Digital Game Therapy for Autism

Overseen By Kaiti Dunlap, MRes

Age: < 18

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: Stanford University

Disqualifiers: Genetic syndromes, Epilepsy, others

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: 2

Duration: 8 weeks

What You Need to Know Before You Apply

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial explores the effectiveness of a mobile app called GuessWhat, designed to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) improve their social skills. The app includes games like charades and emotion guessing, which parents play with their children to encourage social interaction. Families will use their own smartphones to access the app and participate for 15 minutes, 3-4 times a week over eight weeks. Children aged 3 to 12 with a professional autism diagnosis who do not have other neurological conditions may be eligible.

As an unphased trial, this study offers families a unique opportunity to contribute to innovative research that could enhance social skills in children with ASD.

Will I have to stop taking my current medications?

The trial information does not specify whether participants need to stop taking their current medications.

What prior data suggests that this digital game therapy is safe for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Research has shown that GuessWhat, a digital game therapy, is generally safe for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Past studies reported no serious side effects or negative reactions. As a mobile app used on personal smartphones, GuessWhat is non-invasive, involving no physical interventions that could cause harm. This makes it a low-risk option for behavioral therapy. Overall, children seem to receive it well, offering a safe way to help improve social skills. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Why are researchers excited about this trial?

Researchers are excited about GuessWhat because it offers a unique approach to therapy for children with autism by using a charades-based mobile app. This digital game therapy stands out from traditional methods like Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) because it actively involves parents in the treatment process, fostering social interaction in a fun and engaging way. By leveraging a familiar game format on a mobile platform, GuessWhat makes therapy more accessible and enjoyable, potentially improving social skills in a natural setting.

What evidence suggests that this digital game therapy is effective for improving socialization skills in children with autism?

Research has shown that GuessWhat, a digital game under study in this trial, may help children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) enhance their social skills. Participants will use the GuessWhat app, which features engaging activities like charades and guessing emotions, involving both the child and their parent. This setup allows children to practice essential social skills in an enjoyable manner. Although more research is needed, early results suggest that this app could be a valuable tool for improving social skills in children with ASD. ^{1 2 3 4 6}

Who Is on the Research Team?

Dennis P Wall, PhD

Principal Investigator

Stanford University

Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?

This trial is for children aged 3-12 with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), whose parents are at least 18 years old and can confirm the diagnosis. Parents need to have a compatible iOS or Android smartphone and be able to read English, Spanish, or Portuguese. Children with additional psychiatric or neurological conditions are not eligible.

Inclusion Criteria

I am over 18 and have a child with autism.

My child with autism is between 3 and 12 years old.

A professional diagnosis of Autism that is able to be confirmed by negative score on a machine learning based algorithm using items from Mobile Autism Risk Assessment and video based classifier or by a copy of diagnostic report

Exclusion Criteria

Parent does not have an Android or iOS smartphone compatible with GuessWhat App

I cannot read English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

My child has autism and other psychiatric or neurological conditions.

Timeline for a Trial Participant

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

1-2 weeks

Baseline Assessment

Parents complete initial clinical outcome measure questionnaires and mobile autism risk assessment

1 week

1 visit (virtual)

Treatment

Participants use the GuessWhat app for 15 minutes, 3-4 times per week for 8 weeks

8 weeks

Weekly check-ins (virtual)

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for changes in socialization and parental stress after treatment

1 week

1 visit (virtual)

What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?

Interventions

• GuessWhat

Trial Overview The study tests 'GuessWhat', a digital game therapeutic on smartphones designed to boost social skills in kids with ASD. It includes charades, emotion recognition games, and quizzes that families play following a set schedule.

How Is the Trial Designed?

Group I: Charades-based mobile digital therapeutic Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

The mobile 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. Parents are asked to play with their child for 15 minutes 3-4 times per week for 8 weeks.

Group II: Treatment as Usual Active Control 1 Intervention

Participants in control group will continue their Applied Behavior Analysis therapy as usual for 8 weeks, and then will be able to cross-over to the treatment condition at week 8.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

Stanford University

Lead Sponsor

Trials

2,527

Recruited

17,430,000+

Published Research Related to This Trial

Gamification of interventions provides a promising alternative for improving social communication and cognitive skills in autistic individuals, allowing for more natural and engaging learning experiences.

