Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)CLASSNCT07276750
Coaching and Leadership in Autism Support Settings
A study testing RUBIES, HELM and Educator Psychoeducation in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), run by University of California, Los Angeles at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
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… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 5 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- What is being tested?
- RUBIES, HELM and Educator Psychoeducation
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 373 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 Feb 2026to 31 Aug 2030
- Phase
- Interventional
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 5 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- 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
Who cannot join
- SESBI-R total score <101 (i.e. T score 51+)
- EDI sum score <8
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
United States1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
UCLA
Los Angeles, California, 90025
About this study
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.
- Conditions
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- Being tested
- RUBIES, HELM, Educator Psychoeducation
- Keywords
- implementation, schools, autism, behavior management
- Medical subject headings
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autistic Disorder
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
RUBIESOther
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.
HELMOther
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 Collaborative; and 8) Graduation.
Educator PsychoeducationOther
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 schools. The program includes: 1) Introduction to Autism, 2) Autism in Schools, 3) Interventions for Supporting Communication, 4) Executive Functioning, 5) Inclusion in Schools, 6) Autism EBPs, 7) Social Functioning in Autism, and 8) Recess Engagement Strategies. Each module is 20-35-minutes and does not discuss behavioral management strategies.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| RUBIES + HELM | Experimental | Not described Receives: Other: RUBIES; Other: HELM |
| RUBIES | Experimental | Not described Receives: Other: RUBIES |
| Psychoeducation | Active comparator | Not described Receives: Other: Educator Psychoeducation |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Reported Externalizing Behavior - SESBI-R
The Sutter Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory-Revised (SESBI-R) is a teacher-report measure used to assess conduct problems in youth ages 2-16. It contains 38 items where teachers are able to indicate the current frequency of behavior problems (Never to Always) and determine whether or not they find the behaviors to be problematic.
Measured: Baseline to 24 weeks after baseline
Reported Externalizing Behavior- EDI
The Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI) is a questionnaire that assesses emotion regulation and is validated for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Response options are on a 5-point Likert scale from "not at all" to "very severe" for observed functioning over the past 7 days.
Measured: Baseline to 24 weeks after baseline
RUBIES Fidelity
Educator Homework Completion is rated by the coach after the completion of each module, with evaluation focused on three domains, each evaluated on a 4-point scale: 1) homework data collection , 2) correct implementation, and 3) frequency. Homework Completion is then calculated as the sum of coach ratings across the 3 domains/12 (total possible score). Educator Behavior Support Plan (BSP) Implementation is rated by the Coach after the completion of each module on a scale of 1-8 (1=none of the components of the BSP are implemented; 4=BSP is partially implemented and with some implementation errors; 8=The BSP is implemented consistently and effectively in its entirety). BSP Implementation is calculated as a proportion: sum of coach ratings/12 (total possible score). These measures allow for a calculation of educator weekly as well as total average Homework Completion and BSP implementation across the course of RUBIES
Measured: Baseline to 16 weeks after baseline
Secondary outcomes (1)
Sustainment
Sustainment is defined as 1) the level of fidelity to Research Units in Behavioral Interventions in Educational Settings (RUBIES) post coaching during the second year of study enrollment; and 2) an exploratory binary outcome where the educator achieves ≥60% in RUBIES fidelity ("1") or does not sustain RUBIES ("0"). Sustainment will focus on fidelity ratings of BSP Implementation.
Measured: 52 and 76 weeks after baseline
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted11 Dec 2025
- Study start1 Feb 2026
- Primary completion30 Jun 2030 (estimated)
- Study completion31 Aug 2030 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (1)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)Studies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of California, Los AngelesThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 373 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- University of Washington, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Jill Locke, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07276750
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- IRB-25-1558
- Other IDs
- US NIMH 1R01MH135924-01A1
- Acronym
- CLASS
- Status last verified
- Oct 2026
- First submitted
- 18 Nov 2025
- Last updated
- 22 Oct 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: The investigators will make data from our study available for access by the research community via NDAR on a semi-annual basis as set forth in the NDAR policy. Data from descriptive measures will be submitted by July 15 and January 15 or the next business day, annually.
Publications
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.
PubMed 41904557