Aquatic Therapy for ASD

Sponsor

Ohio State University (Other)

Overall Status

Recruiting

CT.gov ID

NCT05092321

Collaborator

Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities (Other)

Enrollment

Location

Arm

15.5

Anticipated Duration (Months)

3.1

Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

This is an aquatic occupational therapy group for children between the ages of 3-12 that have an autism diagnosis. Intervention will focus on increasing the child's safety swim skills.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Autism Spectrum Disorder	Behavioral: Aquatic Occupational Therapy	N/A

Detailed Description

Information will be collected from participants' guardians during an intake visit regarding a child's sensory processing deficits, movement abilities and exposure to swim skill instruction prior to the group. The group will provide swim instruction using the Halliwick approach to learning swim skills as well as other occupational therapy techniques such as shaping, therapeutic relationship and behavior management. Groups will have a minimum ratio of 1 staff to every 2 children, with the possibility of 1:1 ratio most days. There will be a certified lifeguard present at all times. Qualitative interviews and a follow up survey will be conducted with parents (ages 18+) to determine impact on families and individual participants. Swim skills will be tracked at each session via goal attainment scaling and daily documentation. Descriptive and correlational statistics will be completed as well as coding of interview and survey data. Participants can participate for one, 10 week session, or will have the option to participate in additional 10 week sessions until child participants top out on the WOTA or plateau in progress of swim skills.

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Anticipated Enrollment :

48 participants

Allocation:

N/A

Intervention Model:

Single Group Assignment

Masking:

None (Open Label)

Primary Purpose:

Treatment

Official Title:

Exploration of Aquatic Therapy in Children With Autism and Their Families

Actual Study Start Date :

Sep 14, 2021

Anticipated Primary Completion Date :

Aug 31, 2022

Anticipated Study Completion Date :

Dec 31, 2022

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Aquatic Occupational Therapy Group-based aquatic occupational therapy with 1:1 swim buddy for safety.	Behavioral: Aquatic Occupational Therapy Group of 4-8 children, paired with a swim buddy. Intervention techniques including discrete teaching, motor shaping, behavioral management, therapeutic relationship and individualized goals.

Arm

Intervention/Treatment

Experimental: Aquatic Occupational Therapy

Group-based aquatic occupational therapy with 1:1 swim buddy for safety.

Behavioral: Aquatic Occupational Therapy

Group of 4-8 children, paired with a swim buddy. Intervention techniques including discrete teaching, motor shaping, behavioral management, therapeutic relationship and individualized goals.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Change in swim skills [baseline, pre-intervention; immediately after the intervention]
Change in swim skills measured with Water Orientation Test-Alyn; higher scores mean a better outcome. Minimum score is 0, maximum is 27
Change in individualized goals [immediately after the intervention]
Goal Attainment Scaling to track change in other swim performance skills not measured above. Scores for each goal range from -2 (regression) to +2 (2 levels more than anticipated). A higher score indicates improvement.
Change in parent comfort [baseline pre-intervention; immediately after the intervention]
Custom questionnaire using 5 point Likert scale regarding comfort and importance of water participation for the child. A higher score indicates increased parent comfort, which is the desirable direction.
Parent perspective [one time after 8 hours of intervention have been provided to the child participant]
qualitative interview regarding parent perspective of the the intervention

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:

3 Years to 12 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

Yes

Inclusion Criteria:

pre-existing diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder from a medical professional
family interest in swimming

Exclusion Criteria:

ventilation system for breathing such as trachea not capped

Contacts and Locations

Locations

	Site	City	State	Country	Postal Code
1	The Ohio State University	Columbus	Ohio	United States	43210

Sponsors and Collaborators

Ohio State University
Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities

Investigators

Principal Investigator: Erika Kemp, Ohio State University

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.

Responsible Party:

Erika Kemp, Assistant Professor, Clinical, Ohio State University

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:

NCT05092321

Other Study ID Numbers:

2019J0204

First Posted:

Oct 25, 2021

Last Update Posted:

Jul 12, 2022

Last Verified:

Jul 1, 2022

Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:

Plan to Share IPD:

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:

Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Jul 12, 2022