Early Diagnostic Response Model (EDRM)

Last updated: June 8, 2026
Sponsor: Emory University
Overall Status: Active - Recruiting

Phase

N/A

Condition

Autism

Williams Syndrome

Asperger's Disorder

Treatment

Early Diagnostic Response Model (EDRM)

Clinical Study ID

NCT05419895
STUDY00003763
  • Ages 16-36
  • All Genders

Study Summary

Babies Can't Wait (BCW) in Georgia will be referring families with children seeking an autism spectrum disorder (autism) diagnosis at the Emory Autism Center's (EAC) Child Screening and Assessment Clinic.The objective of this study is to develop, pilot, and evaluate a diagnostic protocol for children identified at high risk for autism in the BCW early intervention program screening (part of a public health service). This program evaluation will be using pre- and post-data and data collected through the process to evaluate the effectiveness of the EDRM pilot.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All families of children between the ages of 16-30 months of age who scored ≥8 onthe MCHAT-R and whose BCW provider refers the child to our clinic by 33 months ofage will be a possible participant. Evaluations will be done by 36 months of age.

  • Referring BCW provider must be one of the participating BCW health districts in thispilot study.

  • Parent/Guardian needs to have basic English proficiency

  • Parent/Guardian needs to have internet access

  • Child must have exposure to English either at home or in out-of-home care (e.g.,childcare setting).

  • Documentation of M-CHAT-R High-Risk failed score (≥ 8) must be documented inreferral.

Exclusion

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Families making self-referrals to the EAC or referrals outside of the targeted BCWdistricts will be excluded from recruitment for this study.

  • Children above the age of 33 months at the time of the referral will be excluded asthe current EDRM protocol has not been developed in this phase of piloting forindividuals over this age.

  • Non-English speakers will be excluded from participation due to the current protocolnot being applicable to their needs as well as a high correlation between verballanguage abilities and social communication and social interaction (SCI) abilitiesas part of the DSM-5-TR autism criteria.

Study Design

Total Participants: 300
Treatment Group(s): 1
Primary Treatment: Early Diagnostic Response Model (EDRM)
Phase:
Study Start date:
June 16, 2022
Estimated Completion Date:
July 31, 2028

Study Description

The objective of this study is to develop, pilot, and evaluate a diagnostic protocol to assess high-risk toddlers for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis of families enrolled in the Georgia Babies Can't Wait (BCW) early intervention program. The Early Diagnostic Response Model (EDRM) project will be addressing children who are identified at high risk for ASD according to the BCW screening protocol, which is the M-CHAT-R/F. Community psychologist will be taught the protocol and receive referrals to build capacity and better address the need across the state. Currently, many children who are screening high-risk for ASD in BCW districts are unable to access follow-up evaluations due to limited community resources and long wait times. It is hypothesized that the EDRM will be successful in increasing the number of BCW families that access an ASD evaluation using telehealth tools and testing protocols and that the families and clinicians involved will be satisfied with the streamlined process. The clinicians' conclusions from the EDRM assessment will be based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5th edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013) and are hypothesized to be able to provide high-risk children and their families with the same access to services as an in-person assessment.

A secondary objective is to investigate how many high-risk referral assessments can be completed entirely via streamlined telehealth protocol and how many required additional information to be collected to make a final DSM-5 conclusion.

A tertiary objective is to investigate the improvement of the EDRM as an early identification model to assess for ASD by comparing the numbers of families screened high risk for ASD and referred for an evaluation prior to the study to the number of families who received ASD evaluation by the end of the study through the pilot versus other means. These numbers will be analyzed globally as well as by specific BCW district and other child factors.

Connect with a study center

  • Emory Autism Center

    Atlanta, Georgia 30322
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

Map preview placeholder

Not the study for you?

Let us help you find the best match. Sign up as a volunteer and receive email notifications when clinical trials are posted in the medical category of interest to you.