Brief description
The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate a set of measures of anxiety in young autistic children. Promising interventions have been developed for autistic and non-autistic preschoolers. However, measuring anxiety is challenging in young children given language challenges, emotional awareness, and a wide range of behavioral expressions of anxiety. This project examined whether physiological responses – like sweaty hands, heart rate, or brain activity – are useful as measures of anxiety in very young children.
Participation details
This project is no longer recruiting.
Project updates
Thank you to the children and families who participated in baseline and follow-up visits!
We learned that these measures were helpful in measuring anxiety in young autistic children. We hope to publish our work very soon.
The findings from this project led to a study to evaluate whether these measures are 9helpful in understanding response to behavioral intervention.
BRAVE: Biomarkers Research in Anxiety for Validation and Efficacy
To better understand the physiological markers of anxiety
Brief description
Anxiety in young children may look like avoiding certain situations, difficulty separating from caregivers, or persistent reassurance seeking. When these behaviors occur often, it may be distressing and impact a child’s ability to participate in certain situations. Anxiety disorders are among the most common co-occurring conditions in children on the autism spectrum. The purpose of the BRAVE study was to better understand the physiological markers of anxiety – like how sweaty a child’s hands are, heart rate, and brain activity – in response to intervention. This may allow us to better identify which tests are best for measuring anxiety in autistic children in the future.
Participation details
This study is no longer recruiting participants. For more information, please contact BRAVEStudy@childrens.harvard.edu.
Project updates
Our initial results show that parents and children have lower anxiety after completing Being Brave. Anxiety can be difficult for autistic children to describe and for parents to recognize, so existing interventions may lack the specificity to best meet children’s needs. The BRAVE Study Team is addressing this by testing and comparing biological markers of anxiety before and after intervention. The BRAVE Team found that autistic preschoolers with more anxiety showed less variability of their heart rate during a social-challenge task. Changes in heart rate during challenges show that the body is adapting to moments of stress. So, the nervous systems of some anxious autistic children may be less responsive when regulating stressful social situations. This information could help identify younger children who might benefit from intervention or support around anxiety.
Executive Attention Skills in Youth (EASY) Study
How do children solve tricky problems and regulate emotion?
Brief description
The Faja Lab is examining executive control - how children manage complex or conflicting information while working toward a goal or solving a problem. Many children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit difficulties with executive control. This project will examine whether brain responses related to executive control problems are tied to social problem solving and emotional control and will compare performance on executive control tasks between children with and without ADHD.
Eligibility for study participation
- 7- to 11-year-olds with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Participation details
This project is no longer recruiting.
Full description
Executive function is the ability to manage complex or conflicting information in the service of attaining a goal. It is necessary when conflicting thoughts, feelings, or responses must be resolved or a learned response must be inhibited. Executive functioning skills improve throughout development and encompass a range of interrelated domains, including inhibition, attention regulation, set-shifting and working memory.
Executive control is often reduced in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Impairment can start in childhood and persists throughout adulthood. The ability to manage conflicting information and behavior is an important social skill.
For more information contact easystudy@childrens.harvard.edu.
GAMES Project (Gaming for Autism to Mold Executive Skills)
What if playing video games could help children with autism have better executive functioning?
Brief description
Here in the Faja lab we are testing new computer games to improve executive functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
So far, there have only been two published studies using interventions to improve executive functioning skills in children with ASD. In the GAMES Project, we will test whether computer games that have improved executive control, self-regulation and brain function among young, typically developing children are beneficial for children with ASD.
Eligibility for study participation
- 7- to 11-year-olds with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders.
Participation details
This project is no longer recruiting.
Full description
Executive function is the ability to manage complex or conflicting information in the service of attaining a goal. It is necessary when conflicting thoughts, feelings, or responses must be resolved or a learned response must be inhibited. Executive functioning skills improve throughout development and encompass a range of interrelated domains, including inhibition, attention regulation, set-shifting and working memory.
