An interventional study of FaceSay and SuccessMaker Reading in Survivors of Pediatric Brain Tumors and Pediatric Cancer, sponsored by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 6 Years to 13 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-06.
Sponsored by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The purpose of this research is to find out if a computer-based treatment program, called FaceSay, is a feasible and effective intervention for survivors of pediatric brain tumors (SPBT). The goal of this intervention is to improve survivors' facial affect recognition, social attention, and social adjustment.
The proposed research is for a pilot randomized clinical trial (RCT) of a face processing intervention, FaceSay, compared to an active control condition in SPBT who demonstrate peer-related social difficulties that are similar to autistic youth. Using a randomized, active control trial with a 1:1: randomization, this study will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention with SPBT and estimate the effects of the program on key social functioning domains. Participants will be randomized into either the FaceSay condition or an active control condition, SuccessMaker, which is an online academic skill-building program. Participants will be evaluated at baseline prior to the intervention (T1), immediately after the intervention (T2), and 3 months later (T3). The study duration per subject will be approximately 18 weeks including 3 in-person study visits and the 6-week intervention period. This is a single-site study with all potential participants being recruited from the Neuro-Oncology program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The goal is to randomize 40 participants in this pilot study.
10,818 studies on the registry are indexed under Neoplasms; 2,324 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 40 is below the median of 60 across 7,703 interventional studies indexed under Neoplasms.
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Eligible participants are SPBT who:
demonstrate difficulties on at least one of the following:
Exclusion Criteria:
Ineligible participants are individuals who:
4) a motor or visual limitation that precludes computer use
Beginning within two weeks of baseline testing, participants will be asked to complete two 20-minute sessions of FaceSay per week for 6 weeks (12 sessions total), which is identical to prior FaceSay trials. Research staff will conduct brief, weekly phone or telehealth-based check-ins during training to monitor progress and discuss strategies to support engagement with the programs.
Device: FaceSay
Beginning within two weeks of baseline testing, participants will be asked to complete two 20-minute sessions of SuccessMaker Reading per week for 6 weeks (12 sessions total), which is identical to prior FaceSay trials. Research staff will conduct brief, weekly phone or telehealth-based check-ins during training to monitor progress and discuss strategies to support engagement with the programs.
Device: SuccessMaker Reading
FaceSay (http://www.facesay.com/) is a computer-delivered, software program to enhance face processing in youth, a core component of social information processing (SIP). The training occurs in a game-like environment that repeatedly challenges different aspects of face processing. FaceSay contains three different games that target various skills. "Amazing Gazing" targets users' eye gaze and joint attention and requires users to respond based on the game character's eye gaze. In the game "Band Aid Clinic," users reconstruct a game character's face by applying the correct band aid that includes pictures of facial features. This game promotes processing of facial expressions through different facial features and configurations. The final game, "Follow the Leader," requires users to match facial expressions from one game character to another. As the user advances, the facial expressions become increasingly subtle and more challenging.
SuccessMaker: SuccessMaker is an online, academic skills building program. Using adaptive lessons tailored to the participant's reading level, SuccessMaker aims to enhance understanding in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and concepts of print. The program adapts to the performance of the user across areas to introduce new skills when appropriate to the user. SuccessMaker targets different domains than by FaceSay and those not associated with social difficulties. SuccessMaker uses adaptive lessons tailored to the participant's reading level to enhance understanding in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and concepts of print. The program adapts to the performance of the user across areas to introduce new skills when appropriate to the user.
FaceSay Feasibility and Acceptability: Enrollment Rates
Survivors and families will demonstrate interest in FaceSay, as defined by at least 75% of those approached enrolling in the study.
Time frame: Across recruitment outreach period, up to 5 no-response contacts
FaceSay Feasibility and Acceptability: Training Completion Rate
FaceSay will be feasible, as defined by 75% of randomized participants achieving over 80% treatment adherence (i.e., 10 of 12 training sessions over a 6-week period).