This scoping review highlights the potential of game-based approaches and offers resources for parents and professionals to effectively integrate these methods into their practices for supporting autistic children, adolescents, and adults.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The Use of Analog and Digital Games for Autism Interventions. Atherton, G., Cross, L.[2023]

A new automated gaming platform designed for children with autism focuses on improving key skills like Imitation and Joint Attention through engaging games, showing promise for intensive intervention in home settings.

In a 3-month trial with 10 children, parents reported improvements in their child's concentration (78%), flexibility (89%), and self-esteem (44%), indicating the platform's potential effectiveness in enhancing developmental skills.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

GOLIAH: A Gaming Platform for Home-Based Intervention in Autism - Principles and Design. Bono, V., Narzisi, A., Jouen, AL., et al.[2020]

A study involving 80 preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) found that interactive group sandplay significantly improved social withdrawal and overall behavior compared to individual sandplay after three months of treatment.

Both treatment methods were effective, but the interactive group sandplay led to greater improvements in sociability, emotional responses, and reductions in stereotypic behaviors, highlighting its potential as a more beneficial intervention for children with ASD.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

[Clinical efficacy of interactive group sandplay versus individual sandplay in the treatment of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder]. Wang, YX., Lu, GB., Ge, P., et al.[2020]

In a study involving 18 children and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the Empowered Brain AR smartglasses were found to be safe, with 89% of users able to wear and use the device without reporting negative effects.

Caregivers also reported no negative effects, and the majority of users and caregivers expressed satisfaction with the design, indicating that AR technology could be a beneficial tool for social communication in individuals with ASD, although further research is needed on long-term effects.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Safety and Lack of Negative Effects of Wearable Augmented-Reality Social Communication Aid for Children and Adults with Autism. Sahin, NT., Keshav, NU., Salisbury, JP., et al.[2023]

The GOLIAH gaming platform, used alongside traditional treatment for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), showed improvements in joint attention and imitation skills over a 6-month period, although it did not significantly outperform standard treatment alone.

Parents reported no increase in stress levels while using GOLIAH, suggesting that the gaming intervention may be a supportive tool without adding to parental burdens, warranting further investigation in larger trials.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

GOLIAH (Gaming Open Library for Intervention in Autism at Home): a 6-month single blind matched controlled exploratory study. Jouen, AL., Narzisi, A., Xavier, J., et al.[2020]

The smartphone-based game GuessWhat? has shown promise in distinguishing children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from neurotypical children, achieving a classification accuracy (AU-ROC) of 0.745 and a recall rate of 0.769 using naturalistic gameplay data.

This approach highlights the feasibility of using digital tools for screening ASD, particularly in underserved communities, suggesting that telemedicine can enhance access to early diagnosis and intervention.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Machine learning models using mobile game play accurately classify children with autism. Deveau, N., Washington, P., Leblanc, E., et al.[2023]

Citations

1. clinicaltrials.gov clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06058104

Evaluating Efficacy of a Digital Game Therapeutic for ... The following study aims to understand the efficacy of the digital therapeutic, GuessWhat, in improving socialization outcomes in children with Autism Spectrum ...

2. stanfordhealthcare.org stanfordhealthcare.org/trials/e/NCT06058104.html

Evaluating Efficacy of a Digital Game Therapeutic for ... The following study aims to assess the efficacy of the game-based digital therapeutic, GuessWhat, in improving adaptive socialization skills in children with ...

3. clinicaltrials.gov clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04739982

A Lead-in Study Evaluating Efficacy of GuessWhat Mobile ... The following study aims to understand the efficacy and safety of the mobile game platform, GuessWhat, in delivering behavioral therapy to children with Autism ...

4. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7730314/

Guess What? Towards Understanding Autism from ... In this paper, we present a mobile charades-style game, Guess What?, used for the acquisition of structured video from children with ASD for behavioral disease ...

5. ctv.veeva.com ctv.veeva.com/study/evaluating-efficacy-of-a-digital-game-therapeutic-for-children-with-autism

Evaluating Efficacy of a Digital Game Therapeutic for Children ... The following study aims to assess the efficacy of the game-based digital therapeutic, GuessWhat, in improving adaptive socialization skills ...

6. sciencedirect.com sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666521222000102

Machine learning models using mobile game play ... In this paper, we specifically focus on the ability of GuessWhat? a smartphone-based charades-style gamified therapeutic intervention for autism spectrum ...