Executive function is especially important for children with ASD because, in addition to core ASD symptoms, over half of school-age children with ASD exhibit deficits in executive function in the absence of general intellectual disability. Difficulties can start in childhood and persist throughout adulthood. The ability to manage conflicting information and perspectives is an important social skill. In particular, the ability to represent the thoughts, beliefs and feelings of others is related to executive function, above and beyond language ability and intelligence.
For more information contact gamesproject@childrens.harvard.edu.
IDEA: Individual Development of Executive Attention
Why do some children respond differently to early interventions?
Brief description
The Faja Lab examined the early development of executive control — how children think while working toward a goal, learning to do something new, or controlling their behavior. This project focused on whether behavior and brain responses related to executive control are tied to social development and treatment response over time. The IDEA Study compared the development of executive control for children on the autism spectrum, with developmental delays, and children with no developmental concerns. This study is no longer recruiting participants.
Participation details
This study is no longer recruiting participants. For more information, contact ideastudy@childrens.harvard.edu.
Project updates
The IDEA study included 132 2-year-olds and 101 4-year-olds. By age two, children on the autism spectrum had a unique pattern of executive function skills compared to children who are not on the autism spectrum. Executive function abilities may relate to the expression of autism features. Autistic 4-year-olds with stronger cognitive skills tended to show fewer or less intense autism-related behaviors during interactions with their parents. The relationship between autism features and cognitive skills was not present earlier in development at age two. Our findings suggest that more advanced cognitive skills may relate to the expression of autism features as early as preschool. Understanding these thinking skills could help improve early support and interventions.
KISS: Key Intimate Social Skills
Help develop a toolkit for measuring social skills used for dating and sex
Brief description
Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital worked with autistic adults aged 18-35 years, who are fluent English speakers, to help develop a toolkit for measuring social skills used for dating and sex. The goal of this research study is to work together with autistic adults to develop better ways to measure the specific skills needed for sexual health and dating.
Participation details
This study is no longer recruiting participants. For more information, contact ProjectKISS@childrens.harvard.edu.
Project updates
Existing measures of romantic and sexual health are often outdated, not validated, not developed for autistic adults, and rely on insight about social experiences rather than capturing skills and behaviors directly. Our team included autistic researchers, and we worked with autistic adults to get initial feedback on seven new tasks. We tested the new items to make sure they made sense and measured skills that autistic adults prioritized. Then, we tested the toolkit with 196 adults––about half identified as being on the autism spectrum. Our team is currently reviewing all the information we collected about how the tests performed to finalize the KISS toolkit.
Project CRUSH: Competence in Romance and Understanding Sexual Health
Help develop dating & sexuality training for adults on the autism spectrum
Brief description
The purpose of the study is to learn what factors (if any) impact the ability of adults on the autism spectrum to gain and use knowledge about dating and sexual relationships. Our goal is to work with adults on the spectrum to develop a new knowledge- and skills-based training program to meet their specific sexual health and dating needs. It is important to learn from adults on the spectrum about what kinds of information and skills are most important and how to best measure change in dating and sexual outcomes.
Participation details
This study is no longer recruiting participants. For more information, contact ProjectCRUSH@childrens.harvard.edu.
Project updates
We are currently recruiting adults to participate in a trial using the curriculum created through Project CRUSH! Please see the Our Studies sections for more details about the First CRUSH Study.
Teen CRUSH: Competence in Romance and Understanding Sexual Health
Help develop a dating and sexual health training for teens on the autism spectrum
Brief description
This study aims to learn what factors (if any) impact an autistic teen’s experience with romantic and sexual relationships. Together with teens on the autism spectrum, we plan to develop a new knowledge- and skills-based training program for dating and sexual health. We want to hear from teens on the spectrum about what kinds of information and skills they believe are crucial for developing a training program that promotes positive change.
Participation details
This study is no longer recruiting participants. For more information, contact ProjectCRUSH@childrens.harvard.edu.
Project updates
Thank you to the teens and families who participated. We are currently analyzing results from this project.