UC Davis Mind Institute Recruiting Fragile X Patients for Spoken Language Studies

The University of California at Davis’s MIND Institute is recruiting children and young adults with fragile X syndrome for clinical trials dealing with learning spoken language.

A key focus of the studies will be exploring ways to help them with these problems.

In addition to fragile X patients, the institute is seeking people for studies on autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, and Down syndrome.

Those who would like to enroll must first register online.

Researchers are recruiting fragile X patients and their parents for four studies.

The goal of one is to learn more about factors that influence boys’ ability to learn spoken language. It will include boys between 36 and 66 months of age who have either fragile X syndrome or autism spectrum disorder, and their parents. The study is titled “Mechanisms Underlying Word Learning in Children with Fragile X Syndrome or Autism Spectrum Disorder.”

Researchers said the findings could help them in future assessments of ways to teach spoken language to children with the conditions.

For more information on the study, contact Karina Gonzalez at 916-703-0438.

Researchers are recruiting boys with fragile X syndrome aged 10 to 17 years old and their mothers for another study. Its goal is to teach the mothers ways to help their boys learn spoken language.

The study is titled “Parent Implemented Spoken Language Intervention.” For more information, contact Erika Bickel at 916-703-0281 or Lauren Bullard at 916-703-0484.

For a third study, researchers are recruiting the biological mothers of boys with fragile X or autism who are between 15 and 21 years old. Both the boys and mothers must be native English speakers. The title of the study is “Language Development in Fragile X Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder.”

The boys will participate in four annual assessments. Each session will include language and cognitive testing for five hours a day over two days.

University of South Carolina researchers will collaborate with the UC Davis team on this project. It will be done at the New York State Institute for Basic Research on Developmental Disabilities.

Researchers are seeking boys and girls with fragile X syndrome or Down syndrome between 6 and 23 years of age, and their parents, for the fourth study. The scientists want to know if they can use samples of the patients’ speech over time to measure changes in their ability to speak and solve problems, and to measure changes in their behavior.

A key goal of the study is to see whether the speech samples can provide clues on medications that those with genetic syndromes might take to learn and use language more effectively. The study is titled “Expressive Language Sampling in Down Syndrome or Fragile X Syndrome.”

For more information, contact Karina Gonzalez at 916-703-0438.