The More Than Words® Program for Parents of Young Children With Social Communication Challenges: A Pilot Pragmatic Randomized Waitlist-Control Trial

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Behavioral
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

More Than Words® - The Hanen Program® for Parents of Autistic Children or Children Who May Benefit from Social Communication Support is a family-focused intervention program delivered by a speech-language pathologist (SLP). The goal of More Than Words is to empower parents to be the main facilitator of their child's social communication development, which increases the child's opportunities to develop social communication skills in everyday situations. It is one of the programs offered to families who receive services from Ontario's Preschool Speech and Language program, although some regions are not able to offer it at all or are only able to offer a shortened version of the program. The Hanen Centre recently made updates to the More Than Words program to allow it to be delivered virtually (online) and to align with the latest evidence. Past research has found some evidence that the More Than Words program is effective, but knowledge is needed about the latest version of the program, including how effective it is when delivered online. It is important to understand who this program works best for and why. The purpose of the current study, called a pilot study, is to test a study plan that could be used in a future large study to answer these questions. In this pilot study, the investigators will test procedures for comparing the outcomes of families who receive the More Than Words program to families who have not yet received it. Additionally, procedures for understanding varying responses to treatment will be tested. The study aims to determine whether the methods used for recruiting families, delivering the program, and monitoring progress are practical and function as expected in preparation for the future large-scale study.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Maximum Age: 3
Healthy Volunteers: f
View:

• The child is under 48 months of age at the time of study enrolment.

• The child has delays in social communication and play skills according to the clinical assessment of the child's community SLP.

• The parent (or other primary caregiver) has a smart phone, tablet, or computer with webcam and internet access to attend the virtual MTW sessions and complete study measures

• The parent is available to attend the 13-week virtual MTW program (which includes 9 online group sessions on Saturday mornings or Monday evenings).

• The parent is comfortable communicating and filling out forms in English.

Locations
Other Locations
Canada
Western University
RECRUITING
London
Contact Information
Primary
Janis Oram, PhD, S-LP(C)
janis.oram@uwo.ca
519-661-2111
Backup
Arlene Fleischhauer
afleisc@uwo.ca
519-661-2111
Time Frame
Start Date: 2025-05-06
Estimated Completion Date: 2026-07
Participants
Target number of participants: 72
Treatments
Experimental: Virtual MTW Treatment Group (TG)
The TG will receive the MTW program which consists of (a) an orientation session, (b) a pre-program consultation appointment, (c) eight 2½ hour group training sessions (8-10 parents/group), and (d) three individual video feedback sessions. At the orientation session, the SLP provides an overview of the program, and provides the parent with two assessment forms to complete (i.e., parent report measures of their child's social communication and communicative participation). At the pre-program consultation, the SLP conducts an informal assessment of the child's communication and records a video of the parent-child interaction. Parents and SLPs co-develop communication goals based on the child's social communication needs and ability. During group training sessions, parents learn support strategies to target goals (e.g., joining a child's idea in play, rather than directing the play; using gestures and animated facial expressions to get the child's attention).
No_intervention: Waitlist Control Group (WCG)
The WCG will be in a waiting period for three months, after which they will receive the Hanen More Than Words® program. However, they can still access other services in their community to support their child during their waiting period.
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Leads: Western University, Canada
Collaborators: The Hanen Centre, Toronto

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov