Coaching and Leadership in Autism Support Settings

Обзор

Schools serve a large number of autistic children, yet face two critical gaps that stifle the delivery of evidence-based practices: 1) an intervention gap characterized by limited availability of evidence-based practices educators can use to address externalizing behaviors when they occur in the classroom; and 2) an implementation gap consisting of insufficient evidence-based practice fidelity and sustainment over time. To address these gaps, this project proposes a hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation trial that simultaneously tests: 1) the clinical effectiveness of an efficient, educator-delivered clinical intervention to reduce autistic children's externalizing behaviors (Research Units in Behavioral Interventions in Educational Settings; RUBIES), and 2) the implementation effectiveness of an organizational implementation strategy designed specifically to enhance sustainment of evidence-based practices in public schools (Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize evidence; HELM). Consistent with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)'s experimental therapeutics approach, the project also examines the mechanisms through which RUBIES impacts clinical outcomes and through which HELM influences implementation outcomes. The proposed study directly responds to high priority research areas of the US Department of Health and Human Services Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee's Strategic Plan for Autism Research, which calls for expanded research on the translation of proven-efficacious interventions into the community, NIMH Strategic Priority 3.3 to test interventions for effectiveness in community practice settings, and NIMH Strategic Priority 4.2 to expedite adoption, sustained implementation, and continuous improvement of evidence-based mental health services. If successful, this study will have substantial public health impact because it will produce an effective intervention for a prevalent problem among a high impact population in schools across the United States of America and will determine how to sustain this (and other) intervention(s) with high fidelity, to the betterment of health.

Вмешательства

• Другое RUBIES
  RUBIES is a promising, but unvalidated, educator-delivered intervention that directly engages mechanistic antecedents of externalizing behavior of autistic children and is ready for large-scale testing. RUBIES is an 8-module intervention designed to help educators functionally evaluate and understand behavior as communication and to account for autistic characteristics including rigidities and sensory sensitivities.
• Другое HELM
  School principals and district-level leaders (e.g., Special Education Director, Special Education Administrator/Liaison, Inclusion Specialist, etc.) will participate in HELM. HELM is a 9-month, data-driven organizational and leadership implementation strategy that entails eight components: 1) Assessment and Feedback, 2) Initial Training, 3) Leadership Development Plan, 4) Individual Coaching; 5) Organizational Strategy Development; 6) Optional Group Coaching; 7) Professional Learning Collaborati
• Другое Educator Psychoeducation
  Autistic children in schools assigned to the educator psychoeducation condition will receive standard of care school-based interventions at the professional discretion and direction of educators (no research intervention). To support enrollment and provide an active clinical comparator to RUBIES, participating educators in schools randomized to this condition will receive an online, self-paced, 8-module independent studies webinar program broadly focused on supporting autistic children in school

Первичные конечные точки

• Reported Externalizing Behavior - SESBI-R [Срок оценки: Baseline to 24 weeks after baseline]
• Reported Externalizing Behavior- EDI [Срок оценки: Baseline to 24 weeks after baseline]
• RUBIES Fidelity [Срок оценки: Baseline to 16 weeks after baseline]

Вторичные конечные точки (1)

• Sustainment [Срок оценки: 52 and 76 weeks after baseline]

Критерии участия

Критерии включения

• Special or general education teachers, paraeducators, and other staff who provide direct instruction and/or behavioral support to autistic children during the school day (e.g., speech therapist, school psychologist).
• Autistic children with:
• a documented autism spectrum disorder diagnosis via school records (i.e., Individualized Education Program; IEP)
• are enrolled with a participating educator
• are in grades K-5
• ages 5-12
• Sutter Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory-Revised (SESBI-R) total score >=101
• EDI sum score of >=8 at baseline

Критерии исключения

• SESBI-R total score <101 (i.e. T score 51+)
• EDI sum score <8

Критерии приведены из реестра в оригинале (на английском). Окончательную оценку соответствия проводит исследовательский центр.

Здоровые добровольцы: Да

Дизайн исследования

Распределение

Рандомизированное

Модель

Параллельные группы

Маскирование

Открытое

Основная цель

Лечение

Центры проведения

США · 1 центр

• UCLA — Los Angeles

Публикации

• Locke J, Williams NJ, Sridhar A, Shih W, Espeland C, Tagavi D, Bearss K. Study protocol for coaching and leadership in autism support settings: a cluster randomized controlled hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation trial. Implement Sci. 2026 Mar 28;21(1):32. doi: 10.1186/s13012-026-01497-0. PMID 41904557

Идентификаторы

NCT: NCT07276750 · IRB-25-1558 · US NIMH 1R01MH135924-01A1

Первоисточники (государственные реестры)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (NIH, США)

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