Time frame: Training completion will be tracked for each participant across 6 weeks. A final completion rate for each participant will be calculated at the end of the 6-week period.
FaceSay Feasibility and Acceptability: Intervention Acceptability
FaceSay will be acceptable, as defined by family reports of ease-of-use and satisfaction.
Time frame: Parent reports of the intervention across their 6-week training period will be assessed at their T2 follow-up visit.
FaceSay Efficacy: Facial Identity Recognition Improvement
At each time point, participants will be asked to complete the Victoria/Yale face processing assessment, which tests facial identity recognition skills. Overall accuracy scores (ranging from 0-100) for the facial identity recognition task will be used to quantify these skills, with higher scores reflecting better facial identity recognition.
Time frame: Enrollment to T3 (18 weeks)
FaceSay Efficacy: Social Attention Improvement
At each time point, participants doing in-person visits will complete a social attention paradigm that uses eye-tracking technology to capture the child's attention during a video of children playing. This task measures eye gaze during thirty-two 15-second videos depicting pairs of siblings engaging in either joint, cooperative or separate, parallel play. A Social Prioritization score will be calculated by subtracting the proportion of fixation time for background objects from the proportion of fixation time for faces. Higher Social Prioritization scores indicate more looking at faces and less looking at background objects. This task will only be completed for in-person study visits as it requires the use of a physical eye tracking device.
Time frame: Enrollment to T3 (18 weeks)
FaceSay Efficacy: Social Deficits Improvement
At each time point, caregivers of participants will complete the Social Responsiveness Scale, 2nd Edition (SRS- 2). The SRS-2 is a 65-item parent-report questionnaire that evaluates the frequency of reciprocal social behaviors, communication, and repetitive and stereotypic behaviors in the child. The school-age form (for ages 4-18 years) will be used. The questionnaire yields a single summary T-score that can be used as an index of the child's severity of social deficits, with higher scores indicating greater deficits.
Time frame: Enrollment to T3 (18 weeks)
FaceSay Efficacy: Facial Expression Recognition Improvement
At each time point, participants will be asked to complete the Victoria/Yale face processing assessment, which tests facial expression recognition skills. Overall accuracy scores (ranging from 0-100) for the facial expression recognition task will be used to quantify these skills, with higher scores reflecting better facial identity recognition.
Time frame: Enrollment to T3 (18 weeks)
FaceSay Efficacy: Social Functioning Improvement
At each time point, caregivers and youth will complete the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL). The PedsQL 4.0 is a 23-item measure broken down by participant age that examines physical, social, emotional, and school functioning over the past month. Scores from the social functioning sub-domain (ranging from 0-100) will be used to quantify social functioning, with higher scores indicating better social functioning.
Time frame: Enrollment to T3 (18 weeks)
FaceSay Efficacy: Peer Relationship Improvement
At each time point, caregivers and youth will complete the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Peer Relationships questionnaire. The PROMIS Peer Relationships questionnaire assesses the quality of the child's peer relationships. Overall T-scores for the measure will be assessed, with higher scores indicating better peer relationship quality.
Time frame: Enrollment to T3 (18 weeks)
FaceSay Efficacy: Social Functioning Improvement
At each time point, caregivers will complete the Childhood Behavioral Checklist (CBCL). The CBCL is a parent-report that evaluates a variety of behaviors in children including activities, school performance, and social interactions. T-scores from the social competence subdomain will be used to quantify social functioning, with higher scores reflecting better social functioning.
Time frame: Enrollment to T3 (18 weeks)
FaceSay Efficacy: Social Information Processing
At each time point, participants will complete the attribution and coping questionnaire which assess the child's attribution of peer's behaviors during hypothetical, ambiguous social interactions and their coping response. The percent of time the child choses each attribution and coping style will be assessed, and group differences in dominant styles will be assessed.
Time frame: Enrollment to T3 (18 weeks)
Plan to share: No
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