Rare Genetic Disease

Individuals with rare genetic conditions may experience a delay or loss of developmental skills. Many have limited verbal speech. The aim of this clinical trial is to examine how well a speech-generating device supports the communication skills of participants with a rare genetic condition. The speech-generating device is a communication program loaded onto an iPad. This is a crossover trial, meaning that each participant will receive both the treatment (device) and a control (usual care; no device) phase. The order in which each participant receives the device versus the usual care (no device) will depend on which group the participant is assigned to. The changes in communication in each phase will then be compared. During the trial, participants can expect to complete a series of assessments and attend a total of 2 x 1-hour therapy session per week for 6 weeks.

This study aims to answer a key question in the field of rare genetic diseases by determining the prevalence of deleterious variants at RNA level in undiagnosed patients with intellectual disability and/or neonatal hypotonia. This study will put an end to diagnostic erraticism in a number of patients. Finally, the results of this study will make it possible to compare the two types of tissue used for RNAseq, with a view to facilitating the implementation of this analysis method in the diagnostic setting.