GuessWhat Mobile App Therapy for Autism

Recruiting in Palo Alto (17 mi)

Overseen byDennis P Wall, PhD

Age: < 18

Sex: Any

Travel: May Be Covered

Time Reimbursement: Varies

Trial Phase: Academic

Waitlist Available

Sponsor: Stanford University

No Placebo Group

Trial Summary

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial tests the GuessWhat mobile app, which has games to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) improve their social and emotional skills. It targets children aged 3-12 with ASD. The games help kids practice understanding emotions and social cues in a fun way.

Eligibility Criteria

This trial is for parents over 18 with a child aged 3-12 diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The parent must be able to read English and have an iOS or Android smartphone compatible with the GuessWhat Mobile App.

Inclusion Criteria

Parent who is at least 18 years old of child with autism.

The study is looking for children who are between 3 and 12 years old and have autism at the start of the study.

Exclusion Criteria

Parent is unable to read English.

Parent does not have an Android or iOS smartphone compatible with GuessWhat App--the app will be available on Android after further development and we will notify interested families when it becomes available.

Treatment Details

Interventions

GuessWhat Mobile App (Behavioural Intervention)

Trial OverviewThe study tests the effectiveness of the GuessWhat Mobile App, which offers games designed for behavioral therapy in children with autism. Families will use their smartphones to engage their child in these therapeutic games as per a set schedule.

Participant Groups

2Treatment groups

Experimental Treatment

Active Control

Group I: TreatmentExperimental Treatment1 Intervention

The GuessWhat app is a charades style game and app that engages parent and child in fluid social interaction where the parent must guess what the child is acting out based on the prompt shown on the phone screen. Participants will use their own personal phone to download the study app. Parent and child will be encouraged to play using the emojis and emotion game mode at least 3 individual game sessions per week. Parents are asked to play GuessWhat with their child 3-4 times per week for 4 weeks.

Group II: Treatment as UsualActive Control1 Intervention

Participants in control group will continue their treatment as usual.