Recruiting

Launching InterventionA Trial of the Launching! to Adulthood Program

Sponsor:

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Code:

NCT06868537

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 25

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Launching! to adulthood group therapy

standard of care

Study Details

Brief summary:

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Launching intervention (Pagan et al., 2024) in improving adaptive functioning, transition readiness, and social cognition in young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), compared to a delayed treatment control group, to examine whether the Launching intervention leads to improvements in executive functioning, co-occurring mental health symptoms, and quality of life, as measured by caregiver and self-report assessments, to assess the maintenance of treatment gains 12 weeks post-treatment and to replicate the findings of the Launching pilot study in an independent sample of young adults with ASD.

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Study ID

NCT06868537

Start date

Jul 15, 2025

Status verified date

Aug, 2025

Completion date

Sep 1, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Aug 1, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 25

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

confirmed case of ASD from a licensed mental health or medical professional
score of >14 on the Social Communication Questionnaire-Lifetime (SCQ-L) completed with the mother or father
meet DSM-5 criteria for ASD based on a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) ASD symptom checklist
willing and motivated to participate in the treatment
a parent willing to participate
verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) score >70 as assessed by the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test 2nd edition revised (KBIT-2-R)

Exclusion Criteria:

history of a psychotic disorder or current psychotic symptoms
suicidal ideation with intent or plan
current alcohol or other substance use disorder rated severe
concurrent enrollment in another clinical trial for autism spectrum disorder
expression of unwillingness to complete study procedures

Study Design

Enrollment

40 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Launching! to adulthood group therapy

active comparator: No intervention then Launching! to adulthood group therapy

Interventions

Launching! to adulthood group therapy

Participants will be in a 12-week therapy program that includes weekly group sessions and individual coaching.

standard of care

Participants will receive a list of resources

Primary outcome measure

Change in adaptive functioning as assessed by the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Third Edition (ABAS-3) [ Time Frame: Baseline, week 12, week 24 ]
Change in social response as assessed by the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2) [ Time Frame: Baseline, week 12, week 24 ]
Change in transition readiness as assessed by the Transition Readiness Scale (TRS)-child version [ Time Frame: Baseline, week 12, week 24 ]
Change in transition readiness as assessed by the Transition Readiness Scale (TRS)-parent version [ Time Frame: Baseline, week 12, week 24 ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Antonio Pagan, PhD

(713) 486-2700 Antonio.Pagan@uth.tmc.edu

Katherine Loveland, PhD

(713) 486-2587 Katherine.A.Loveland@uth.tmc.edu

Locations

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Recruiting

Houston, Texas, United States, 77030

Contacts

Antonio Pagan, PhD

(713) 486-2700 Antonio.Pagan@uth.tmc.edu

Katherine Loveland, PhD

(713) 486-2587 Katherine.A.Loveland@uth.tmc.edu

More Information

Sponsor

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Last update posted

Sep 5, 2025

Last verified

Aug, 2025

Keywords

Launching intervention

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-08. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston on 2025-09-05.