NCT07025603

Evaluation of the Social ABCs in Israel

Pilot Evaluation of the Social ABCs Parent-Mediated Intervention for Autistic Toddlers in Israel

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 20 (actual)
• Sponsor: Hebrew University of Jerusalem · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 12 Months – 40 Months
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Social ABCs program for young autistic children and their parents. The study will also explore predictors of treatment success and child outcomes. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does the Social ABCs program help children use more words and communicate better? * Does the program help parents feel more confident and less stressed? * Which children and parents benefit most from the program? Participants will: * Join a 6-week Social ABCs program with weekly group and individual coaching sessions * Complete assessments before and after the program to see how their child and family are doing * Take part in short video-recorded play sessions to see how communication changes over time

Conditions

• Autism
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	The social ABCs	The Social ABCs, a parent-mediated intervention for toddlers with suspected or confirmed Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), originally developed in Canada (Brian et al., 2016). It is based on principles of Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT, grounded in Applied Behavioural Analysis). The two main goals of the intervention: early functional verbal communication and positive affect sharing in the context of play and caregiving activities. The current study follows the Group Social ABCs protocol, a 6-week parent-mediated intervention designed to support early social communication in young children with autism. The program is delivered at two research sites: Soroka and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Each week, parents participate in: One group session via Zoom, led by a trained Social ABCs coach, with 3-5 parents per group. These sessions introduce strategies and provide peer support, and one to two individual face-to-face coach (See #17-745 for more information).

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-06-01
• Primary completion: 2023-12-31
• Completion: 2023-12-31
• First posted: 2025-06-17
• Last updated: 2025-06-17

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Israel