# Translational Core (Core E)

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $167,409

## Abstract

CORE E: Abstract 
Despite an enormous increase in the basic science understanding of many IDDs, progress in 
the application of this basic knowledge in the clinic has been limited. The reasons for this gap in 
“translation” are many, but most agree that advances in defining, dissecting, and understanding 
the multiple dimensions of IDD phenotypes have lagged, with a few exceptions. A few examples 
are illustrative. Social functioning, an obvious and foundational element of adaptive ability and 
quality of life, is a natural target for intervention efforts across all IDDs, yet the field lacks 
suitable measurement tools that are well suited for application in clinical trials, and few 
measures have been rigorously compared to real world functioning for their precision and 
validity. Social measures often applied for diagnosis (Vineland Socialization or Communication 
subscales, ADOS, Social Responsiveness Scale-2, Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Social 
Withdrawal subscale [ABC-SW]) are either insensitive to change (too few items and limited 
range of scoring), too broad, too burdensome for repeated short-term use, too narrow, and/or 
vulnerable to expectancy bias. Even though the ABC-SW subscale has received a partial 
endorsement as a possible endpoint for capturing treatment effects on social behavior in Autism 
Spectrum Disorder (ASD)(and a separate modification likewise proposed for Fragile X 
Syndrome [FXS] trials), a review of its performance finds it vulnerable to placebo effects. 
Moreover, on closer inspection, the majority of the subscale's items are restricted to social 
interest alone, not capturing the many other possible social dimensions of interest. An objective 
of our Core is to continue our existing efforts to creatively increase study impact by developing 
and applying novel measurement approaches. An example was the substudy of McCracken and 
Kasari embedded in the NIMH Research Units on Pediatric Pharmacology (RUPP) Autism 
Network's Methylphenidate for the Treatment of Hyperactivity in Pervasive Developmental 
Disorder randomized clinical trial (RUPP Autism Network, 2005). Using an abbreviated (<10- 
minute scripted interaction repeated weekly) modification of the Early Social Communication 
Scales (ESCS), we documented the first example in the literature to our knowledge of a positive 
drug effect on core deficits of joint attention and emotion regulation in ASD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9836709
- **Project number:** 5U54HD087101-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** JAMES T. MCCRACKEN
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $167,409
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2020-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9836709

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9836709, Translational Core (Core E) (5U54HD087101-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9836709. Licensed CC0.

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